PÁŠXA produces two single vineyard Grenache wines each year to show how expressive this variety is; Rockgarden and River Rock. Rockgarden Grenache is concentrated and fruit-driven with intriguing spice notes, and a hoisin note on the palate.
Review:
"The very pretty and stony 2021 Pasxa ‘Rockgarden Estate’ Grenache is a great showing now at three years of age. What a beautiful nose with red rose petals, anise, orange peel, Umami and suggestions of smoldering stones. The palate is neatly textured and shows very good wight and underling poise, with salty and savory tones. The flavor range here is outstanding. Drink 2024-2032-" 95 points Owen Bargreen, WWB
Patricia Raquin Bourgogne Rouge Fut de Chene is made of 100 percent Chardonnay.
The animals shown on the label are dogs, from the breed called Borzoi, or "Russian Wolfhound", which means "fast" in Russian. Patricia and Alain Corcia are the proud owners of 2 Borzois and they designed the label to represent the dogs as the guardians of the vaulted ageing cellar inside their house.
The wine is produced from 100% Pinot Noir grapes grown on gravel and silt soils, aged in French oak barrels. Medium to full bodied, earthy, fruity and mineral. Structure and tannin on the finish. The wine pairs well with any hearty red meats and cheeses.
Patricia Raquin Santenay 1er Cru Beaurepaire is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
The animals shown on the label are dogs. The breed is called Borzoi, also called "Russian Wolfhound", which means "fast" in Russian. Patricia and Alain are proud owners of 2 Borzois and they designed this label so that the dogs will be guardian of the vaulted ageing cellar inside their house.
The Santenay Santenay is coming from the Premier Cru called Beaurepaire.
The wine is showing a great pale yellow color with gold highlights. The nose is very delicate displaying aromas of white blossoms with just a hint of oak. In the mouth, the wine is very soft with a great deal of minerality, superb length and a tangy finish.
The contrast between our 10 Acre and West Block Pinot noirs exemplifies how slight geographical differences can have significant influence on the flavor profile of a wine. Planted in 1997, The 10 Acre block of Pinot noir is the oldest planting on the Patton Valley Estate Vineyard. Located on the east-facing slope of our vineyard, this area gets full sun in the cool morning hours, leading to a slower, more gradual ripening process and a wine that is typically elegant and lighter in body with prevailing red fruit character.
The 2011 10 Acre Pinot noir shows abundant aromatics, immediately woodsy but overwhelmingly fresh with lavender and red plum, sweet caramel and malt. The palate is lush and broad with sweet cherry, cigar box, and the faintest hint of peat smoke. Soft and very subtle tannins give this wine a solid backbone. A great acid profile makes this wine likely to offer boundless enjoyment when consumed in the short term, or if given some time to rest, the distinct potential of becoming something much more profound. Drink now or cellar 5-8 years.
Paul Hobbs Russian River Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
Sourced predominately from the estates that are defined by their proximity to the coast and Russian River climate, the wine displays vivid crimson and aromas of violet, Morello cherry, and black tea. Velvet tannins on the palate ride along a juicy backbone of flavors such as cranberry, Blood orange, and Damson plum. The finish is long, powered behind a crisp acidity and appealing red clay-like minerality.
Pernot Belicard Batard Montrachet Grand Cru is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Aromas of white peach, white apple, with a beautiful minerality. Also lighty salty, chalky aromas and some bread and brioche flavors and a hint of vanilla.
Poultry with cream based sauces, French cheese, like camembert, but not too strong, also seafood and fish.
Pernot Belicard Bienvenue Batard Montrachet Grand Cru is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Aromas of white peach, white apple, with a beautiful minerality. Also lighty salty, chalky aromas and some bread and brioche flavors and a hint of vanilla.
Paultry with cream based sauces, French cheese, like camembert, but not to strong, also sea food and fish.
Pernot Belicard Puligny Montrachet Premier Cru Champ Canet is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Thee grapes come from the Premier Cru Champ Canet in Puligny Montrachet, from a small parcel of .55 acre.
The wine exhibits a rich and complex nose of floral notes and ripe fruit aromas. The mouth is ample, elegant and mineral, balanced and complex with a great length.
Fresh truffle pasta, Seafood Risotto, Raspberry Panacotta
Pernot Belicard Puligny Montrachet Premier Cru Perrieres is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
The grapes come from Puligny Montrachet, from a small parcel of 1.28 acre.
The wine offers an intense and expressive nose of white flowers and stone fruits. A precise and elegant palate, beautiful concentration and a stony mineral character that echoes the typical Puligny Montrachet terroir. Citrus and orchard fruit flavors, a fresh and long finish.
Pair with lobster Soufflé. Grilled mullet fish with hazelnut biscuits and asparagus, Turbot Filet with vegetables …
Pernot Belicard Puligny-Montrachet is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
The grapes come from the village of Puligny Montrachet, from a small parcel of 3.7 acres.
An expressive nose showing floral aromas, butter and woody notes. The mouth is round and suave with fruity notes and great minerality.
Pair with Sole Meunière, Bresse Poultry with morels, Livarot cheese.
Pernot Belicard Puligny-Montrachet is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
The grapes come from the village of Puligny Montrachet, from a small parcel of 3.7 acres.
An expressive nose showing floral aromas, butter and woody notes. The mouth is round and suave with fruity notes and great minerality.
Pair with Sole Meunière, Bresse Poultry with morels, Livarot cheese.
Pierre Olivier Sparkling Rose NV is a value sparkling rosé, made with Tempranillo grapes from around the French/Spanish border (next to the Pyrenees). This is a new Kysela Project.
This wine is aromatized with a very little amount of Raspberry flavor, giving a nice mouthfeel, with an extra aromatic boost.
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.
"Pale pink salmon. Just a touch off-dry, this is a very pleasant sparkler that reveals aromas of spicy red apple with a hint of cinnamon that carry through to the palate. Well made and exceedingly pleasant to drink."
- International Wine Review (Annual Rosé Report / April 2013), 89 pts
Potensac Medoc is made from 44% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.
The estate's Grand Vin's vineyards are located west of the village of Ordonnac where the vines grow on gravelly-clay soiils. They produce a very fine wine with tight texture, richness and wonderful freshness. On the palate, the wine is pure and powerful, with great concentration, dense and spicy tannins, and mineral tension. Fresh and full-flavored with ripe black fruits, and a finish of great depth. Thanks to these qualities, Château Potensac is often considered to represent the "pure Medoc style". It should be noted that Potensac was the only "Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel" of its appellation, and certainly one of the most persistent ever produced at this stage.
Quintessa is made from 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 3% Carménère, 1% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot.
The 2021 unfolds with Quintessa's signature balance of complex fruit, precise structure, and vital freshness amplified by an especially beautiful growing season. Floral notes— violet and lilac—lift an intensely aromatic bouquet of cassis and black cherry accented with anise, bay laurel, and forest floor. On the palate, firm but fine-grained tannins back dark berry and savory herb flavors interwoven with graphite and iron. Generous texture carries the complex layers to a fine, chalky finish.
Review:
An exquisite wine, relying primarily on Cabernet Sauvignon from a single estate. Aromas of lavender, dried herbs and grapefruit pith combine with flavors of firm fruits and cocoa on a structure of abundant, powder-fine tannin and a mouthwatering finish. This wine is refined, detailed and delicious, with as much elegance as energy. Best 2026–2040.
Cellar Selection
-Wine Enthusiast 100 Points
Rebuli Prosecco is a noble wine with a bright straw color, made from a selection of Prosecco grapes, which highlights the flavors and perfumes of the area. It is ideal for important occasions and as an aperitif. It is also excellent with risotto and noble meat.
"Pretty silvery straw color. Orange, juicy lemon, peach aromas with a crisp, lightly effervescent, fruity-yet-dry medium body and a long, tangy mineral, starfruit and spice accented finish. Exceptional flavorful, balanced and stylish. A perfect aperitif."
World Wine Championship Award: GOLD MEDAL
Beverage Testing Institute - May 9th 2011 - 91 points (Exceptional)
"Toasty, which makes this a little more champagnelike and perhaps more familiar to consumers. Nice balance; quite refreshing."
- Washington Post (Dec 08) - VERY GOOD
"This wine is so much fun that it seems vaguely illegal. Lightly floral in aroma, it shows fresh but restrained fruit flavors. The effervescence is abundant but soft, yet the wine remains structural and refreshing thanks to crisp acidity. Clearly the top pop for parties." - Washington Post (2006)
"Very pale straw. Very fine mousse. Nice elegant bead. Aromas of fresh bread dough, pear, touch of marzipan. Light attack. Semi-dry. Licorice note on palate. Soft, light. Simple, light pear flavors."
- International Wine Review (Dec 08)
This large Spumante estate with just over 100 acres of vines produces high-quality Prosecco. The non-vintage Rebuli Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Extra Dry is light-bodied and flowery with plenty of white peach, orange and pineapple notes in its exotic aromatics and flavors. It is off-dry, but most consumers would consider it to be a dry sparkling wine. Drink it over the next 12-18 months.-Robert Parker 90 Points
Intense ruby red color with purple tints.
On the nose, the wine shows some intense notes of red fruits, especially cherry and slight hints of oak.
In the mouth, it has a good structure, great softness and it is pleasant to drink. Predominant notes of red fruits, with slight spiciness.
Pair with first courses with game, grilled meats, fresh and aged cheeses such as pecorino.
Rinaldi Eramare Piemonte Cortese is 90% Cortese and 10% Sauvignon Blanc.
The Cortese grapes are coming from the Estate's vineyard located at the best exposures between Ricaldone and Maranzana at about 220 meters above sea level.
A salty and tasty white wine; fresh, simple and juicy.
After the alcoholic fermentation the wine refines on yeast for 4 months just to have a better color and taste.
A lot of minerality and notes of grapefruit.
Ideal for an aperitif, or with seafood appetizers, fish first courses, grilled fish, and vegetable pies.
The aging is as Mounir ages his Burgundies: extremely long, never racked, no fining, no filtration. It would be easy to say that we expected the experience running one of Burgundy’s leading producers, Lucien Le Moine, would show in Mounir’s wines. But the actual results need to be tasted to be believed and understood: a wine with beguiling fruit and savory richness, yet extraordinary finesse and detail.
Mounir Saouma likes to describe Châteauneuf-du-Pape as a mosaic, with all the wild traditions and differences together making for very different interpretations. Omnia, Latin for “all,” is his attempt to encompass the entire region’s terroir and winemaking history (and perhaps future) in one glass. The fruit comes from 9 vineyard parcels across all 5 of the Châteauneuf communes, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Courthezon, Sorgues, Bedarrides and Orange (in early vintages, when the Saoumas did not have all the vineyards they have today, they would purchase fruit; today, Rotem & Mounir Saouma is 100% Estate). The wine is then vinified and aged in foudres, cement and 500 liter barrels – a little bit of everything.
2019 was another warm and dry vintage in the southern Rhône, marked by insistent drought and repeated heat waves during the season. With little disease pressure or frost, the crop was close to normal size, but bunch and berry-size was reduced during the growing season by the lack of water. The grapes were thus concentrated and rich in sugar and acidity, although potential alcohol levels were often quite high. Vineyards at higher elevations – Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas in particular — handled the heat better, and the wines from those AOPs are rich yet also remarkably fresh and energetic. Despite the initial concerns about the growing season, 2019 looks to be a watershed vintage in the Southern Rhône, producing rich wines with exceptional concentration and aging potential
Inviting aromas of sliced strawberries, red cherries and rose. Full-bodied with vibrant acidity and succulent fruit. Fine, structured tannins are vertically aligned with the fruit. More dark-fruited than the nose lets on and entirely delicious. I love the subtle spice here.
-James Suckling 94 Points
Very refined, with silky and fine-grained structure carrying alluring bergamot, rooibos tea, incense, dried cherry and lightly mulled raspberry notes along. A long sanguine thread weaves through the finish. Hard to resist now with so much charm, but this will benefit from cellaring. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.
-Wine Spectator 94 Points
SALE!
Lodi, American Viticulture Area (AVA) – The Lodi AVA is located in the northern end of the San Joaquin Valley, Central Valley California, east of the San Francisco Bay. Lodi has warm days and cool nights, similar to the Mediterranean climate. The lower temperatures that occur in Lodi result in fruit with good acidity. A wide range of soils are found in the Lodi AVA, but they generally are deep, loamy, sandy, rocky soils similar to that found in southern Rhone valley.
The Lodi appellation totals almost one half million acres, and the approximately eight hundred growers farm roughly 90,000 acres. Lodi produces more Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and Zinfandel than any other wine region in California, but it is probably best known for its old vine Zinfandel. The vines are often head trained giving them a classic old world appearance.
Zinfandel – The Zinfandel grape is a hearty variety that produces grapes with high sugar levels, often resulting in wines with a high alcohol content. Thought to be a relative of Primitivo that is found in southeast of Italy (the boot heel), Zinfandel can be made into a wide range of wine styles, including White Zinfandel, light or full bodied red wines, and even late harvest desert style wine. However Zinfandel, especially Old Vine Zinfandel from Lodi, is usually made into a full bodied, spicy red wine with characteristics of red fruit, raspberry, and cherry.
Produced in the heart of Lodi AVA.
Rubus Zinfandel Lodi is made from 98% Zinfandel + 2% Cabernet Sauvignon
Bottled after aging in French and American oak for 9 months.
Rubus Zinfandel Lodi presents with ruby red in color, with red fruit, raspberry, and spice on the nose. This wine is medium in body, with notes of ripe cherry, cedar box, cinnamon, anise, black pepper, and hint of smoke on the palate. It has a long, silky finish.
Selected by Fran Kysela MS.
Ruffino Modus Primo Toscana IGT Italian Red Wine is the evolution of Modus, showcasing quality fruit from three Tuscan vineyards on Ruffino's Poggio Casciano Estate, each one representing the best that this centuries-old wine region terroir has to offer. This Ruffino wine opens with a bouquet of ripe cherries and orange zest, followed by layered balsamic notes and spicy hints of sweet tobacco and vanilla.
Review:
Ripe and lively in its sensory profile, it shows notes of black plums, blackberries, sage and laurel. Juniper berries describe the secondary scene. Full body, elegant and relaxed on the palate, it closes modern and captivating. Better from 2023.
-WineCritic.com 94 Points
Rutherford Ranch Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Rich and vibrant with classic Rutherford Cabernet tannins, dark cherry mingled with toasty oak, sweet oak and sweet sage lingering on the palate.
The base for our Reserve Cabernet is from the world-renowned Rutherford appellation, which is home to our Abela and Franklin estate vineyards. Perfect climatic conditions and the region’s deep, loamy, well-drained soils produce dark, intensely flavored Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Our rich soil sets the foundation for an exquisite, cellar-ready wine that will evolve in character and quality for years to come.
This Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is a beautiful complement to ribeye steak, rack of lamb or mushroom risotto.
Review:
A flint and gunpowder nose leads to bold graphite, blueberry and tobacco flavors in this full-bodied wine that is laced with a high level of fine-grained tannins. This wine is meant for aging, being so tightly packed with fruits and minerals and having the structure to keep it fresh while more complex flavors develop over time. Best from 2028–2038.
-Wine Enthusiast 93 Points
Ruffino Alauda Toscana IGT is made from 40% Cabernet Franc, 35% Merlot, 25% Colorino.
An elegant, full-bodied wine, Alauda is a harmonious sum of its parts. Rich with varietal flavors of plum and cherry from the Merlot and layered with ripe berry flavors from the Cabernet Franc, and unique balsamic and dark chocolate notes from the Colorino. The extended oak aging process integrates the blend while providing tertiary flavors of sweet spice and soft, elegant tannins for a lingering finish. This wine will age gracefully for decades.
Dr. Leimbrock Estate Riesling is made from 100 percent Riesling.
Typical Riesling, fresh and fruity, easy drinking. Grapes come from Brauneberger Juffer and Juffer-Sonnenuhr - one of the most prestigious vineyards in the Mosel winegrowing region. The vineyard faces south and provides the best conditions for growing Riesling.
Pairs well with barbecue meats, pasta dishes.