Paltrinieri Solco Lambrusco

$25.49

So much fun to drink! This dry, delicious fizz is dark purple-red in hue and hails from Italy's Emilia-Romagna region, just outside of the city of Modena. Pair with Italian cold cuts or barbecued steak, ribs, Italian sausages. You get the picture. From a family-owned winery that has been making fine vino for three generations. 

Paranga Red

$22.09

Paranga is part of the Kir-Yianni winery, founded in 1997 by Yiannis Boutaris, one of the leading figures in the Greek wine industry, when he left the Boutari Wine Group, the premium family wine company that his grandfather established in 1879.

Redstone Gamay

$24.64

Morey Tawse, a financier by trade – is the vice president and co-founder of First National, the country’s largest non-bank mortgage lender- as well as a lifelong lover of wine, Moray Tawse could also be called a terroir collector. 

After realizing the potential of winemaking in Niagara, Moray purchased his first vineyard in 2001. In 2005 he opened Tawse, the winery that bears his family name. He then secured vineyards in his beloved Burgundy and his project with famed winemaker Pascal Marchand, Marchand Tawse was born. Redstone is the newest addition to his portfolio and his second project on the Escarpment. “When you get an opportunity to get a terroir where the wine’s great, you buy another vineyard! ”, he confesses. When the former Thomas and Vaughan property came up for sale in 2009, it was an opportunity he simply couldn’t pass up.

The vineyard, which is ideally suited to maturing late-ripening Bordeaux-varietals, was originally intended to supplement the Tawse portfolio. However, when the first wines were made in 2010, they showed such a different character and terroir signature that Moray decided that they deserved their own home. So the idea of Redstone was born.

Paul Zinck Gewurztraminer

$31.44

Paul Zinck's wines have always been synonymous with great value and his Gewurz is no exception. This is a family owned winery in the small Alsace village of Eguisheim, just south of Colmar. Respect for the environment is part of the ethic of the Zinck family. For that reason, the winery is heading progressively towards organic agriculture on nearly all of the surface area. Today, the vines are grown respecting a belief in sustainable production, along with organic and biodynamic agricultural methods.  In the Vineyard, the growth of natural grasses is encouraged in order to get the deepest root growth from the vines and also to deal with extreme weather conditions. The expression of the soil and the flavours it provides is optimal. 

Painted Rock Chardonnay

$53.54

Painted Rock began with John and Trish Skinner’s belief that the Okanagan Valley had enormous, largely unrealized, potential. While the area was long known for producing some of the world’s finest fruit, it was the wines produced from the 1980s “Vinifera Program” (where vineyards were paid to remove high-producing, inferior hybrids and plant vinifera) that convinced the Skinners that the Okanagan would one day be an internationally recognized wine region. John knew that if they wanted to be involved, and make an impact, they had to move quickly. The goal was simple: find the best property and apply the most aggressive mandate for quality. Their extensive search took nearly three years and ended when they found “The Black Hawk”, a spectacular 56-acre bench on Skaha Lake in Penticton. In 2004 they purchased what was once “the largest apricot orchard in the British Commonwealth”. The orchard had been felled in the 1980s and had lain fallow since. Detailed analysis of the property occurred for the next year while the site was prepared and the property was planted in 2005.  Envisioned as a family-run estate winery, the assumption was that this could be some of the finest “terroir” in the world and it was their job to deliver on its promise.   From expertise to equipment to mandate the commitment was and remains uncompromising. According to John Skinner, “If Painted Rock is going to compete with the best in the world we must have confidence in our terroir and allow it to express its uniqueness. That's why we are 100% Estate."

Detailed analysis of the property occurred for the next year while the site was prepared and the property was planted in 2005.  Envisioned as a family-run estate winery, the assumption was that this could be some of the finest “terroir” in the world and it was their job to deliver on its promise.

Blue Grouse Pinot Gris

$31.44

Blue Grouse is a family-owned and operated vineyard and winery established as one of the founding Estates wineries of Vancouver Island. Originally from Germany, the Kiltz family moved to the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island in 1989 where they established their home and surrounding vineyards. What initially started as a hobby, later turned into a full-scale pioneering business.

JL Denois Extra Brut Cremant

$35.69

Good Crémant is often lauded as a less expensive alternative to Champagne, but while this is true, the more important project is to create a crémant of place and substance that does not seek to replicate or outshine Champagne but rather to introduce its own terroir in its own rite. This, indeed, is what Jean-Louis Denois has done with his sparkling wines. Inventive in its blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and a 10% kick of Chenin Blanc, the estate's organically tended vineyards in the Haute Vallée de l'Aude benefit from an ideal climate. Thanks to their altitude and the proximity of the Pyrenees, the berries are perfectly balanced between acidity and fruit. No need for chaptalization or acidification, it is the precise harvest date that is decisive for a perfect balance and here Jean-Louis's years of expertise honed in his Champagne homeland, his education in Beaune, and his working travels in California, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa have all culminated in this life long project of proving Limoux's viability for world-class bubbles. The palate shows white fruit, almond frangipane, nectarine, and salted pineapple, a harmonious, dry, elegant, and joyfully fruit-oriented wine. Then the finish saunters in with notes of hazelnut, red berries, and toasted bread.

Can Sumoi Muntanya

$33.99

Raventós i Blanc is a winery with one of the longest-documented wine-growing traditions in the world. The family farm and winery outside of Barcelona has belonged to the Raventós family since 1497. Five centuries working 90 hectares of vines and forest, a dynasty closely associated with the land from one generation to the next. Today, Pepe Raventós, who represents the twenty-first generation of the family, farms 44 plots using biodynamic winegrowing methods and is committed to maintaining the estate of vines, wood and lake as a complete entity. Raventós i Blanc is faithful to tradition and upholds the relationship between man and nature at the very core of its production philosophy. The Can Sumoi range is another project from Spain's finest producer of sparkling wines.

Clos La Coutale Cahors

$21.24

St Martin Clos La Coutale is one of the finest producers in Cahors. The property was founded 100 years ago and now produces almost 20,000 cases annually. The wine is a blend of Malbec 70%, Merlot 15% and Tannat 15%. Malbec makes big wine with lots of spice, the Merlot adds finesse and the Tannat gives age ability. Enjoy these rich, earthy flavors with a grilled steak, and don't forget the French fries.