Greenock Creek Cornerstone Grenache
$55.99
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 topsoil's 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.
Blue Mountain Gamay Noir
$39.99
Blue Mountain is the wild and respected territory of which the Mavety family are blessed to be the guardians. As a family business with a strong connection to the South Okanagan site, the goal of Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars is to realize the potential of the individual sites of the land in which the grapes are grown. Overlooking and tending, the Mavety’s life work is an ongoing process of creating something simple yet powerful, to be expressed in the glass and enjoyed. The philosophy of Blue Mountain is to focus on the potential of each variety, continually improving its range across Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay Noir, and Traditionnelle Methode sparkling wine.
Blue Mountain’s strong focus on viticulture across the site allows for an increased representation of individual terroir when the grapes reach the winery.
Durigutti Las Compuertas Malbec 1914
$57.99
It all began in 2007 with the first five hectares of an old Malbec vineyard that the brothers acquired a few steps from the winery, on Callejón de la Reta. Since then, a path of recovery and revaluation of the history and traditions of an emblematic wine region of Lujan de Cuyo begins: Las Compuertas. Over the years, more hectares were added to the project, today 31, and they baptized this place with the name of their mother, as Finca Victoria. This work seeks to accompany the development of producers in the area who maintain their vineyards with pride in the face of the unstoppable advance of urbanization.
M & C Lapierre Beaujolais Magnum
$109.99
A natural wine haven for those searching for wines made free of additives. At Domaine Lapierre they grow their vines organically/biodynamically and ferment them without any additives. The estate was created in 1909 and now covers 18 hectares (nearly 45 acres) planted with the grape gamay black with white juice, mainly in the Morgon appellation with several plots within the Beaujolais appellation. At the domain we believe excellence depends on four essential elements: people, soil, climate and grape variety. They are widely regarded as the benchmark producer for Beaujolais. Despite being natural wines are not funky, weird or chunky, as some are.
Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino
$129.99
Since 1975 Mastrojanni has been crafting wines with a recognizable identity: for each vintage, we always choose the most genuine expression of the land. The intuition soon reinforced this mission to parcel two plots and vinify them individually, an early approach for its time. Vigna Schiena d’Asino and Vigna Loreto are still today the two vineyards that best represent Mastrojanni. At Mastrojanni, herbicides have never been used, and since November 2022, no chemical products have been applied. They cultivate the land with respect, preserving biodiversity and maintaining the genetic heritage of their vineyards.
Massimo Lentsch Etna Teodoro
$35.99
100% Nerello Mascalese – showing itself in the characteristic transparent ruby colour. It was born along the path of the sciara to the northeast, formed by lava flows and therefore fertile and very rich in microelements of volcanic nature. They are about 700 meters above sea level, with Mount Etna looming from above, in a climate of high hills that records significant temperature variations between day and night.
The nose reveals very fine and delicate notes of small red fruits, mineral tones, wild aromatic herbs and cloves. This Etna Rosso is a balanced and harmonious wine, of simple elegance, and with a savoury and persistent finish.
Dugat Bourgogne Rouge
$136.99
Claude Dugat has long been a respected and beloved figure in Burgundy, and the wines produced at his eponymous Domaine have captivated the world. Working alongside him for the better part of the last decade has been his son Bertrand and daughter Laetitia, to whom Claude turned over control of the estate with the 2015 vintage.
While the Dugat family traces its roots in Gevrey back to the 19th century, it was not until 1955, when Claude’s father Maurice purchased the historic landmark Grange des Dimes and converted the stone barn into a winery that the family domaine was born. The family farms some six hectares throughout Gevrey, with many of the region’s oldest vines falling under their care in sites such as Lavaux Saint-Jacques, Charmes-Chambertin, Chapelle-Chambertin, and Griottes-Chambertin.
Redstone Gamay
$28.99
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.
Chateau Pichon Lalande 2022
$539.99
100 - Points, Wine Advocate: The 2022 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande has turned out even better in bottle than I anticipated, bursting from the glass with aromas of cassis and blackberries mingled with scents of licorice, violets and pencil shavings. Full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it's suave, seamless and complete, with faultless precision, pristine integration of tannin, controlled sweetness and a long, expansive finish. The 2022 manages to unite the sensuality that's the estate's calling card and the ripeness of the vintage on the one hand, with a sense of Pauillac classicism on the other, threading the needle to deliver one of the finest wines of the vintage and a benchmark Pichon Comtesse. It's a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc that spent 18 months in barriques (three months more than was formerly the case), two-thirds of which were new. As I wrote en primeur, there's more than a hint of the 1982 about this wine, and like the 1982, the 2022 will offer an exceptionally wide drinking window.