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750ml - Case of 3
Bottle:
$509.85
Intense and enticing campfire smoke, this has beautiful rich fruits behind the grilled aromatics, and is open and...
750ml
Bottle:
$151.80
12 bottles:
$148.76
The 2007 Beychevelle has an attractive nose, fresher and more complex than others in this flight of off-vintages....
750ml
Bottle:
$98.25
12 bottles:
$96.29
Tasted at BI Wine & Spirits' 10-Years-On tasting, the 2007 Brane-Cantenac has a quintessential bouquet for the estate...
750ml
Bottle:
$235.95
12 bottles:
$231.23
A difficult year in theory but, as with many of the good names in Bordeaux, it is tasting excellently right now and...
750ml
Bottle:
$211.95
$235.50
This is rich and powerful, with beautiful dark fruits that really showcase the Cabernet dominance of this wine. Great...
1.5Ltr - Case of 6
Bottle:
$271.80
Rich, impressively ripe fruit, the fruit dense and black, with juicy black plum flavors followed by dusty tannins....
750ml
Bottle:
$70.74
$78.60
Dense and layered with dried apples, pineapples, mangos and lemons. Full body, bright acidity and a long, flavorful...
Pre-Arrival
Chapelle D'ausone Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2007
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$181.95
A smooth wine, rich for the vintage, with black currant and bright fruits and a strong underlay of wood. The acidity,...
Pre-Arrival
Chateau Angelus Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2007
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$378.20
Intense and enticing campfire smoke, this has beautiful rich fruits behind the grilled aromatics, and is open and...
Pre-Arrival
Chateau Ausone Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2007
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$537.73
While there is certainly plenty of wood here, the wine has weight and impressive concentration for the year. The...
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$157.04
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$89.95
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$95.94
Good bright ruby-red. Plum, currant, coffee, graphite, tobacco and licorice on the nose, lifted by a peppery...
Pre-Arrival
Chateau Certan De May Pomerol 2007
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$86.78
Medium red-ruby. Perfumed, complex nose melds redcurrant, tobacco, mocha, cocoa powder and licorice. Broad, sweet and...
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$543.51
There is plumpness to the black fruit that gives beautiful impact on the attack, and here it combines with a...
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle:
$562.84
There is plumpness to the black fruit that gives beautiful impact on the attack, and here it combines with a...
Gamay Mavrodaphne Red Bordeaux 2007
The French wines of Beaujolais are widely regarded as some of the finest table wines in the world. This is due in part to the qualities of the Gamay grape, from which they are made. Gamay produces beautifully, juicy, rounded and gulpable red wines, usually drank young and full of their natural fruit character. However, it would be a mistake to say that Gamay is limited to easy-drinking, soft wines - it’s a highly flexible and versatile grape, capable of producing aged wines of serious complexity and structure, full of expression and fascinating characteristics.
The majority of Gamay wines from France are labeled under Beaujolais Villages or Beaujolais, and these are the standard table wines we’re used to seeing in French restaurants, at bistros, and at our local wine store. Usually great value for money, these are the light, slightly acidic examples of what the grape can do. Far more interesting are those Gamay wines from the 10 cru villages, just north of Beaujolais, where generations of expertise and a unique soil type made up of granitic schist result in far more unique, complicated wines. The best examples of Gamay feature intense aromatics, all black fruit and forest fare, and are worth cellaring for a few years.
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?
There are few regions in the world with stricter regulations in regards to wine production and grape varietals than those found in Bordeaux, France. Here, in the home of the world's finest wines, the type and quality of grapes used is of utmost importance, and the legendary wineries which work on the banks of the Gironde river have mastered the careful art of juice blending to find the perfect balance for their produce. Whilst there are six 'official' Bordeaux grapes, the two key varietals for almost every fine Bordeaux wine are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and with good reason. Whilst Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are renowned for their acidity and astringency, strong fruit and spice flavors and full body, Merlot grapes are notably rounded, soft, fleshy and lighter on tannin. The combination of these two varietals, along with a small percentage of (commonly) Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc, is the perfect balancing act – the two grape varietals cancel out each others weaker points, and accentuate all that is good about the other.