El Grifo Lias Malvasia Volcanica is made from 100% Malvasia Volcanica.
Color: Straw yellow, with light golden hues. Clear and bright.
Aroma: Medium-high intensity of a wine in evolution. Fresh, citrus (orange peel) and tropical (passion fruit and mango) fruits. Flowers (orange blossom, jasmine, violets), fennel, and complex aromas such as silex or flint (phosphorus). Yeast autolysis is reminiscent of the aromas of baked goods and yeast. Bottle ageing brings out hints of dried fruits, honey and caramel.
Taste: Full-bodied, with a lengthy and unctuous texture, very strong natural acidity, citrus freshness, mineral notes and saltiness. Persistent finish.
Residual Sugar 0.5 g/L
Total Acidity 6.02 g/L
pH 3.36
Total SO2 91 mg/L
Guillemot-Michel Une Bulle is made from 100% Chardonnay.
This cuvée was created originally to celebrate the wedding of daughter Sophie Guillemot and Gautier!
The Chardonnay grapes come from a historic parcel of the estate - La Lie-Monin - that had been leased for nearly 30 years and that the family decided to cultivate again in 2013 following up a change of viticulture practice (towards organic) from their main neighbor.
"Bulle" is produced with the "methode ancestrale" - meaning only natural sugars are used from grapes that are harvested at optimum maturity, being less acidic and more aromatic, giving a beautiful fresh and elegant sparkling wine of crisp and juicy flavors, firm acidity and a long finish.
White meat, dessert, fruits, mild cheese, delicious on its own
Review:
"Bursting with aromas of apples, pears, almonds, warm bread and dried fruits, the 2019 Méthode Ancestrale Une Bulle is medium to full-bodied, fleshy and concentrated, with lively acids and a pillowy mousse. It's a touch drier than its 2018 counterpart. - William Kelley"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (August 2021), 92 pts
Guillemot-Michel Vire-Clesse Charleston is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
This cuvée is produced from hundred-year old vines that the great-grandfather planted after he returned from World War I. The family wanted to honor his memory and vinify these vines the same way he did, in old demi-muids.
Charleston is a deep and complex wine that gently express itself in the glass, offering juicy white fruit flavors and a lengthy finish.
Charleston is vinified and aged for one year in demi-muids of over 10 years old. During the following harvest, the wine is racked and placed in vats for another 6 months of aging before bottling.
Fish in white sauce, poultry in creamy sauce, hard cheeses.
Review:
"The 2019 Viré-Clessé Charleston is brilliant, opening in the glass with notes of buttered citrus fruit, pear, beeswax and vanilla pod. Full-bodied, layered and textural, with huge concentration, lively acids and a seamless, multidimensional profile, it's long and penetrating. It's one of the very best wines I've ever tasted from the domaine. Readers will remember that the Guillemot family's oldest parcel of vines dates back to 1918, and the idea behind this cuvée is to work the vines and make the wine in the same way as their grandfather—who planted them—did. It spends a year in old demi-muids followed by six months in tank on the lees. - William Kelley"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (August 2021), 94+ pts
Guillemot-Michel Vire-Clesse Charleston is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
This cuvée is produced from hundred-year old vines that the great-grandfather planted after he returned from World War I. The family wanted to honor his memory and vinify these vines the same way he did, in old demi-muids.
Charleston is a deep and complex wine that gently express itself in the glass, offering juicy white fruit flavors and a lengthy finish.
Charleston is vinified and aged for one year in demi-muids of over 10 years old. During the following harvest, the wine is racked and placed in vats for another 6 months of aging before bottling.
Fish in white sauce, poultry in creamy sauce, hard cheeses.
Review:
The 2020 Viré-Clessé Charleston is the most structured, concentrated wine in the range, mingling notions of crisp orchard and stone fruit with scents of clear honey, white flowers, beeswax and mint in an inviting bouquet. Medium to full-bodied ample and satiny, it's layered and multidimensional, with impressive depth at the core, racy acids and chalky grip. Derived from the Guillemot family's oldest parcel of vines (dating back to 1918), it's built to age.
-Wine Advocate 94 Points
Guillemot-Michel Vire-Clesse Charleston is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
This cuvée is produced from hundred-year old vines that the great-grandfather planted after he returned from World War I. The family wanted to honor his memory and vinify these vines the same way he did, in old demi-muids.
Charleston is a deep and complex wine that gently express itself in the glass, offering juicy white fruit flavors and a lengthy finish.
Charleston is vinified and aged for one year in demi-muids of over 10 years old. During the following harvest, the wine is racked and placed in vats for another 6 months of aging before bottling.
Fish in white sauce, poultry in creamy sauce, hard cheeses.
Guillemot-Michel Vire Clesse is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Beautifully expressive, with yellow fruits, orange blossom, smoke & flint. Thick and saline on entry, then seriously deep in the mid-palate, with suggestions of exotic fruits perfectly countered by strong minerality. This wine strikes a perfect balance between sweet and salty elements, and it shows vibrant acidity. It boasts a thickness that few other northern Mâconnais can match.
Enjoy with fish (such as sole meuniere), seafood, roasted chicken, goat cheese.
Review:
"The 2018 Viré-Clessé Quintaine is showing beautifully, wafting from the glass with a lovely bouquet of honeyed citrus fruit, fresh pastry and orange blossom. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and supple, it's elegantly textural and refined, with a fragrant core of fruit and a long, penetrating finish. Even though it will reward a bit of bottle age, it's slightly finer-boned than the more concentrated, muscular 2017, so I would opt to drink this immensely charming wine before its older sibling. – William Kelley"
- The Wine Advocate (Issue 249, June 30th 2020), 93 pts
In 2007, production was just less than 5000 kg per hectare. This wine is prepared with Tempranillo 100% grapes from our vineyards.
The grapes are initially subjected to a six-day pre-fermentation cold maceration below 14ºC. They then undergo 30 days of alcoholic fermentation at a controlled temperature of 28ºC, after which the wine is removed from the tanks without pressing the grape skins. The malolactic fermentation is slow and relaxed at a temperature of 20 ºC for 28 days without the addition of bacteria.
The wine is aged for18 months in new French oak barrels and is decanted into new barrels every six months. At the end of this period, the wine is blended and bottled without undergoing any type of filtration, clarification or cold treatment.
Prepared with Tempranillo grapes (100%), this wine has a ruby red colour with very pure, intense garnet tones.
Its bouquet has fine complexity with tones of ripened fruit, especially cherries, blue berries and black currants, which are in harmony with tones of good wood, spices (vanilla and coconut) and a liquorice undertone.
In the mouth, this wine displays great balance, proving pleasing to the taste, sweet due to the maturity of its tannins and exuberant on account of its pleasant level of acidity.
Vineyard:
Pago de los Capellanes, Pedrosa de Duero.
Variety composition:
100% Tempranillo.
Type of soil:
Clayey and chalky.
Aging:
18 months in barrel and remainder on rack.
Type of oak:
100% French oak, medium toast.
Serving:
Uncork and decant one hour before serving at a temperature of 16-18 ºC.
The 2019 Ribera del Duero Reserva is also terrific, with gorgeous aromatics of black and blue fruits supported by Asian spices, lead pencils, cedarwood, and violets. It's beautifully textured, medium to full-bodied, has a concentrated, powerful mouthfeel, and ripe, integrated tannins.
-Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
Thorn Clarke Shotfire Shiraz is made from 100% Shiraz.
Striking deep red-purple in color. A rich, voluptuous wine with aromas of blackcurrant and mulberries accompanied by notes of smokey oak and hints of cloves. The palate is filled with dark fruits and chocolate backed up by taut tannins and lingering oak.
Story:
When the Clarke forebearers discovered gold in 1870 at the Lady Alice mine in the Barossa goldfields, so began a family dynasty intrigued by geology. A fine legacy that is reflected today in the terroir of our vineyards. The Shotfire range immortalizes the Shotfirer's hazardous job of setting and lighting the charges in the mines.
Fran shares his story on how he discovered Thorn-Clarke:
"It was October 2001 and I was searching for and sourcing for Australian wines, as it was clear that Australia was going to become the "next big thing." After tasting about 100 assorted wines, I decided I liked the style of Barossa, Shiraz best - chocolate, cherries, mint and eucalyptus - so I started focusing on Barossa growers (years later, Barossa Shiraz would develop its reputation as the Icon Shiraz for Australia).
Late on a Thursday afternoon, the carrier delivered a beat-up box of 12 bottles from Australia, 10 of which were leaking. The box was from a guy named Steve Machin, who had just left Hardy's and was beginning work with the Clarke family on setting up a possible new brand. The samples were sticky and messy, but I popped the corks anyway ..... and I was glad that I did. The wine inside tasted like Christmas - mint, eucalyptus, camphor, and evergreen aromas. Great acidity, color, flavor and length of finish - very tasty. These samples were so good and so exciting, especially compared to what I had tasted prior, that I immediately called the number on the card. I didn't realize that it was a Perth number (Western Australia) and it was actually 3:00 in the morning. It turned out I was calling the residence of David and Cheryl Clarke, where a sleepy Cheryl answered the phone. I told her, you don't know who I am, but we are going to be doing business together very soon, and lots of it! After a few months of talking, faxing (yes, faxing) and sorting out the details, I began importing their wines.
That super-star wine from the busted box of samples is the wine we know today as Shotfire Shiraz. It was originally called Stone Jar, but fortunately we came up with a better name. Many years and vintages later, I'm still glad to be importing Shotfire Shiraz and other Thorn-Clarke selections .... and I'm still glad that Cheryl Clarke woke up for that phone call."