Patricia Raquin Nuits St. Georges les Vaucrains is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
"Vaucrains" comes from old French word meaning place with very little fertility (which is very good terroir for grape production)
Nuits-Saint-Georges AOC: AOC wines since 1936, 757 acres of grapes, 97 % red wine, 3 % white wine. Nuits refers to “walnuts in the area, not night”….41 Premier Cru vineyards
Tasting Notes: Powerfull aromas with lots red wild fruits, full bodied wine with great aging potential.
VINEYARD: Gravel and Silt
HARVEST: Harvest by hand.
VINIFICATION: Harvest by hand. Traditional vinification in thermoregulated stainless steel. Pre-fermentation – temperature controlled cold maceration during 10 days. Long fermentation during which pigeages and pumping over are performed. Post-fermentation - maceration at 30°C for 5 days.
AGEING: Aged in new French oak barrels for 16 months.
Roast lamb - Rib steaks - duck
Patricia Raquin Nuits St. Georges les Vaucrains is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
"Vaucrains" comes from old French word meaning place with very little fertility (which is very good terroir for grape production)
Nuits-Saint-Georges AOC: AOC wines since 1936, 757 acres of grapes, 97 % red wine, 3 % white wine. Nuits refers to “walnuts in the area, not night”….41 Premier Cru vineyards
Tasting Notes: Powerfull aromas with lots red wild fruits, full bodied wine with great aging potential.
VINEYARD: Gravel and Silt
HARVEST: Harvest by hand.
VINIFICATION: Harvest by hand. Traditional vinification in thermoregulated stainless steel. Pre-fermentation – temperature controlled cold maceration during 10 days. Long fermentation during which pigeages and pumping over are performed. Post-fermentation - maceration at 30°C for 5 days.
AGEING: Aged in new French oak barrels for 16 months.
Roast lamb - Rib steaks - duck
Patrimony Caves des Lions is made from 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc.
With an inky ruby color, the 2020 Caves des Lions offers elegant aromas of chocolate-covered espresso beans with nuanced layers of blueberries, savory notes of charcuterie, pipe tobacco, and woodsmoke. This festival of flavors continues on the palate with notes of fresh fruit, cayenne pepper, plum jam, and pomegranate. The bold tannins seamlessly balance the fresh and rounded acidity leading to an unwavering finish. This full-bodied and flawlessly intricate wine will surprise you now with its elegance, and later with its longevity.
Reviews:
"Inviting aromas of black and blue fruits with violets, cedar, crushed stones and graphite. A little minty, too. The impressive, compact tannin structure gives depth to the wine, so fine and polished with some chalky texture to it. Stony minerality. Power and delicacy, simultaneously. 65% cabernet sauvignon and 35% cabernet franc. Really long and precise."
-James Suckling 97 Points
Pazo de Senorans Seleccion de Anada Albarino is made from 100 percent Albarino.
Straw yellow with greenish tints, vivid and brilliant. High intensity and very expressive. Profusion of aromas with traces of mineral. Great volume and ample body leaving a lasting impression from beginning to end.
Reviews:
I think the 2014 Albariño Selección de Añada could be the finest vintage of this characterful long-aging Albariño, from a year with a more moderate 13% alcohol and very high acidity (and low pH) that make the wine fresher and more vibrant. It is developing very slowly and showing quite young after it spent over 30 months with lees in 1,500- and 3,000-liter stainless steel tanks. It has a pale color and an elegant nose with notes of freshly cut grass, white flowers and wet granite. The palate is vibrant with effervescent acidity, and it has a long, dry and tasty finish with an austere sensation, far away from the tropical notes of some past vintages. This is superb and should continue developing nicely in bottle. Bravo! It wasn't bottled until April 2023, and 14,000 bottles were produced.
-Wine Advocate 96 Points
Tech:
Penedo Borges Icono Edicion Aniversario is made from 31% Cabernet Franc, 27% Petit Verdot, 18% Malbec, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Syrah.
This red blend is made to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the launch of Penedo Borges Icono. It is a tribute to 10 years of learning, effort, dedication and passion for what they do. For this reason, they have chosen a blend of Cabernet Franc, Petit verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah as a faithful representation of teamwork, where each team member highlights with their best version. Penedo Borges Icono Anniversary Edition is a complex and elegant wine, with great structure and volume and a long finish, thus making the trajectory of the winery and their History.
Deep red color with violet hues. On the nose, it presents balanced notes of ripe fruit, with spices and herbal aromas that give great complexity. Its aging in oak finishes harmonizing aromatically the wine with notes of vanilla and chocolate. In the mouth, the sweetness of its tannins give a complex and long finish.
Review:
"This has dark, chocolatey character with notes of black fruit, vanilla, pinewood and hazelnuts. Medium-to full-bodied, compact and a little tight with a firm texture and bright acidity. Layered. Needs time to open and soften. Cabernet franc, petit verdot, malbec, cabernet sauvignon and syrah. Drink now."
- James Suckling (May 2022), 92 pts
Pierre Olivier Brut Vin Mousseux NV is made from 100% Airen.
A value sparkling brut, made with Airen grapes from around the French/Spanish border (next to the Pyrenees). This is a new Kysela Project.
The bubbles are obtained using the Charmat method, named after Eugene Charmat, where the second fermentation takes places in a large, closed pressurized tank. It is different from the Methode Champanoise as the secondary fermentation doesn't take place in the bottle.
Double Diamond by Schrader Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon stands to outshine the award-winning 2019 vintage with even deeper concentration and complexity. On the nose, the wine leaps from the glass with ripe blackberry, cassis, black cherry, and red plum, with a lovely herbaceous undertone. The palate expresses juicy red and black fruits with hints of black tea, damp earth, vanilla bean, lavender, and just a touch of flint. With fine-grained tannins and mouthwatering acidity that lingers through the long finish, this wine is ready to drink upon release but will cellar well for years to come.
Double Diamond is sourced exclusively from a complement of prime vineyard estates. Sourced from the same famed vineyards as its beloved inspiration Schrader Cellars in Napa Valley’s world-renowned Oakville AVA, including our To Kalon Vineyard.
Review:
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is cut from the same cloth, with plenty of richness and depth, yet it stays slightly more focused and tight on the palate, with medium to full-bodied richness as well as beautiful darker currant, cassis, darker chocolate, graphite, and hints of flowers. It's concentrated and has beautiful mid-palate density, ripe yet building tannins, and a great finish. It's another undeniably delicious, hard-to-resist Cabernet Sauvignon from the talents of winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown. Give bottles a decant if drinking any time soon and enjoy over the coming 10-12+ years.
-Jeb Dunnuck 94 Points
Bastgen Kestener Paulinshofberg Riesling Kabinett is 100 percent Riesling.
Kesten is a small village right by the Mosel surrounded by steep vineyards called Paulinsberg (=hills of Saint Paul). The vines grow on bridle clay slate near the river - a classic terroir that has been cultivated with vines ever since Roman times. Riesling is the most typical grape of the Mosel region that produced a fruity Kabinett with beautiful peach aromas on the nose, rich and ripe fruits on the mouth with honeyed notes and a refreshing acidity. This is a very pleasing wine.
They meticulously tend 4.5 ha (11.11 acres) of which 80% is Riesling. The soil is made of slate. Their vineyards are located in Kesten and Brauneberg, on a steep terrace, and planted to 50-year old vines. Fortunately for Bastgen, they own part of the famous Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr. The vines produce very small, ripe berries that are very tasty.
The grapes are strongly selected, only minimal amounts of botrytis are tolerated. At time of the harvest the grapes are fully ripened with a golden color and tart acidity. After a natural sedimentation process the fermentation occurs in stainless steel tanks under cool conditions. The wine remains on the lees until April, then is gently filtered once, and bottled.