Quintarelli Amarone 2015
$559.99
A must for collectors and fine wine lovers! Quintarelli produces its Amarone only in exceptional vintages, and in doing so, crafts the benchmark for all Amarone. Giuseppe Quintarelli passed away in 2012, and the estate now rests in the capable hands of his wife and children. "The 2007 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico was bottled seven months before I tasted it. Grapes undergo a four-month appassimento for extra concentration and intensity. Despite this heavy-handed winemaking technique (in which the clusters lose up to 30% of their water mass in the air-drying process), this is a surprisingly delicate and nuanced wine. The ageing process has definitely broken down and assimilated any of the hard edges that come from dried grapes. In its wake, the wine is polished and tight with a long, silky texture." Monica Larner from Wine Advocate
Sassicaia 2022
$447.99
From a previous vintage:
In the 1920s the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta dreamt of creating a ‘thoroughbred’ wine and for him, as for all the aristocracy of the time, the ideal was Bordeaux. This is how he described it in a letter to the esteemed wine critic, Luigi Veronelli dated 11 June 1974:
“…the origins of my experiment date back to the years between 1921 and 1925 when, as a student in Pisa and often a guest of the Salviati Dukes in Migliarino, I drank a wine produced from one of their vineyards…which had the same unmistakable “bouquet” as an aged Bordeaux….”
In the 1940s, having settled with his wife Clarice on the Tenuta San Guido on the Tyrrhenian coast, he experimented with several French grape varieties (whose cuttings he had recovered from the estate of the Dukes Salviati in Migliarino) and concluded that the Cabernet had "the bouquet I was looking for."
A wine made mainly from Cabernet Sauvignon was a fundamental change to the Tuscan and Piedmont tradition of Sangiovese and Nebbiolo, respectively. The innovative decision to plant this variety at Tenuta San Guido was partly due to the similarity Mario Incisa had noted between Tuscan terrain and that of Graves in Bordeaux.
‘Graves’, or ‘gravel’ in French refers to the rocky terrain which distinguishes the Bordeaux area; similarly, the gravely vineyard sites in Tuscany impart the same characteristics on Sassicaia, "stony ground", as its cherished French brother.
The Marchese's first vintages were not warmly received. Critics accustomed to light, local wines were not encouraging; it was not taken into consideration that wines made from the more complex Cabernet Sauvignon grape would need more time to mature and develop.
And thus from 1948 to 1967, Sassicaia remained a strictly private affair, only to be consumed at Tenuta San Guido.
Each year, a few cases were stored to age in the Castiglioncello di Bolgheri cellar. The Marchese soon realized that by ageing the wine it improved considerably.
Friends and relatives now urged Mario Incisa to experiment further with his project and perfect his revolutionary winemaking style. It was not until 1968 that Sassicaia was first commercially released – the welcome was worthy of a Bordeaux Premier Cru.
Over the next few years, the cellar was moved to a temperature-controlled location, steel fermentation vats replaced wooden vats, and French barriques were introduced to the aging process.
Tenuta San Guido's newest release is the 2021 Bolgheri Sassicaia.
"This is a classic vintage of an Italian icon now celebrating its 50th vintage. The Tenuta San Guido 2018 Bolgheri Sassicaia lays out a familiar blueprint that borrows from the proven track record of this landmark estate that extends into the hills just beyond the Tyrrhenian shores of Tuscany. This vintage is crystalline and pure in its delivery, and if you are familiar with previous editions, it is impossible to mistake this wine for anything but Sassicaia.
The growing season started off cool and wet but turned to warm and dry conditions comfortably before the harvest. Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc in a supporting role deliver a graceful mid-weight texture that holds back style-wise in terms of phenolic density. The wine's careful balance is achieved thanks to the nuanced character of the fruit, the present acidity, the well-managed structure and the contained alcohol. The palate is lifted and bright, the finish is polished and long, and the wine skips over any heaviness on the mid-palate. The bouquet is especially intriguing with a very lively plummy fruit element that is enhanced by baker's chocolate, pepper spice, iron ore, caramel and pie crust. There is also a green character that adds positively to the bouquet with aniseed, tea leaf, soya, menthol rub and black olive. The fruit maturity is spot-on with no elements that feel over or underripe. Overall, the 2018 Sassicaia weighs in with a svelte frame and long persistence. Moreover, it is distinguished by the archetypal elegance and pedigree of the classic vintages of the past. This new release gives you much pleasure to await."
- Robert Parker - 100 Points
DuMol Ballard Cabernet
$189.99
This single-vineyard 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is produced from a parcel of 16-year-old vines in Napa's Spring Mountain District. Matured 20 months in 57% new French oak barrels from Tonnellerie Sylvain. 96pts Vinous & 93pts Wine Spectator
LMDW Artist 12 Bunnahabhain 1977 40 Year
$4,199.99
The olderst ever bottling in LMDW Artist range, this 1977 Bunnahabhain is listed as a 40 year old, but it is actually 44 years old.
Producer Description
Macbeth Collection Glen Grant 56 Year
$14,000.00
Part of a massive 42 bottle collection of whiskies wherein each release represents a character from MacBeth, which is a little-known off-broadway play by some guy named Bill Shakespeare.
This bad boy is one of the big ones. One of the six apex malts in the range. A 56-year-old single Sherry Butt of what is unquestionably a once-in-a-lifetime dram from Glen Grant that had an outurn of a mere 100 bottles. 92.0pts on Whiskybase
Producer Note: “It was imperative that King Duncan held the requisite status and gentle character. Over the many years we’ve been searching for casks, we have, on occasion, been fortunate to find those truly rare occurrences of whiskies of great age that retain great elegance.This Glen Grant, distilled on Speyside in 1965, fits the bill perfectly: the beautiful light fruit of the spirit, the suggestion of forest floor, dusty books...an abundance of sophisticated flavours that are created only after decades in the finest wood.”
Natural colour, non-chill filtered, and bottled at 48.2% abv.
Confuron Gindre Vosne Romanee
$149.99
Highly collectable and age-worthy Pinot Noir from one of the most prestigious sites in Burgundy.
Wittmann Brunnenhauschen Riesling
$144.99
Another rarity from the esteemed Wittmann domain in the Rheinhessen. A single vineyard dry wine (as all wines bearing the Grosses Gewachs/Great Growth designation must be) from the exceptional 2021 vintage. Tempting to drink now but this wine will age gracefully for 20 years or more.
Lionel Faury St. Joseph 1.5L
$154.99
Magnum / 1.5L Bottle
Along the steep, narrow valley that traces the northern Rhône, the appellations of Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu and Saint-Joseph take their place among the great wines of France, and Domaine Faury is one of the region’s most artisanal producers. When Philippe Faury took over the domaine in 1979, the family was selling wine, peaches and cherries, and the bulk of their clientele was local. Over the years, Philippe expanded their holdings to over eleven hectares. The Saint-Jospeph sees 35 to 70% of whole clusters macerate in open concrete vats for 3 weeks. Gravity barreling occurs in large containers (foudres and demi-muids) for an aging period of 15 to 18 months. The wine is vinified with natural yeast and carried out by gravity, without fining or filtration.
Chateau Feytit Clinet Pomerol
$159.99
Château Feytit-Clinet is a discreet but beautiful property, located on the western part of the plateau of the Pomerol appellation. The domaine has been owned by the Chasseuil family since 2000, who have been keen to carry out restructuring work in the vineyard and the winery to get the best out of its great terroir. They own 6.5 hectares of vines, planted on gravelly sandy soils. The grape varieties are 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. The wines are aged on average between 16 months in French oak barrels, 70% of which are new. Château Feytit-Clinet produces remarkably well-constructed wines that express themselves with depth and elegance, reflecting the best that Pomerol has to offer. The wines are renowned for their great longevity.