San Leonardo 2020
$179.99
At San Leonardo they consider the family’s first real winemaker to be Carlo Guerrieri Gonzaga, who was trained not only to produce great wine but also to manage the family's viticultural endeavours. With Bordeaux at the forefront, he was encouraged to pursue his healthy curiosity for the world’s great wines. This interest led to his decision to study oenology in Lausanne and to deepen his knowledge with research trips to France and Tuscany. The latter was where, on the San Guido property of Sassacaia, he began the long, endearing partnership with Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who revealed all the secrets of the Bordeaux blend to Carlo and became his “oenological godfather”. Giacomo Tachis served as their consulting winemaker for many years before turning that job over to Carlo Ferrini, and in the Italian wine world, it doesn't get any better than those two. The wine is a brilliant ruby red with attractive depth. The aromas are alcohol and fruit-rich when the wine is young, mellowing with bottle aging into ripe plum fruit layered over a faintly grassy background note. Dry, soft and well-balanced on the palate, it reveals a pleasing bitterish twist in the finish. Ideal with rice and pasta in tomato or meat sauces, and filled pasta, as well as grilled meats, poultry, white meats and soft cheeses.
Jaboulet Crozes Hermitage Blanc
$47.99
Made from 100% Marsanne, this rich and expressive white wine typically shows notes of lemon-driven citrus, pineapple, passion fruit and honeydew melon. It typically is vinified and aged in a combination of 80% stainless steel tanks and 20% used oak casks.
For 6 generations, the Jaboulet family has been producing wines in the Côtes-Du-Rhone. After nearly 30 years on the Paul Jaboulet Aine estate, where Philippe Jaboulet ran the family's vineyards, he and his son Vincent decided to leave the company to establish their own family estate, Domaine Philippe & Vincent Jaboulet. Located in the northern Rhone Valley, about one mile south of Tain l'Hermitage, the domain was founded in 2006. Philippe and Vincent retained about 13 hectares of family vineyards, including, first of all, the site "Talaber", which was renamed "Nouvelaire", which means "new era".
A. Margaine Rose Champagne
$96.99
The Champagnes from father-daughter duo Arnaud & Mathilde Margaine are a KWM exclusive, and they are exceptional. With vineyards based in Montagne de Reims, they specialize in Chardonnay (90%) although they also have a small plot of Pinot Noir. This small estate (7 hectares) was started by Arnaud's father (Bernard) in the 1950s and is organically farmed. The vines average 35 years of age, and the Chardonnay is produced from a clone unique to the area.
Seghesio Barolo Ginestra 2021
$139.99
Renzo Seghesio has worn many shoes, farmer and winemaker, cartographer and former mayor of Monforte d’Alba: upon studying winemaking in Alba, Renzo has received a master's degree in biology from the University of Turin and, since returning to Monforte in the 1960s and founding his winery, his intent and focus have been dedicated to the single goal of growing and selecting the best possible fruit from the unique terroir of the family parcels.
Since 1968 Renzo has gone from making his first wine in his family's garage to producing over 70.000 bottles per year from the own-grown grapes of the family estates currently spanning over 14 hectares of land
Greenock Creek Seven Acre Shiraz
$89.99
Thrust into the international wine spotlight thanks to an unmatched eight perfect 100-point scores from the world’s leading wine publication, The Wine Advocate, Greenock Creek remains the proud standard-bearer for long-lived Barossa Valley red wines of deep colour, abundant flavour and great structure.
Their vineyards are situated in the sub-regions of Seppeltsfield, Marananga and Moppa located along the Barossa Valley’s western edge and are some of the oldest vines in the world. Thin, sandy loam topsoils lie sparsely scattered over ancient deposits of bluestone, marble stone, limestone, quartz and ironstone. Rainfall is limited, often to less than 400 millimetres a year falling through winter and early spring. Subsurface clay retains valuable moisture, sustaining the vines through the long, warm and dry summers and autumns. The perfect, low-disease-pressure conditions in which to grow small, healthy bunches of compact, flavour-packed berries.
The Seven Acre vineyard was originally planted in 1990. Each vintage typically undergoes 24-30 months of maturation in American oak with a small amount of further ageing in the bottle before release.
Canals Nadal Brut Rose
$34.99
This unique cava is made from the indigenous red grape variety Trepat, and it offers fresh, fine fruit aromas of strawberries and raspberries against a background of fresh bread. It's full-bodied with a creamy mouthfeel. The delicate perlage leads to the fruit notes on the palate, intense but at the same time a light and lively taste experience. It's a great versatile wine, for celebrating, reception, or as an aperitif or meal companion.
A KWM exclusive!
Carlisle Alicante Bouschet
$74.99
In the last 20 years, Carlisle has bottled Alicante Bouschet only four times – 2004, 2013, 2016, and now, with this vintage, 2021. While the variety is one of their favourites for blending, providing ample colour and adding a bit of complexity, it can fall short as a complete wine, but in these particular vintages, every component is in place, a beautiful nose, delicious flavours, and a long finish. Aged in all neutral oak and bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Tasting Note: Black as a moonless night deep in a bamboo forest (trust us, that’s black!) Blackberries and boysenberries abound in the deep, concentrated aromas. A touch of dark earth as well. Medium-full to full-bodied with plenty of fresh blackberry, ample acidity and suave tannins. While there is plenty of fruit to this wine, it is by no means jammy thanks to its low pH and high TA. This will age well.
Burgos Porta Mas Sinen Coster
$78.99
Mas Sinen is the name of the 15 hectares of organic vineyards and winery run by Poboleda native Salvador Burgos, a man of incredible energy and enthusiasm. Situated on a steep hillside outside the village, where only mules, not machines, work the land, Mas Sinen produces 4 wines, some from rare pre-phylloxera grapes which yield tiny quantities of juice. His friend, Sergi Mendez shows us around, explaining the mineral-rich content of the water that trickles down the hills through the llicorella soil is potable. “We try to put our terroir into the bottle,” says Burgos. The yield is so tiny, that 2 vines yield no more than a glass of wine. The grey stone-faced winery is small but old, boasting of basket-presses ranged alongside steel tanks. In the tasting room, we taste the 2018 Mas Sinen. It is still a baby, Burgos declares, “It will be ready in 2021, after 6 months in barrel.” Burgos’ wines are ageworthy, but he shrugs this away with “Yes, it can age. But wine is made to be enjoyed, and because Priorat production is so small, its wines are rarely aged. They are drunk very quickly.”
Heartland Cabernet Langhorne Creek
$24.99
The Heartland story began in the late 1990’s when winemaker Ben Glaetzer (of Amon Ra fame) became excited about the outstanding quality of fruit being grown in some of South Australia’s lesser-known regions, in particular Langhorne Creek. Together with industry veterans Scott Collett, Grant Tilbrook and more recently, Nick Keukenmeester, they grew Heartland into an award-winning winery. It offers blackcurrant and berry fruits wrapped in a neat parcel of dried herbs, and a hint of eucalyptus. A touch firmish in the mouth, but the finish is long and seemingly endless.