SPARKLING WINE

Crushed rose petals, cranberry, white pepper and mint are some of the signatures in Paillard's pale-colored NV Extra Brut Rosé Premier Cuvée. Lifted, precise and refined, the Rosé is nicely balanced throughout. ANTONIO GALLONI

The NV Premier Cru Extra Brut Mi-Pentes is a selection of parcels that are located on the mid-slopes around the village of Écueil. It's pure Pinot Noir that is mostly (70%) from the 2014 vintage, complemented by 30% from the 2013 vintage, and 20% of the cuvée was fermented in oak. The wine offers a pure and fruity yet still lean and rather reductive bouquet. On the palate, this is a very fresh, pure, mineral and tensioned Pinot Noir with good grip and lingering salinity and structure. Still very young, this should benefit from further bottle aging. Disgorged in July 2017 with three grams of dosage. Tight and fresh, it still needs some time. Tasted in April 2018. STEPHAN REINHARDT, The Wine Advocate

The NV Conegliano Valdobbiadene Così È is a fun Pet-Nat style Prosecco, having undergone a secondary fermentation in bottle. Notes of sour lemon, pineapple, granny smith and crushed stone can all be found in the glass. It’s soft in texture yet bone dry, with stimulating acids and minerals which work to completely cleanse the palate between each sip. Flavors of dried apricot and pear linger along with a twang of mouthwatering citrus. Although a bit funky, this is a pleasure to taste. (92) ERIC GUIDO, www.vinousmedia.com

Here the secondary fermentation in bottle is encouraged by the addition of unfermented must (juice) of the same wine. The wine does not undergo disgorgment and so retains the natural yeast sediment which, if disturbed, gives the wine a slightly hazy appearance. This is a nod to the traditional styles of the region enjoyed by the Cosmo family in the days of their parents and grandparents. It presents with a slightly softer profile and more subtlety of character than some of the other cuvees. For me it is the kind of wine that you want to pop at the start of a long lunch or dinner with friends, it is eminently digestible and provides serious ease for consumption. ROSCOE

An extreme version of a sparkling glera, with no sulphites and no disgorging. BELLENDA

Sourced from their best parcels of fruit this is, in many ways, the flagship of the estate but sadly also one of the smallest amounts made. For the initial fermentation about half of the fruit is left on skins and a portion (roughly 60%) is aged in barrel with the remaining portion resting in stainless steel. Secondary fermentation occurs in bottle and the wine is aged on lees for 24 months before being released sur lie (on its sediment) with zero additions an no sulphur used. It is a wild and heady bottling full of nuance and detail with gorgeous texture and plenty of intensity. Radicale brings together the Cosmo family's traditional methods and modern techniques, the result is a wine that is completely unique to Bellenda and the region. It is well worth hunting down. ROSCOE

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!

The NV Brut Le Rosé is another attractive Champagne from Alexandre Chartogne. Creamy and supple, the Rosé offers good up-front appeal, if not quite the persistence or energy of the very best wines in the range. I would prefer to drink it over the next few years. Dosage is 6.7 grams per liter. Disgorged: April 2018. ANTONIO GALLONI, Vinous Media

The richness, freshness and toasty character here is impressive, really offering so much. The palate has very precise lemons and white peaches and a smooth, fleshy and fresh, cashew-nut edge at the finish. Drink now. JAMES SUCKLING 2019

One of the pioneers of the blanc de blancs style, Charles Heidsieck only relaunched its 100% Chardonnay NV Champagne in 2018. Round but incisive and fresh, this has lovely balance between its creamy, woody mouthfeel and its fresh, saline acidity. A lovely food wine. JAMES BUTTON, Decanter 

Theodorine is names after the vinegrowers daughter. It's a blend of Meunier, Chardonnay, pinot noir and red wine from pinot noir.

...Vibrant, lively, lemon and ginger with green apple characters. Has this slightly wild sourness in the mix, lots of sea spray and salty minerality, a very refreshing zesty expression with a compelling edginess that sits outside traditional sparkling wine styles. I really like this. MIKE BENNIE, The Wine Front

Méthode traditionnelle, 72/28% pinot noir/chardonnay. Fourth release, with a low dosage (7g/L), disgorged in June, 2021. Complex floral and citrus aromas introduce this charmer with pastry and yeasty notes in support. With input from reserve wines – 2017 and ' 18 reserve chardonnay and pinot noir, aged in old barrels – the palate delves into mandarin, cumquat, nougat and toast, in harmony with a surge in tangy acidity. Great balance and length on display. JENI PORT, James Halliday

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!

Marco de Jerez region, vinos de la Tierra de Cádiz
Alejandro (Alex) Narváez and Rocío Áspera are native Jerezanos and first-wave Marco de Jerez revolutionaries, reviving terroir and a variety of historical wine styles. It's a young project, conceived of in 2009 and producing its first bottles from the 2012 (first Tinto) and 2013 (first Blanco) harvests. It has a long gestation though: they have been a couple since they were in high school! In 2011, Rocío graduated as a Master of Warm Climate Winemaking from Cádiz University. Alejandro is half-French, and previously worked as a winemaker at Smith-Haut-Lafitte.

This is hand-picked organic Palomino grown in Pago Balbaina Alta, then given the Ancestral bubbling treatment. Not being a style supported by the DO currently, as with the other Forlong wines, it's labed Vino de Tierra de Cadiz.

Fermentation is the same for vinosity and for adding bubbles: the wine is bottled before the alcoholic fermentation has converted all of the sugar. This starts in tank and finishes in bottle. 8 months' later is a hand disgorgement and the bottles are refilled with the same wine. 12% abv. THe SPANISH ACQUISITION

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!

A sleek Champagne, with flavors of white cherry and blood orange that are ripe and expressive, accented by honeysuckle, minerally chalk and sliced almond notes. Well-knit and fine in texture. Mouthwatering finish. Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator

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!

One of our key wine team members in Sydney, Alex Dobson has chosen this for his staff pick for 2021, here's why:

The pure mineral expressions of Chardonnay from Larmandier Bernier were the first that drew me to grower Champagne and if you love incredibly fine, pure and precise Champagnes that aren't plumped up with dosage, then this is going to be right up your alley. The 2014 Terre de Vertus  is drawn from the two 1er Cru vineyards of Les Barillers and Les Faucherets in Vertus which are particularly renowned for their chalky, mineral character and this Champagne delivers those in spades leaning savoury and mouth-wateringly saline on the finish. Give this a little time to open and shake out it’s feathers and then pair it up with oysters and fried fish for a pairing that will make this Champagne sing. Grab a few more bottles for the cellar though as this one will really grow into itself with a few more years under it’s belt. ALEX DOBSON, PWS

 

Established by Gabriele and Miriam Dalcanele in 2006, La Dama represents the new breed of winemakers in the region. Modern, fresh yet compelling wines coaxed from organically farmed vineyards in the fabled commune of Negrar. It's also pertinent to note that Gabriele spent some time making sparkling wine before starting LA Dama and is well-versed in the style. This is also no afterthought, pet nat either. He only uses the best molinara grapes off the property to make this incredibly delicious sparkling. 

Wonderful cassis and cranberry fruit all punchy, bright, and layered with a delicate spice and chalky top note. Gentle bubbles caress with a fine film that carries pristine red fruits along. Lovely balance with a freshness and nervy energy that you expect from the style but so often don’t receive. Honestly, this is a masterclass in what pet-nat should look like – bright, crunchy, and full of life with a purity of fruit at its core.

Black Friday Special - Limited stocks

Here the secondary fermentation in bottle is encouraged by the addition of unfermented must (juice) of the same wine. The wine does not undergo disgorgment and so retains the natural yeast sediment which, if disturbed, gives the wine a slightly hazy appearance. This is a nod to the traditional styles of the region enjoyed by the Cosmo family in the days of their parents and grandparents. It presents with a slightly softer profile and more subtlety of character than some of the other cuvees. For me it is the kind of wine that you want to pop at the start of a long lunch or dinner with friends, it is eminently digestible and provides serious ease for consumption. ROSCOE

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!

(58% Chardonnay and 42% Pinot Noir; 3.5 g/l dosage; L329 9160): Light, orange-tinged pink. Lively spice- and mineral-accented red berry and citrus fruits on the nose, with a hint of cherry pit adding depth. Vibrant and precise on the palate, offering tangy, refreshingly bitter-edged blood orange and strawberry flavors. Clean, focused and stony on the dry, penetrating, persistent finish, which leaves a suave honeysuckle note behind. JOSH RAYNOLDS

Disgorged in 2019 with eight grams per liter dosage, the 2012 Brut Millésimé offers up aromas of crisp orchard fruit, white flowers and clear honey, complemented by hints of toasted bread, citrus zest and linden. Medium to full-bodied, elegantly fleshy and nicely concentrated, with lively acids and a pinpoint mousse, it's more generous and demonstrative than the 2008, but it will nonetheless reward a bit of bottle age. WILLIAM KELLEY, eRobertParker.com

Aromas of Italian croissant, cooked apple and tarte tatin. Medium-bodied with a roundness and freshness. Steely. Floats on the palate like you are in the clouds. (96) JAMES SUCKLING

It shines in this blend with clarity, precision and excellent freshness of apple, pear, grapefruit and lemon. All the theatrics of his masterful reserve solera build out a backdrop layered with enticing brioche and mixed spice. Its fruit presence contrasts a well-poised malic acid line, with the magnificent frothing salt mineral structure of Le Mesnil singing loud and clear… TYSON STELZER, The Champagne Guide

A precise, crystalline wine, the NV Brut Cuvée de Réserve is the perfect wine with which to explore the Péters Champagnes. Lemon peel white, flowers and slate are super-expressive throughout in a Champagne that impresses with its finely-sculpted personality and energy. The Cuvée de Réserve is quite powerful, but never heavy. Slightly tropical overtones add the final shades of nuance. It remains one of the best values in artisan Champagne. ANTONIO GALLONI

A blend of 50% chardonnay, 10% savagnin and 40% red grapes - pinot noir, poulssard and trousseau. A richer core of brioche and apple is complemented by a whiff of hazelnut and a savoury saline finish.  The chardonnay component plays a leading role. This is utterly delicious - ripe with a framing acidity. GABRIELLE POY, PWS

Taittinger's 2014 Brut Millésimé is a good choice for drinking now and over the next handful of years. Orchard fruit, spice, pastry and attractive toast notes are nicely delineated in this easygoing vintage Champagne. ANTONIO GALLONI, Vinous 2020

            

 

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!

Pale, bright pink.  Expressive aromas of fresh red berries, tangerine and toasty lees, with a suave floral nuance.  Deeply pitched but quite energetic, offering pure strawberry and cherry preserve flavors underscored by zesty citrus and mineral notes.  Becomes richer and smokier with air and finishes with excellent clarity, thrust and persistence.  For such a powerful wine this Champagne is impressively lithe and incisive. JOSH RAYNOLDS

Offering up charming aromas of ripe apples, red berries and crushed mint, it's full-bodied, broad and fleshy, with a youthfully ebullient mousse, ripe acids and a moderately intense finish. This rendition is a touch more sun-kissed and open-knit than the best examples, but it's a creditable effort. WILLIAM KELLEY, Robert Parker 2019 

The NV Brut Rosé L’Insouciance (2016 base) is ethereal, lifted and very pretty, if a touch eccentric, with lovely red berry and floral character. The relatively high percentage of Chardonnay and partially blocked malolactic fermentation keeps the flavors bright. This release is 40% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 25% Meunier and 5% still red Pinot, based on 2016. Dosage is 6 grams per liter. Disgorged: July, 2018. ANTONIO GALLONI, Vinous

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!

Rich and oaky style, spicy and red fruit, typical of Pinot. The palate has a velvety character, quite savoury and expressive with lots of energy. STEPHEN BROOK, Decanter

The 2009 Vintage is another stellar wine in this range from Billecart-Salmon. This is the first time the Vintage includes Meunier in the blend. That approach has worked out so well here. Resonant and generous, the 2009 is so expressive today. The low dosage of two grams per liter is expertly judged. The 2009 is rich, but not heavy, while offering all of the natural generosity of the year. Antonio Galloni, VINOUS

The NV Extra Brut Solessence 7 Villages is bright, focused and full of energy, not to mention a terrific introduction to these Champagnes and Jean-Marc Sélèque's style. The low dosage of 3 grams per liter gives the Solessence real energy and briskness throughout. Bright Chardonnay top notes meld together with the textural richness of the Pinots in a wonderfully complete, expressive Champagne. Hints of dried flowers, sage, mint, red plum and citrus peel add the closing shades of nuance. Disgorged: January, 2019. ANTONIO GALLONI, Vinous 2019

The 2015 Brut Vintage Rosé is generous and demonstrative, bursting with aromas of peach, orange and pear mingled with hints of red berries, fresh bread and ginger. Full-bodied, layered and vinous, it's rich and enveloping, its textural attack segueing into an ample, fleshy core that's girdled by bright acids and enlivened by a pillowy mousse. Long and expansive, it's more generous and gourmand than its racier 2014 predecessor, but just as good. WILLIAM KELLEY, Robert Parker 2021

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!

The 2014 Brut Spécial Club is a blend of fruit taken mostly from Cramant, with Chouilly and Cuis in supporting roles. The breadth and power of Cramant comes through loud and clear. Readers will find a potent, at times austere, Champagne that needs a bit of time in the cellar to soften. The Special Club does not offer the immediacy of the Chouilly or Cramant Special Clubs, but it has plenty of its own allure. Dried pear, spice, crushed flowers and chamomile are some of the aromas and flavors that linger on the imposing finish. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. Disgorged: December 13, 2019. ANTONIO GALLONI, Vinous 2020

Disgorged with five grams per liter dosage, Moët's 2013 Extra Brut Grand Vintage is a real success, wafting from the glass with aromas of pear, fresh bread, Meyer lemon, nougat and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, chiseled and fine-boned, with an enveloping core of bright, vibrant fruit and a pretty pinpoint mousse, it concludes with a precise, penetrating finish. Incisive but not austere, it's an impressive effort, reflecting good levels of maturity in this cool, late harvest. It's as fine a rendition of this cuvée as I can remember tasting. William Kelley, ROBERT PARKER

Pol Roger Winston Churchill 2012 SHELF PRICE $450 YOUR PRICE $395
Intense aromas of strawberry and subtle apple with pie crust and some ash and stone. An almost smoky undertone to the aromas. Full-bodied and very layered with ultra fine tannins that give it a rough-cut, velvety texture. It's very flavorful, yet so checked and reserved at the same time. Compact, tight palate that is deep and powerful. Very vinous at the end and in the mouth feel. Spicy and biscuity at the finish. Mostly pinot noir with chardonnay and only grand cru. More density and complexity than the 2008. Seven years on the lees. Delicious and luxurious to drink now, but giving this some age will make it even better. (98) JAMES SUCKLING

Pol Roger's newly released 2012 Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is showing brilliantly, bursting from the glass with youthful aromas of honeyed pears, toasted brioche, pomelo, fresh pastry, green apple and mandarin orange, with hints of stone fruit emerging with time in the glass. Full-bodied, vinous and textural, with an enveloping core of fleshy, concentrated fruit, bright acids and an elegant pinpoint mousse, it concludes with a long, penetrating finish. More muscular and vibrant than the generous and charming 2009, the 2012 ranks alongside the 2008 and 2002 as one of the three finest renditions of Sir Winston Churchill this millennium-and in style it resembles a hypothetical blend of those two vintages. (96+) WILLIAM KELLEY, 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!

A gentle fine bead cuts the cassis and cranberry fruit that underlies a subtle chalky and delicate spice lift. Fine and breezy in style it still packs in plenty of flavour. Crisp and vivacious. Lovely poise and precision too but never straying away from its easy-going nature and trying to be something its not. What every pet-nat should be. 

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!

Based in Rully and presided over by third-generation winemaker-proprietor Philippe Chautard, Maison Louis Picamelot produces some of the best sparkling wines in Burgundy. Forever in Champagne's shadow, few take Crémant de Bourgogne seriously. But what this Maison is doing is already impressive and well worth open-minded consumers' attention. WILLIAM KELLEY, Wine Advocate

Makes you smile this wine. There's a generosity of aromatic that leads you through baked pastry, fresh cut stonefruits and then an invogorating punch of crushed stone minerality puffs into view. It's kind of like a Champagne letting it's hair down on the palate as well, genrosity of well-defined fruit is edged with minerality and oyster shell while the fine bead cinches and tucks in the effusive edges. Its got enough in it for the serious-minded fizz drinker but is also playful and generous enough to keep you pulling it out of the fridge for pretth much any pcassion. MICHAEL MCNAMARA

This thing hits it out of the park in terms of delivering quality and value. It doesn’t hold back with packing in the flavour either. The fruit is present and accounted for, with a nice lick of minerality and some back end punch, but what is really striking is the yeasty, brioche, burnt toast mealy characters that immediately greet you as you take your first sniff. It has all the bells and whistles. As a Champagne nerd I love to see that in the wine, as distinctly different to my fetish for Grower Bubbles, give me some of that expressively yeasty goodness. Substantial length here too. This will be one hell of a crowd pleaser. ROSCOE

Siren song aromatics of strawberries and cream, a little tarragon and mineral and maybe a little vanilla lead you head first into the glass. So enticing and welcoming and it continues on the palate with the same ebullient fruit held within a soft and pillowy mousse creating an almost sensual decadent impression. Alongside that though is real energy and vigour elevating the fruit and spice (and a little sage) element in the wine. It's so beuatiuflly put together this wine and would leave a number of it's Champagne cousins for dead and ashamed of their pricing. Gorgeous sparkling. MICHAEL MCNAMARA   


One of the crew called this “soft and mellow” I can see where that comes from, it certainly has a lovely mouth filling quality and all those billowing soft bubbles provide such a sensual cushioning effect, but the wine lacks nothing for racy energy either. I don't think its soft, I think it's lush!
Also, I love the fine chalkiness that punctuates the fruit. Like its BdB sibling the lights are flashing and the sirens are cranked up, they don’t shy away from the winemaking and let’s be honest, that’s what makes Champa… sparkling wines like this so exciting. Even with that distinct autolytic creaminess the wines overall impression is one of flirtatious elegance. It is my pick of the two, but only just, and it pips its sibling on refinement if not substance. ROSCOE