Calvados, Book, mencia, Cilieg...
-
Petit Pittacum Mencia 2022We have been enamoured with the mencia based wines of Spaces northwest since first we tried them. Their beautiful lifted nose spiked with mineral accents that flowed onto graceful pallets raked with fine granit like tannins an earthy savouryness at the edges. They are something akin to cru Beaujolias crossed with the finest reds of the loire and we just cant get enough.
Bodegas Pittacum is owned by the Terras Gauda operation and is situated in Argaza in the heart of Bierzo and made from grape sourced from small plots of organically grown 90 year old vines grown in clay soils on steep slopes.
Glace fruits with crème de mure and raspberry coulis flecked with granitic mineral shards. Mid weight styling come from slippery red fruits and a gentle burst of freshness that comes not from acidity but from a deep mineral vein soaked up from the long roots and rocky slopes. Its like a bowl of mixed berry smashed onto rock and is absolutely delightful. If you have not had the wines of the region or mencia this is a belter of an introduction.
2021menciaSpain355$30.00 As low as $27.00 -
Cesar Marquez Parajes del Bierzo 2022César Márquez Parajes is a coupage of the most prestigious and unique Bierzo plots. Old vines grown as they used to be, without using pesticides or chemicals that can damage the natural balance of the terroir. Each of the plots is worked separately according to their needs and the harvest is carried out manually.
In the winery, 50% of the grapes used to make César Márquez Parajes are destemmed. Then they are pressed in the old-fashioned way, with feet, so that some of them stay whole during fermentation. Fermentation is spontaneous with the grape’s native yeasts. Once the must becomes wine, it is pressed and placed into 225 and 500 litre barrels separately. After 12 months the barrels are emptied and the different wines are combined.
César Márquez Parajes remains true to its roots. A wine that overflows with natural elegance as a result of the quality of the raw material and the expertise of the makers. Freshness with enveloping smoothness. DECANTER
2022menciaSpain355$38.00 As low as $34.20 -
Cesar Marquez Parajes del Bierzo Mencia 2021The super affordable 2021 Parajes really overdelivers in this cool year. It was produced with grapes from up to 45 different plots in nine villages, trying to capture the essence of Bierzo. This regional red mixes soils and altitudes, mostly very old plots and therefore planted with a field blend with a majority of Mencía but also around 10% Alicante Bouschet and 5% whites or other reds like Bastardo, Souson or Estaladiña. It fermented by plot in stainless steel and plastic bins with some full clusters, indigenous yeasts and variable macerations, ranging between 15 and 60 days. Seventy-five percent of the volume matured in 225-, 400- and 500-liter barrels and the rest in a 5,000-liter oak foudre. It's aromatic, floral, perfumed and elegant, with a medium-bodied palate and very fine tannins. It is round and juicy, with very fine tannins and depth and complexity, corresponding to a much more expensive wine. A bargain. He harvested quite early in 2021, and the wines have moderate alcohol. 29,504 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2022. LUIS GUITIERREZ, Wine Advocate
2021menciaSpain355$38.00 As low as $34.20 -
Massimo 2022Comprising of almost all Mencía with just a dash of Tempranillo and Sousón, this expressive, light bodied wine captures the very essence of Ribeira Sacra, grown on slopes above the River Sil so vertiginous they can only be worked by hand. Flavours of blueberries, blackcurrants, and herbs with fresh, lifted acidity. BARRICA WINES
2022mencia, tempranilloSpain471$43.00 As low as $38.70 -
Antonio Camillo Ciliegiolo 2023Antonio Camillo was born and bred in the Maremma region along Tuscany’s Tyrrhenian coast. He chose his homeland, specifically the area of the Maremma alta, to make wines “that can talk about their terroir and that can be easily recognizable for their character and their class”.
Antonio chose to work primarily with Ciliegiolo – ciliegia means cherry – an ancient variety genetically related to Sangiovese that was often used in Tuscany as a blending component for its cherry scented vibrant fruit. Antonio believed in the grape in its own right and set about searching for old vine vineyards, eventually purchasing six hectares in Manciano, a medieval town literally just steps from the Saturnia hot springs. These hot springs have been popular since Etruscan times, but wine-wise, it means that the volcanic soil is rich in nutrients.2023CiliegioloItaly495$48.00 As low as $43.20 -
Envinate Lousas Vinas de Aldea Mencia 2022The bottled 2022 Lousas Viñas de Aldea is aromatic, extroverted, open and immediate, floral, perfumed and expressive, with a juicy and round palate. It's fleshy and round, still with 12.5% alcohol on the label but possibly a tad riper than the 2023 sample I tasted next to it. It's a very approachable vintage for this cuvée. 25,200 bottles and 360 magnums produced. It was bottled in November 2023. LUIS GUTIERREZ, The Wine Advocate
There are some incredible things happening in Spanish wine right now and one of the producers at the heart of this revolution are Envinate. A project between four winemakers who met studying oenology in Alicante in the mid two thousands bonded around a shared ideology and desire to explore and express the underappreciated terroirs of Western Spain. Envinate has since risen to become one of the icons of 'New Spain' a movement which is has reached a crescendo in recent years as young producers strive to craft wines that showcase a patchwork of Spanish terroirs, using indidgenous grapes farmed fastidiously and rendered into wines without artifice.2022menciaSpain471$54.00 As low as $48.60 -
Academie du Vin Library: Drinking with the ValkyriesMore product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
Book$65.00 As low as $58.50 -
Academie du Vin Library: On Champagne
More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
Book$70.00 As low as $63.00 -
On Champagne: A Tapestry of Tales to Celebrate the Greatest Sparkling Wine of All"Sorry to add to the shopping list, but if you love Champagne, this is another must-buy. And apologies for the terrible pun, but it is genuinely true - this book fizzes with wonderful stuff." TAMLYN CURRIN, jancisrobinson.com
Hardback, 279 pages, published 2022
On Champagne brings together a compendium of thoughts, opinions and conclusions of the world's finest Champagne writers under a single roof. Eight sections divide 41 essays into themes including the brands, styles, history (the 'Eleven eras of champagne'), terroir, innovation and the future (from Sherman tanks to spaceships). Complied and edited by the richly talented Susan Keevil, the essays-written between 1882 and 2022-weave together a tapestry of tales presenting the reader with a vivid and multi-layered collage of the region.
It's a journey that starts and ends with capturing that sparkle in a bottle and, along the way, tutors us with the nuances of its chalky terrain, the determination of rebels from Ambonnay to Avize, and the mystery of a Champagne cellar under the sea. We meet the pioneers who created the great Champagnes of the past and the personalities who are greening this landscape, nurturing it through climate change to shape the exquisite Champagnes of the future. Bringing levity, the compendium's heavyweight narrative is punctuated by historical essays such as Evelyn Waugh's Fizz, Bubbly, Pop in the Swinging Sixties ("Gruesome attempts have been made in New Jersey to produce an equivalent"). Simply, On Champagne is an essential volume for every Champagne lover's bookshelf.
Contributors include Tom Stevenson, Essi Avellan MW, Hugh Johnson, Serena Sutcliffe MW, Peter Liem, Tyson Stelzer, Andrew Jefford and Robert Walters, with the 'modern era' welcomed in by Evelyn Waugh
Book$75.00 As low as $67.50 -
Academie du Vin Library: On California
More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
Book$75.00 -
Willie Smiths Pommeau de Tasmanie 18.2%Aged in small apple brandy casks for over 12 months, this rich and generous liqueur is a result of blending pressed French and British heirloom apple varieties with our apple spirit.
Complex and well-structured with baked apple and spice, balanced with firm tannins and cask influence.
Our take on the traditional aperitif from North-West France – enjoy as such or serve with blue cheese or dessert. WILLIE SMITH
NVCalvadosFrance$90.00 As low as $81.00 -
Algueira Mencia Ribeira Sacra Risco 2019Merenzao is the same variety as Trousseau (and Bastardo in Portugal) and was probably brought to Ribeira Sacra by the Cistercian monks who set up camp here in the Middle Ages. Algueira’s Merenzao vines have an average age of 80 years and are rooted in a steep slope of gneiss, quartz and slate in the Amandi Gorge. The fruit sees a wild yeast, 100% whole-bunch ferment, is pressed by foot and aged for 12 months in old oak and some local chestnut vessels.
The result is an extraordinary, unique wine with a complex perfume of finely detailed fruit characters that recalls wild cherry steeped with blood orange, rose and a tincture of wild herb. There’s more colour and muscular density from the solar year, yet it remains super lucid and tender and finishes long, leaving behind a lick of elegant tannin and a perfume of sweet red berries and smoky minerals. This is one tasty Bastardo!
2021menciaSpain355$125.00 As low as $112.50 -
Nin Ortiz Planetes de Nin Priorat 2017More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2017menciaSpain459$130.00 As low as $117.00 -
Roger Groult Calvados 8yo Pays d'Auge 41% 700mlMore product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
CalvadosFrance$150.00 As low as $135.00 -
Cidrerie du Leguer Eau de Vie de Cidre 700mlMore product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
CalvadosFrance449$180.00 As low as $162.00 -
Guimaro Finca Capelinos Single Vineyard Mencia 2020The 2020 Finca Capeliños comes from a warm year, but the grapes have been harvested earlier in recent years to achieve moderate alcohol and macerations have been shortened to get wines that are more elegant and harmonious. The 2020s are quite open and expressive, and the Capeliños displays impressive notes of violet pastille and a faintly Mediterranean note of aromatic herbs. (96) LUIS GUTIERREZ2020menciaSpain471$185.00 As low as $166.50 -
Guimaro Pombeiras Single Vineyard Mencia 2020This is from a plot planted with the classical field blend found in the old vineyards, mainly Mencía with a myriad of other varieties-Caíño, Sousón, Brancellao, Merenzao, Negreda, Garnacha, Mouratón... The full clusters fermented with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in 225- and 500-liter oak barrels for one year. This is explosive with a baroque, exotic and decadent nose redolent of flowers, soy sauce, violet pastille, spices and herbs. It's a little spirity (it's 14.2% alcohol), which probably adds to the showy profile. The palate is a little more backward-it's structured and has abundant, fine tannins, still a little hard. 800 bottles produced. (97+) LUIS GUTIERREZ2020menciaSpain471$185.00 As low as $166.50 -
Adrien Camut Pays D'Auge Calvados 6yrs 700mlMore product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
CalvadosFrance449$195.00 As low as $175.50 -
Christian Drouin Calvados 1995 700mlMore product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
1995CalvadosFrance$330.00 As low as $297.00 -
Descendientes de Jose Palacios La Faraona Mencia 2011Depp, bright purple. Drop-dead aromas of dark berry preserves, Asian spice, potpourri and incense, with an intense mineral overtone. Stains the palate with sappy, chewy black raspberry and floral pastille flavors enlivened by notes of allspice, star anise and nutmeg. Silky, sweet and penetrating on the finish, which clings with outstanding tenacity and clarity. There's an elegance and focus here that's reminiscent of the best Burgundies, but with more power and texture. If I were a third-world despot this is what I'd be drinking every day. STEPHEN TANZER, wineaccess.com2011menciaSpain355$1,383.00 As low as $1,244.70