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.
Leeu Passant Cabernet
$59.99
In 2013, husband and wife team Chris and Andrea Mullineux (they own the Mullineux winery in Swartland that they founded in 2007) partnered with Analjit Singh (BAS) and started the Leeu Passant winery on Analjit’s stunning Leeu Estates in Franschhoek. Leeu Passant is focused on expressing the South African landscape and climate as well as celebrating South African winemaking and viticultural heritage by working with some of the Cape’s oldest and most exciting vineyards.
The Mullineuxs set out with a shared vision to create fine wines that reflect the distinct terroir of the area while embracing reasoned, sustainable farming practices and modern minimalist winemaking. This stellar South African Cabernet Sauvignon is harvested from three vineyards in some of the cooler parts of the Stellenbosch region. The wine naturally ferments and is aged for 20 months in 500-litre French oak casks (30% new) before bottling. If you're looking for a substitute for a really good bottle of Napa cab, this fits the bill.
This stellar South African Cabernet Sauvignon is harvested from three vineyards in some of the cooler parts of the Stellenbosch region. The wine naturally ferments and is aged for 20 months in 500-litre French oak casks (30% new) before bottling. Pair with aged Gouda or Cheddar, steak, venison, or lamb.
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 Alices Shiraz
$71.99
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.
Two Alices' are better than one! Alice's vineyard and the Shiraz it grows takes its name a mother and an aunt of Greenock Creek's owners Annabelle and Michael Waugh: Annabelle's mom and Michael's favourite aunt. Alices Shiraz is one of the iconic big reds in Greenock Creek's portfolio and is also the winery's largest vineyard with a total area of 15 acres. The vines on the site were planted in 1997.
Selbach Oster Pinot Noir Mosel
$46.99
“Selbach-Oster might be one of the hottest domains along the Mosel, if not in all Germany.” – Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate.
Today, Johannes Selbach and his wife Barbara, with the help of son Sebastian, manage their vineyards and winery with passion and respect for the estate’s long-held traditions. A substantial portion of their 24 hectares of vines are on their original rootstocks, in Zeltinger, Schlossberg, and Sonnenuhr; Wehlener Sonnenuhr; and, Graacher and Bernkasteler Graben. These vineyards of weathered Devonian slate are on a steep, contiguous slope facing south-southwest and represent some of the most prestigious sites in all of the Middle Mosel, in fact 85% of the Selbach’s vines are on steep slopes. The Selbach family’s heritage in the wine business dates to 1600: Selbach’s ancestors shipped wines down the Mosel in their own ships, the wine carried in oak barrels made by cooper Matthias Oster, the great-grandfather on the paternal side of the family. Thus, the winery developed as both a top estate producing some of the region’s best wine, and also as a négociant and brokerage firm, consolidating the production of smaller growers.
Johannes, like his late father Hans, has continued the use of traditional 1000 L oak barrels in his cellar, bringing in new large casks every few years. Vinification is carried out in a combination of fuder and stainless steel, in a hands-off manner with no fining, and with wild yeasts. The focus is on meticulous work in the vineyard (organic and sustainable farming) with the aim to produce and bring home perfect fruit. In 2016 Christian Vogt, winemaker at Karthauserhof for many years added even more talent to the winery.
Black Hills Chardonnay
$41.99
One of our favourite Canadian wineries! Black Hills became particularly famous for its Bordeaux-style red blend, Nota Bene, but winemaker Graham Pierce and his team also make stellar white wines such as this beautiful Chardonnay. "Rich and rounded, our Chardonnay has been in production since 2006. This is a fruit driven, barrel fermented wine."
The 2022 Vintage consists of 100% Chardonnay that spent 10 months sur lie and saw 6% new oak used before bottling.
Marie Courtin Cuvee Le Blanc Du Tremble
$119.99
100% Pinot Noir, fermented and bottled as a white still wine. From the one vineyard parcel.
The champagnes from Marie-Courtin are truly something special. An ultra-fine, floating style with total fineness. Just delicate and so chic, yet absolutely unique in style thanks to uncompromising biodynamics. All her wines grow in a single plot of 2.5 hectares, which is also the total size of the domain that Marie Courtin founded in 2000. Because all her wines come from a single vineyard, she has decided to emphasize the differences in champagnes through vinification. There are wines matured in wood, amphorae, enamel tanks and one without sulphur. All come from the 2.5 hectares of single vineyard on the Kimmeridge marl soil of the Soden, on the Côte des Bar. Winemaker Dominique Moreau, who named the estate after her grandmother, is a master of purism. Her champagnes, yesterday's entry, so to speak, are flooded with light, delicate and elegant, they always possess a suppleness and a high degree of drinking pleasure.
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.
Ata Rangi Pinot Noir
$94.99
Ata Rangi is a Maori word for "dawning sky" or "new beginning." Deliciously crafted by Clive Paton, this often sets the standard by which other New Zealand Pinot Noir is judged. This is the flagship Pinot Noir of the Ata Rangi lineup.
From The Winery
"Only the oldest parcels of fruit are used in this, our premium Pinot Noir. The fabled Abel clone makes up 40% of the blend. The result is a very complex, structured wine, beautifully perfumed in the classic Ata Rangi style."