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White
750ml
Bottle: $69.95
6 bottles: $68.55
The NV El Tresillo Amontillado Fino is from the El Tresillo solera (hence the same name as the 1874 Amontillado). It...
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WA
90
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White
750ml
Bottle: $59.93 $64.79
The NV Villapanes Oloroso wears a dark amber-brown robe and has a very intense nose, showing some marmalade, dark...
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WA
91
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Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $68.88
A smooth red, saturated with plum, blueberry, loam and toasty oak flavors. Reveals assertive tannins on the finish,...
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WS
93
Red
750ml
Bottle: $59.93
6 bottles: $58.73
A plush, modern style, this Barbera offers sweet, ripe plum, fig and toasty oak flavors. Remains fresh, with balance...
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WS
90
White
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Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $63.21
Ambitious and satisfying, with spicy oak accenting the blackberry and plum aromas and flavors. The wood adds...
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White
750ml
Bottle: $65.94
12 bottles: $64.62
Natural sweet wine made from Moscatel grapes. It has a dark mahogany colour and a dense and wide texture. Laced with...
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White
750ml
Bottle: $71.93
This is a new 2017 bottling of the NV Cream VOS, marked as L 1/17, the first bottling of 2017. This is a VOS with an...
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WA
92
White
750ml
Bottle: $72.94
6 bottles: $71.48
Rated 98 - Bright, light yellow colour with intense lemongrass aromas, hints of straw and wax, barely any toast...
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WNR
98
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Red
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $71.78
Plum, kirsch and blackberry flavors align with a muscular structure here. Firm and lightly astringent in the end,...
WS
90
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $61.14
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $70.77
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White
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $50.60
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $74.74
A smooth red, saturated with plum, blueberry, loam and toasty oak flavors. Reveals assertive tannins on the finish,...
WS
93
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $67.28
Ruby red in color, with purple hues. Rich, intense and persistent aromas of liquorice, violet, plum and vanilla....
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $55.59
Plenty of crushed berry and spice on the nose and palate. Full body, light tannins and a juicy and fresh finish. A...
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92
WS
90
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $56.91
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $52.95
A release of 13,426 bottles, the Cavallotto 2018 Barbera d'Alba Superiore Vigna Cuculo is an organic wine with a...
WA
90
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White
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $60.95
Marie-Cécile is produced exclusively from semillon grapes. The wine is vinified and matured in used barrels, by...

Barbera Melon de Bourgogne Semillon Sherry

For centuries now, the beautiful red grapes of the Barbera varietal have been grown in Italy, where they are prized for their unusual high acid content and low tannins, brought about by their thin skins. The Barbera grape varietal thrives in warmer climates, and has had some success overseas in the new world, where its strongly aromatic flavors of intense hedgerow fruits make it a favorite with wineries and wine drinkers looking for a grape which offers plenty of interesting characteristics. Interestingly, the differences between young and aged wines made from this varietal are quite significant, with younger bottles holding a plethora of berry flavors, including blueberry and raspberry notes, and oak aged wines made from the Barbera grape being much loved for their ability to become extremely complex and spicy, and picking up vanilla flavors from the wood they are barreled in.

One of the more unusual French grape varietals, Melon de Bourgogne has been grown in and around the Loire Valley for several hundred years. In fact, this grape was first planted in the Loire region of Pays Nantais back in the mid 17th century, after a devastating frost decimated most of the red grapes which were typical in the area. The winemakers of Pays Nantais were keen to cultivate vines which were hardy, high yielding, and capable of surviving another such frost, and so turned their attention to Melon de Bourgogne for this very reason. The native home of the varietal is actually in Burgundy, where it is still grown to a lesser extent.


Because Melon de Bourgogne produces naturally heavy yields, the vintners of Pays Nantais go to great lengths to reduce the amount of fruit the vines bear. This allows the finest characteristics of the grape to come forward, and also opens up the opportunity for it to express the wonderful granite and schist soils in which the vines are grown. Melon de Bourgogne is a minerally white wine grape varietal, with a very subtle set of fruit flavors. It is prized for its freshness and brightness, and is seeing a revival in the twenty first century as an excellent wine for pairing with a wide range of foods.

Semillon was, at one point not so long ago, widely believed to be one of the most grown grape varietals in the world. Whilst today the numbers of Semillon grapes has dropped considerably, it remains a widely planted grape with vineyards all over Europe and the New World dedicated to making the most of this special and flavorful varietal. The grapes are recognizable by their golden color, and the fact that they can take on a pinkish hue in particularly warm climates. The wines the Semillon grape produces are notably varied, and are often very crisp and dry, or sweet and soft, full of a wide range of flavors Commonly, dry Semillon wines are particularly citrus in flavor, with a delicate and summery bouquet. The vine is hardy and vigorous, and notable for being easy to grow and produce high yields from.

Sherry is made in a unique way using the solera system, which blends fractional shares of young wine from oak barrels with older, more mature wines. Sherry has no vintage date because it is blended from a variety of years. Rare, old sherries can contain wine that dates back 25 to 50 years or more, the date the solera was begun. If a bottle has a date on it, it probably refers to the date the company was founded.

Most sherries begin with the Palomino grape, which enjoys a generally mild climate in and around the triad of towns known as the "Sherry Triangle" and grows in white, limestone and clay soils that look like beach sand. The Pedro Ximenez type of sweet sherry comes from the Pedro Ximenez grape.

Sherry is a "fortified" wine, which means that distilled, neutral spirits are used to fortify the sherry. The added liquor means that the final sherry will be 16 to 20 percent alcohol (higher than table wines) and that it will have a longer shelf life than table wines.