Calvados, Grenache, Bitters, R...

Fabulous nose of red fruits, summer flowers and licorice. The very complex interplay of huge fine tannins and richness reminds me of Grand Cru Burgundy, but this has a southerly personality. Great velvety finish that goes on and on. Doesn't want to stop. 80% grenache, 10% mourvedre and 10% cinsault (97) JAMES SUCKLING

The 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape Le Pied De Baud comes all from more pebbly soils and is a blend of 80% Grenache and the rest equal parts Mourvèdre and Cinsault. Its medium ruby/purple hue gives way to a medium-bodied, beautifully balanced effort that also has a Pinot Noir-like vibe in its bright red and blue fruits as well as peppery herbs, sappy flowers, and new leather aromas and flavors. The texture is spot on, it's as seamless as they come, and it delivers ripe tannins as well as a great finish. JEB DUNNUCK

Here’s a very classic Mosel Spatlese with exactly the combination of richness, elegance and delicacy that makes this category unique. Such delicate white peach and sliced pear, rose and honeysuckle aromas. Very long finish that is as succulent as it is refined. You just want to linger there for as long as you can. (96) STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

A lacy layer of floral honey lies over the very ripe white fruit aromas of this very elegant Auslese. In spite of the impressive concentration and succulence, this riesling Auslese is still really fine, even filigree. What a great vibrancy this also has at the dense finish! Enormous aging potential. Limited production. Drink or hold. JAMES SUCKLING

The 2021 Kiedrich Turmberg Riesling Auslese is precise, fresh and flinty on the nose yet pretty sweet on the palate. This is an elegant and refined, dense and saline, seriously grippy and stimulating Auslese with enormous aging potential. Very long but very sweet as well. 8.5% stated alcohol plus 110 grams per liter of residual sugar. Natural cork. Tasted in July 2022. STEPHAN REINHARDT, The Wine Advocate

Dark and meaty nose, but with terrific freshness. With aeration, wild blackberry and elderberry notes unfold. Very concentrated and structured with a dense and dry core that some may find a bit daunting, but really impresses us. Incredibly focused and fresh finish that's laser beam straight. Iron firmness at the powerful long finish. From a co-planting of 80% grenache, 10% mourvedre and 10% counoise growing on sandy soil. 75% whole bunch. Matured in a combination of Stockinger oak foudre and clay amphora (96) JAMES SUCKLING

The 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Saintes Vierges comes all from the Les Saintes Vierges lieu-dit and is based on 80% Grenache and 10% each of Mourvedre and Counoise. It was partially destemmed and brought up mostly in foudre with 10% in clay jars. Wild strawberries, darker berries, violets, and an incredible floral, almost tropical nuance on the nose gives way to a medium-bodied, elegant, vibrant effort with a sappy green edge in its tannins that avoids being astringent or off-putting. This fresh, elegant, perfumed beauty will benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and drink nicely for a decade. JEB DUNNUCK

STAFF PICKS 2022 - ROSCOE HALLIGAN-ROSE


What a wine. It was a bit of an all-out brawl this year to see who would take out the big gong. I nabbed a couple of contenders on a recent weekend to examine them properly in the right kind of environment, under a tree in my yard with some mates and some nibbles. At the end There Can Be Only One and that had to be the Freddy Emile 2016. It's like they bottled The Quickening.
The power here is genuinely staggering. It's so compact and tense that it isn't entirely comfortable to taste at this early stage. Even with a few years under the belt it is almost completely primary with little or no indication of age showing amongst that youthfully imploded and inwardly focused fruit. Scintillating stuff. It practically hums with pent up potential. The length is unreal and it stains the palate with wildly mineral fruit. The palate is hugely impactful and it hits like a sock stuffed with pool balls being swung around. It is  a genuine WOW wine but it comes with a caveat, do not drink them too early. There is so much here just waiting to unveil itself. This is probably the best young version of this storied wine I have ever drunk. ROSCOE


Luminous straw-yellow. Complex, mint-accented aromas of nectarine, tangerine and powdered stone, plus a hint of licorice. Then bright, juicy and dense, showing outstanding acid-sugar balance and a penetrating juiciness to the stone fruit and herbal flavors. Finishes multilayered and very long, displaying noteworthy clarity and limy cut on the saline finish. Wine lovers everywhere know just how great Frédéric Emile Rieslings can be, but this looks to be a real knockout in the making; I absolutely love this wine's mineral drive and precision. It pulls off the neat trick of being both very ageworthy and also lovely to drink right now. I was happy to know that my palate was still working after an extremely long day of tasting when I told Pierre that in this vintage of Frédéric Emile I found more of the Geisberg than the Osterberg (in most vintages, the wine is a blend of 60/40 Osterberg-Geisberg, at times even 70/30, but this year it's more like 55/45). (97+) IAN D'AGATA, Vinous Media

The lemon-sherbet note here is really beautiful. Then comes a wealth of herbs, ranging from thyme to parsley, with a touch of sea salt, before turning to more floral nuances, such as cherries and almond blossom. The powerful acidity seems to surround the whole mouth and makes this almost like licking a lemon; the unmistakable dryness is all the more enjoyable because of it. Long and very elegant on the finish. STUART PIGOTT

Black fruit coulis, intense spice aromas and some smoke on the nose. Powerful and robust in the best possible way, the tannins are remarkably polished for a Rhone red with stacks of mourvedre in it. Very compact core, but also excellent energy on the full-bodied palate. Bold and very structured, but there's a wonderfully delicate sweetness, too. A cuvee of 50% mourvedre and 50% grenache from old vines on the high plain of Gigondas. 75% whole bunch. Matured in a combination of Stockinger oak foudre and clay amphora. (95) JAMES SUCKLING

Dark violet color. The nose presents powerfully scented cherry-cola, blackberry, fruitcake and exotic spice aromas, along with suggestions of licorice and incense. Offers penetrating, finely etched red and dark berry preserve, allspice, candied floral and smoked meat flavors that deepen and become sweeter as the wine opens up. Closes with superb tenacity and building tannins that frame reverberating floral and dark berry notes. (96) JOSH RAYNOLDS

Lastly, and a big step up, the 2020 Gigondas Les Hautes Garrigues is equal parts Grenache and Mourvèdre that was raised in foudres and amphorae. It doesn't have the sheer power or concentration of previous great vintages, but I love its balance, purity, and finesse. Red and black fruits, spicy garrigue, and floral notes make for a classic Gigondas that's medium to full-bodied, has ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. It's a gorgeous Gigondas any way you look at it. Give bottles 4-5 years and enjoy over the following 15+. JEB DUNNUCK

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!

The 2022 Riesling Kiedricher Gräfenberg Grosses Gewächs has a notion of tangerine alongside yellow plum, followed by yellow plum skin and citrus peel. The palate is juicy, almost bouncy, with Reine Claude's vividness, pervaded by zesty, ripe lemon resting on a gentle layer of yeast. It's concentrated, almost allowing glimpses of more distant, tropical fruit, yet all within that frame of citric freshness. It shows tautness, linearity, direction and energy with Weil’s drive, yet it is always cool and dynamic. We only see a fraction of this power at this point, but it is undoubtedly there. Subtle citrus perfume denotes elegance, but the muscular elegance gets you. Wow. It was bottled in early August 2023 for release in September 2024. (Bone-dry) ANNE KREBIEHL MW, Vinous

Bright straw. Deep, refined aromas of peach, nectarine, lemon jelly and tangerine jam, complicated by spicy botrytis. Rich, dense and juicy, this luscious beauty has a remarkable light-on-its-feet quality; the very pure orchard fruit, smoky and honeyed flavors are neatly extended on the long, suave, concentrated finish by lively, harmonious acidity. Knockout SGN from an estate with a long history of excellence (96) IAN D’AGATA, Vinous Media

An exotic fruit extravaganza! Luscious and seductive. This remains totally straight, all thanks to the vibrant acidity and the purity of the flavors. Right through the very long clean finish. Delicious now, but this wine will develop magnificently over at least a quarter of a century. (98) SRUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

The 2022 Riesling Kiedricher Gräfenberg Spätlese shows restrained greengage and Reine Claude plum. The vivid aroma of these stone fruits is delineated on the palate, boosted by residual sweetness like sorbet made from the fruit, melting on the palate and releasing its aroma moment by moment, reaching a peak of creamy peach ice cream, always tempered by vivid freshness and a tangy citrus edge. Just so elegant, so zesty, so beautiful, so balanced. Squeaky clean, elegant, striking and delicious. (Sweet) ANNE KREBIEHL MW, Vinous

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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!

Poli are best known for there fine range of premium Grappa, liquers and distillates from North east Italy. Established in 1898 this quality producer has over a 100 years' experience with distilling. Recently they have produced a unique Gin - MARCONI 46. Artisanaly distilled and obtained from a unique infusion of juniper berries, muscat grape, mountain pine, cembra pine, mint, cardamom and coriander reminding of the Asiago plateau in the north of the Veneto region, where the Poli family comes from. This is a heady and perfumed gin that is at once powerful and refined. A truly unique product that speaks of its home in the hills and of the philosophy of this family run operation.

In addition to this month's Italian Mixed dozen we thought we would like to offer a Negroni pack featuring this incredible product. We have matched it with our very own Vermouths and Bitters from its western counterpart Turin Vermouth. Their philosophy is to maintain tradition through the production while sourcing aromats and herbs from all over the world and based on the local wines of the Piemonte's hills. Together this forms once of the world great classic cocktail- the Negroni.

This classic was first created for Count Camillo Negroni in 1919 at Florence's Café Casoni.  A century later and millions of Negroinis, and this has sealed itself as one of the world's greatest classics. Below is the deceptively simple and delicious cocktail. We have included 2 bottles each of the Turin Bitters and the Drapo Rosso Vermouth so once you have gone through your first bottle of Marconi 46 all you have to do is grab another bottle or choose any one of your favourite local or international gins.

Ingredients

1 oz. Italian Bitters
1 oz. Gin
1 oz. Sweet vermouth

Instructions

Stir Tuve Bitters, gin, and vermouth in an ice-filled tumbler; garnish with orange slice.

Still very youthful on the nose, this is crammed with ripe peach, plus more delicate notes of pineapple and mangosteen. It’s a minor miracle that this kind of concentration can be packed into such a sleek, medium-bodied palate. What an amazing mouthfeel this has thanks to the seamless integration of slatey acidity and ripeness. Very long finish with spot-on balance. (97) STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

The pinnacle of racy, stony riesling with an incredible Amalfi-lemon, lime and wild-herb freshness. On the medium-bodied palate, it's beautifully elegant before a titanic wave of wet-stone minerality washes you away. How to come back from that and deal with normal wines? (100) STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com 

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!

The 2023 Riesling Kiedricher Gräfenberg Grosses Gewächs opens slowly but teases with scents of lemon balm and chervil, followed by a touch of yeast and citrus foliage. The palate is superbly fluid, pushing forward with citric energy, life force and exuberance. The senses can only hope to catch up with this dynamic movement. That scented cloud of citrus revels in refreshing yet absolutely full-fruited briskness. This is a picture of a dry Riesling—exciting, sleek and full of joy. (Bone-dry) (98) ANNE KREBIEHL MW, Vinous

The 2023 Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Trocken GG is pure yet still discreet on the intense, flinty and iodine-scented nose that is remarkably coolish and precise for the vintage but particularly the Gräfenberg. Very elegant and intense on the palate, this is a full-bodied, pure and saline Riesling with savory acidity and a concentrated fruit core. The wine is full-bodied and intense, powerful but even more mineral and complex, especially on the finish. It's less rich and broad-shouldered than usual, but it's the big brother of Turmberg and Wasseros, alias Monte Nostrum. Very intense and long, this is a substantial and complex Gräfenberg and possibly one of the finest in recent years. It has more reduction than in other vintages and thus is pure and terroir-driven and also brighter than usual. 12.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in August 2024. (97) STEPHAN REINHARDT, The Wine Advocate

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!

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!

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!

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!

What an extraordinary nose of pink grapefruit, Thai basil and flint. This medium-bodied dry riesling is extremely focused and racy, but also wonderfully juicy, and the interplay of these two sides is like ying and yang. Electric energy powers the extremely long, stony and spicy finish. Great aging potential! From organically grown grapes. Vegan. Drink or hold. (97) STUART PIGGOT

Riesling Lorcher Seligmacher has a gentle nose of Navel orange flesh, fresh, fruity and ripe. More air gives a sense of ripe, sweet apple flesh. The palate is juicy and bright. The concentration drives home a sense of zestiness, but there is a fill of orange flesh juiciness. The finish is dry, but this is richer, rounder, beautifully juicy and serene. It finishes just about off-dry with more of those lovely ripe citrus notes. (Off-dry) ANNE KREBIEHL MW

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We've come across a swathe of Argentinian wines that both excite and delight. There's a certain wild beauty to Argentine wine, and altitude plays a huge role. Many of Argentina's best vineyards sit far above sea level, where sun-drenched days meet cool crisp nights. This diurnal shift preserves acidity while ripening the fruit to vivid intensity, marrying freshness to flesh.

This 6 pack includes five malbecs and one torrontes blend:
1 x Bodega Colome Estate Malbec 2022
1 x Ernesto Catena Padrillos Malbec 2024
1 x Laura Catena La Posta Paulucci Malbec 2023
1 x Mattias Ricatelli Hey Malbec 2023
1 x Achaval Ferrer Mendoza Malbec 2022
1 x Amalaya Vino Blanco Torrontes 2024

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LAST 7 BTLS AVAILABLE

How can you resist the delicacy and finesse of this super-elegant dry riesling? So light on its feet, in spite of the major stony minerality that reaches every nook and cranny of your palate. So pristine and straight in the crystalline finish that doesn’t want to stop. (98) STUART PIGGOT

What a nose of floral honey and dried flowers this fabulous Auslese has. In spite of the abundant richness what makes this stand out is the invigorating mineral freshness. And the further back the wine rolls over your palate the more amazing it becomes. Enormous aging potential. From organically grown grapes with Fair'n Green certification. Drink or hold. (97) STUART PIGGOT

Black raspberry fruits and a potpourri of dried country herbs lavender, mint, thyme and sinsimella. Marked by the leather and spice of SamsÌ_, but entirely without heaviness, it has a lovely fresh and easy release. Spicey, chewy, nice sweet pippy-purple fruits of a fine, open developed balsamic herbal expression and a deep sense of the earth.

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!

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!

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!

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!

This year, Pete Fraser will launch the High Sands, Ovitelli and Hickinbotham together, giving a better chance to view the connectivity. Well, there is certainly a theme in the '23s. A degree of alcohol less, lower colour and a commanding, yet incredibly fine, structural framework. This is a very different High Sands, a reflection of the cool year, but also an evolving direction, leaning into elegance, soaring fragrance and savoury tension. Red cherry, tart raspberry, intensely floral, swirling with North African spices, musk and orange peel. The palate is coiled at this stage, but the fruit has flex and will bloom with time in bottle, radiating out from the core of mineral-feeling tannin and skein of vigorous acidity. This is truly magnificent now, but the future is one of dazzling possibility. (98) MARCUS ELLIS, winecompanion.com

Polygon No. 5 consists of two very similar nearby parcels making up 0.37 hectares in size. Working with terroir  specialist, Pedro Parra, we identified this polygon to be  uniquely significant because of its heavily fractured schist  composition. There are deeper soils sitting above a thick  band of micaceous schist that contains veins of iron-rich clay  within the fractures. NASAA certified organic and biodynamic.

The 2021 Riesling Cuvée Ste. Catherine is from 60-70-year old vines on the midslope of the Schlossberg Grand Cru. This took a whole year to ferment and stopped at around 5g/L of residual sweetness. It's richer than usual for the domaine, but with the acidity of 2021, this actually sits well. The most subtle hint of orange blossom is all the nose wants to reveal. More temperature reveals an overtone of pineapple juice. A tiny flicker of smoky reduction appears, too. The palate is bold, clean-cut, serene and scented. This is the crystalline nature of granite making itself known. The pithy texture makes the mouth water even more. The aroma and the texture of freshly zested Amalfi lemon are on the long finish. This has body but no fat - a gorgeous synthesis of freshness and citrus, long and elegant. Real drive and much energy. (Bone-dry) 96/100 ANNE KREDIEHL Vinous

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The devil isn't in the details but in the very center of the peaches and mangoes. Amazing freshness, vitality and finesse on the superfocused, medium-bodied palate. What makes this stand out is the incredibly stony finish, a touch austere for some, but who can resist the ultimate in minerality? (100) STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com 

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!

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!

There’s a bit of mountain stream in the fragrance of the Scharzhofberger Kabinett, but the primary aromas come from local orchards and citrus-fruit groves. Don’t expect an exuberance of sweet temptation on the palate, as zest and spice play at least as significant a role as residual sugar. But what makes the Scharzhofberger so unique is not the fruit, but the zest and spice it is delivered with. It’s still taut at this early stage, not so much a ‘come hither’ but a ‘come up and see me sometime’ Kabinett. MICHAEL SCHMIDT, Jancis Robinson

The 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape le Plateau—the only one of these four vintages to be bottled—is velvety and forward, with notes of ripe cherries, cedar, vanilla and mocha. It's full-bodied, but not overbearingly tannic, making it approachable already. Only the second vintage to be produced, it's a 60-40 blend of Grenache and Syrah that matured in a mix of tanks and new barrels. JOE CZERWINSKI, The Wine Advocate

In the same ballpark, the 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Le Plateau comes only from the Mont Redon plateau and is a limited release based on 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah brought up in a mix of used and new barrels. Its saturated purple color is followed by a rocking bouquet of black raspberries, cassis, graphite, violets, and crushed rocks. With plenty of background oak, terrific depth of fruit, full body, and ripe, present tannins, it’s another balanced, age-worthy effort from this estate that should be snatched up by readers. Give bottles 4-5 years and enjoy over the following two decades. (93-95) JEB DUNNUCK

Made in small volumes only in the best years, this comes from plots chosen on the famed Le Plateau de Mont-Redon, the high plateau of galets roules, (large round stones) that makes this one of the most prized terroirs in the appellation. These large stones up to 2 metres deep combine with fine safre (sandy soil) over thin layers of clay which provide important water holding capacity providing an ideally moderate supply of water. The plateau sits high and is exposed to the sun and the Mistral wind giving an optimal ripeness and sanitary state for the vineyard.

Made from parcels of Grenache (63 % planted 1940s) and Syrah (31 % planted 1950s-1960s) and 6 % Mourvèdre. Hand harvested and 100% destemmed with 2-3 days of cold maceration and skin contact of 15-20 days during which extraction is performed mostly by punching down the cap of the ferments. Elevage of 40 % in stainless steel and 60 % in barrels (50 % new) for 18 months, the selected parcels are blended and aged on fine lees for a further 10 months in tank before bottling. Immense ageing capacity giving a wine which shows the quintessence of the older vines of Le Plateau de Mont-Redon.

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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!

This 6 pack includes some of Australia's best Grenache:

2 x Old Macdonald Grenache 2022
2 x Smart Clarendon Grenache 2022
2 x Little Branch Grenache 2022

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2 BOTTLES AVAILABLE

Keeping the classical profile, the 2016 Clos Mogador has been fine tuned, reducing the French grapes, and it matured approximately 18 months in oak foudre and barriques. There is a lively sensation on the palate, vivacious and with very fine tannins. It has a meaty touch and feels really young , despite the long élevage. There is a strong mineral sensation on the palate, something that is a texture and mouthfeel rather than a flavor. This is an unusual, fresh vintage. LUIS GUTIERREZ, Robert Parker

2 BOTTLE LIMIT

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