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750ml
Bottle:
$169.93
12 bottles:
$166.53
Complex and super intense Palo Cortado, loaded with concentration. Salted caramel, toffee, walnut and some tangy...
750ml
Bottle:
$14.41
$15.83
This is bright for a cream Sherry, with green tea and singed ginger notes out front, providing heft to the date,...
750ml
Bottle:
$64.00
An exceptionally old fino, perhaps the oldest on the market, at about 15 years, from a gentle, gracious family, who...
750ml
Bottle:
$14.94
$15.83
Sea salt, Brazil nut and dried chamomile notes are racy and filigreed, with a stony edge on the finish. Drink now.
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...
750ml
Bottle:
$27.94
$31.19
Shows lovely focus and persistence, with a prominent thread of bitter almond that runs from start to finish, while...
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...
750ml
Bottle:
$28.94
12 bottles:
$28.36
Megas Oenos is 80 % Agiorghitiko and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. The Cabernet is up to 35 years old. The vineyards are...
750ml
Bottle:
$18.40
12 bottles:
$18.03
The AGIORGITIKO series is completed with the creation of AGIORGITIKO by GAIA. Rich and structured, it is balanced...
750ml
Bottle:
$20.80
12 bottles:
$20.38
The AGIORGITIKO series is completed with the creation of AGIORGITIKO by GAIA. Rich and structured, it is balanced...
750ml
Bottle:
$49.94
6 bottles:
$48.94
GAIA ESTATE has a deep red-black color, complex and high intense aromatic profile with sides elements of fruit, wood,...
750ml
Bottle:
$15.83
12 bottles:
$14.25
For the creation of NOTIOS RED two perfectly complementary varieties of the Southern Mediterranean were combined,...
Agiorghitiko Mavrodaphne Mencia Sherry
The Agiorgitiko grape varietal is grown widely throughout Greece and certain other countries, and is prized for the fact it is highly heat resistant, and can thrive on even quite arid and infertile land. It has been cultivated for millennia in the Nemea region of the Peloponnese mountains, where it remains highly popular to this day. It is a grape varietal which can take on wide range of characteristics, from highly tannic and astringent to rather soft and rounded, and responds well to a variety of wine making techniques and methods. Typically, the Agiorgitiko grape varietal produces wines which are quite spicy, and hold plummy and dark fruit flavors It has been successfully blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, and is a popular grape varietal in many countries around the world.
In the Archaea region, high in the Northern Peloponnese mountains, the predominant grape varietal grown is the prized Mavrodaphne. Meaning 'Black Laurel', the Mavrodaphne grapes have extremely dark skins, and ripen slowly under the Greek sunshine, helped by the mineral rich soils the vines thrive in. This grape varietal is mostly used to produce the opaque, inky fortified wine of the same name, which is popular all over Greece and elsewhere in the world. This fortified wine allows the grapes to really show off their complex and fascinating flavors, which range from a rich marzipan to flavors of bitter chocolate, sweet coffee, dried figs and prunes, as well as plenty of jammy fruit notes.
Mavrodaphne is produced in a traditional method which involves leaving the grape juice exposed to the sun in large vats, before having its fermentation halted by the addition of various distillates taken from previous successful vintages. This mixture contains plenty of residual sugar, which gives the end result its characteristic sticky sweetness, and also helps with the next fermentation process, which typically takes place in large underground cellars. The final product is a heady drink, absolutely bursting with unusual, rich and sweet flavors and carried in a dark and slightly viscous Port-like liquid.
Mavrodaphne grapes are also used for the production of still red wines, but are generally blended with varietals such as Agiorgitiko or imported grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon. Mavrodaphne grapes are excellent for mellowing more acidic varieties, and producing deliciously rounded wines, which have taken the international market by storm in recent decades.
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?
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.