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750ml
Bottle:
$26.94
12 bottles:
$26.40
Light golden hue, subtle aromas of pear and baked apple quickly develop into lush, nutty lees characters. The palate...
750ml
Bottle:
$19.94
12 bottles:
$19.54
• Practicing Organic
• 100% Chardonnay
• North Fork of Long Island AVA
• Hand-harvested
• Fermented in...
750ml
Bottle:
$17.08
12 bottles:
$16.74
Aromatic highlights of lemon verbena and honey are accented by vanilla and toast. Bright and well balanced on the...
750ml
Bottle:
$17.08
12 bottles:
$16.74
Vivacious and fresh, our unoaked Chardonnay is a limited release intended for summer quaffing. This Chardonnay’s...
750ml
Bottle:
$26.80
12 bottles:
$26.26
Barrel fermented and aged for 18 months sur-lie in French oak puncheons, this Burgundian style Chardonnay is selected...
750ml
Bottle:
$17.93
$18.74
12 bottles:
$17.01
Bright, golden yellow in color, this is a classic Chardonnay, graceful and harmonious in a traditional Burgundian...
375ml
Bottle:
$36.94
12 bottles:
$36.20
A classic ice-wine style. Deep golden color, with vibrant, pure fruit aromas of ripe apricot, pineapple, and lychee....
750ml
Bottle:
$23.84
$25.99
Yellow Golden in color. Beautiful elegant aromas fill the glass. Full of ripe fruit of peach, ripe pear and some...
Chardonnay Mencia Savatiano United States New York Long Island
Of all the white wine grape varietals, surely the one which has spread the furthest and is most widely appreciated is the Chardonnay. This green skinned grape is now grown all over the Old and New Worlds, from New Zealand to the Americas, from England to Chile, and is one of the first varietals people think of when considering white wine grapes. Perhaps this is because of its huge popularity which reached a peak in the 1990s, thanks to new technologies combining with traditional methods to bring the very best features out of the Chardonnay grape, and allow its unique qualities to shine through. Most fine Chardonnay wines use a process known as malolactic fermentation, wherein the malic acids in the grape juice are converted to lactic acids, allowing a creamier, buttery nature to come forward in the wine. No grape varietal is better suited to this process than Chardonnay, which manages to balance these silky, creamy notes with fresh white fruit flavors beautifully.
Savatiano is probably Greece's most well known and most widely grown grape varietal, as it is the primary grape used in the production of Retsina, where the fermenting juices of the Savatiano varietal are flavored with pine resin in order to make this distinctive and famous wine. One of the reasons for the wide cultivation of this grape is due to its hardiness, and resistance to drought conditions. In the sun-drenched and dry, rocky Greek landscapes, this makes it an ideal vine to grow for wine-makers who require a strong and bounteous yield each year.
However, there are plenty of examples of Greek white wines which use the Savatiano grape but withhold from the addition the pine resin flavoring, allowing the true characteristics of this varietal to shine through. The result is often very pleasing indeed, with Savatiano grapes generally producing extremely well balanced and rounded white wines, with a juicily fruity flavor. Their aromas can vary quite a lot, with many Savatiano wines bearing the fragrance of citrus fruits, and also occasionally having a strong floral aroma reminiscent of elder and rose. Due to the relatively low acidity of Savatiano grapes, the wines which use them (including Retsina) generally bolster themselves with the addition of smaller quantities of more acidic varieties, such as Assyrtiko or Rhoditis, in order to improve their sometimes weak structure.
Additional Information on Greek Wines
Greek Wines
Ancient Greek Wines – A Brief History of Wine in Greece
The Myth of Dionysus, Greek God of Wine
What is Retsina?
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.
New York state has a wine history which stretches back to the mid-17th century, when Dutch settlers first began cultivating grape vines in the Hudson Valley. Since then, the wine industry of New York has grown from strength to strength, mixing the old with the new as wineries continue to experiment with modern techniques alongside their traditional heritage. Indeed, certain wineries in New York state hold a claim to being amongst the oldest and most well established in the New World, with at least one dating back over three hundred and fifty years. New York state is responsible for a relatively small range of grape varietals, due to its cooler, damper climate, but many varietals such as Riesling and Seyval Blanc thrive in such conditions and produce wines a of singular quality.