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750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$121.98
Boasts pronounced savory and rose petal aromas before raspberry and mulberry fruit surges through, creating a wine of...
Pre-Arrival
Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Isabelle 2019
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$102.24
The late Jim Clendenen named this wine after his daughter, now a leader in her family winery, and he always made sure...
Pre-Arrival
Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Isabelle 2020
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$96.11
Lastly, the 2020 Pinot Noir Isabelle is all Pinot Noir from six different vineyards and four different AVAs. Its...
Pre-Arrival
Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Knox Alexander 2018
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$86.51
This bottling, named for the vintner's son, is quite light in the glass, offering aromas of crisp pomegranate,...
Pre-Arrival
Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Knox Alexander 2019
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$81.32
Another gorgeous Pinot from ABC. Beautiful aromas of spice, rose petals, cherry/berry fruit are amplified on the...
Pre-Arrival
Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir La Bauge Au-Dessus 2019
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$73.06
Moving to the Pinot Noirs, the translucent ruby-hued 2019 Pinot Noir La Bauge Au-dessus offers good complexity in its...
Pre-Arrival
Calera Pinot Noir Central Coast 2018
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$39.70
Fresh boysenberry and cranberry aromas are wrapped in a rusty iron note on the nose of this bottling. There's a tarry...
Pre-Arrival
Calera Pinot Noir De Villiers 2011
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$83.97
First up and seriously perfumed, the 2011 Pinot Noir de Villiers is a gorgeous wine that excels both for its...
Pre-Arrival
Calera Pinot Noir De Villiers 2012
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$93.07
I loved the 2012 Pinot Noir de Villiers. It's a beautifully complete, balanced and satisfying Pinot Noir that does...
Pre-Arrival
Calera Pinot Noir De Villiers 2017
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$88.46
Deeper ruby, the 2017 Pinot Noir De Villiers Vineyard reveals more black raspberry, sassafras, tea, and spicy notes....
Pre-Arrival
Calera Pinot Noir De Villiers 2018
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$69.00
The 2018 Pinot Noir de Villiers Vineyard shows the natural intensity of the year in its powerful, broad personality....
Pre-Arrival
Calera Pinot Noir Mills Vineyard 2011
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$106.00
One of the more subtle wines in the range, the 2011 Pinot Noir Mills Vineyard impresses for its sense of proportion...
Champagne Blend Pinot Noir Zinfandel United States California Pre-Arrival Wine
The sparkling wines of Champagne have been revered by wine drinkers for hundreds of years, and even today they maintain their reputation for excellence of flavor and character, and are consistently associated with quality, decadence, and a cause for celebration. Their unique characteristics are partly due to the careful blending of a small number of selected grape varietals, most commonly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These grapes, blended in fairly equal quantities, give the wines of Champagne their wonderful flavors and aromas, with the Pinot Noir offering length and backbone, and the Chardonnay varietal giving its acidity and dry, biscuity nature. It isn't unusual to sometimes see Champagne labeled as 'blanc de blanc', meaning it is made using only Chardonnay varietal grapes, or 'blanc de noir', which is made solely with Pinot Noir.
Regularly described as being the grape varietal responsible for producing the world's most romantic wines, Pinot Noir has long been associated with elegance and a broad range of flavors The name means 'black pine' in French, and this is due to the fact that the fruit of this particular varietal is especially dark in color, and hangs in a conical shape, like that of a pine cone. Despite being grown today in almost every wine producing country, Pinot Noir is a notoriously difficult grape variety to cultivate. This is because it is especially susceptible to various forms of mold and mildew, and thrives best in steady, cooler climates. However, the quality of the fruit has ensured that wineries and vintners have persevered with the varietal, and new technologies and methods have overcome many of the problems it presents. Alongside this, the wide popularity and enthusiasm for this grape has ensured it will remain a firm favorite amongst wine drinkers for many years to come.
The precise origins of what became known as the Zinfandel grape variety are uncertain, although it has clear genetic equivalents in both Puglia and Croatia. However, when it was brought to the New World in the mid 19th century, it became known as the Zinfandel, and has been consistently popular and widely grown ever since. These very dark and very round grapes have a remarkably high sugar content, resulting in relatively high levels of alcohol in the wines they are made into, with bottles often displaying as much as fifteen percent. What makes the Zinfandel such an interesting grape, though, is the fact that the flavors produced by this varietal vary considerably depending on the climate they are grown in. In cooler valley regions, the Zinfandel grapes result in wines which hold strong flavors of tart and sweet fruits; raspberry, redcurrant and sweet cherry, held in a very smooth and silky liquid. Conversely, warmer regions result in more complex and spicy notes, including anise, pepper and hedgerow berries.
Of all the New World wine countries, perhaps the one which has demonstrated the most flair for producing high quality wines - using a combination of traditional and forward-thinking contemporary methods - has been the United States of America. For the past couple of centuries, the United States has set about transforming much of its suitable land into vast vineyards, capable of supporting a wide variety of world-class grape varietals which thrive on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coastlines. Of course, we immediately think of sun-drenched California in regards to American wines, with its enormous vineyards responsible for the New World's finest examples of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based wines, but many other states have taken to viticulture in a big way, with impressive results. Oregon, Washington State and New York have all developed sophisticated and technologically advanced wine cultures of their own, and the output of U.S wineries is increasing each year as more and more people are converted to their produce.
California as a wine producing region has grown in size and importance considerably over the past couple of centuries, and today is the proud producer of more than ninety percent of the United States' wines. Indeed, if California was a country, it would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world, with a vast range of vineyards covering almost half a million acres. The secret to California's success as a wine region has a lot to do with the high quality of its soils, and the fact that it has an extensive Pacific coastline which perfectly tempers the blazing sunshine it experiences all year round. The winds coming off the ocean cool the vines, and the natural valleys and mountainsides which make up most of the state's wine regions make for ideal areas in which to cultivate a variety of high quality grapes.