750 mL
750 mL
Salicutti 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Sorgente
Italian Red
Sangiovese grows in a high vineyard with heavier clay and a gentle southwest incline. Red cherry, molasses, herbs and candied violet accompany freshness, elegant acidity and concentrated fruit. Peony, red-currant blossom, red plum and watermelon are also present. The tannins are suede-like, and the finish is long and complex. The organically grown fruit undergoes extended skin maceration.
Jean-Paul & Benoît Droin 2023 Chablis Grand Cru Valmur
French White
Chardonnay grows on Kimmeridgian marl with a south to southwest exposure. The lower slope has deeper brown soil, while the upper slope is whiter and more clay-rich. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts takes place partly in stainless steel and partly in barrel. Peach, apricot and hawthorn appear in a powerful, mineral profile with reserve and austerity. Malolactic fermentation is completed before blending.
Domaine Les Astrelles 2022 Gevrey-Chambertin
French Red
Pinot Noir comes from three small lieux-dits. The nose is compact, while the mouth is direct and fluid, gaining intensity through the middle. The flavour is persistent and the profile is delicious. The bottling carries the Gevrey-Chambertin village appellation and is certified organic. During this growing season, the domaine harvested the cuvée without using whole clusters.
Champagne Nakada-Park 2020 Vignes de Courteron Brut Nature
French Sparkling
Pinot Noir forms this Blanc de Noirs Champagne. Fine perlage accompanies a fruity nose with yeast and bread-crust notes, while the palate is fresh and elegant. Fermentation and maturation take place in oak barrels, and dosage is zero. The wine comes from a 0.2-hectare parcel, with 2,400 bottles produced and disgorgement in November. The vineyard is farmed organically.
Champagne Nakada-Park 2020 Vignes de Gyé-sur-Seine Brut Nature
French Sparkling
Pinot Noir grows on sandy and limestone soil at Gyé-sur-Seine. Fermentation and maturation use oak barrels, and dosage is zero. Lemon, understated crustacea and blackcurrant leaf appear in a nuanced profile with precision, complexity and tension. Brightness and harmony are also present. The wine undergoes bottle fermentation and forty-two months of bottle ageing; disgorgement took place in November. The vineyard is farmed organically.
Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur 2018 Volnay Premier Cru Les Pitures
French Red
The Pinot Noir comes from a site near the Pommard border and beside Clos des Ducs. Vines span plantings from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s and cover just under one hectare. Broad, sanguine fruit is accompanied by firm, elemental structure and a sense of elegance. The wine is rich, full-bodied and powerful, with a muscular middleweight profile and a slightly warm finish.
Château Phélan Ségur 2022 Saint-Estèphe
French Red
Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc form a 56/40/2/2 blend. Almost-black colour has purple reflections. Juicy black fruit, spice, subtle floral notes, black cherry, rose and cedar are present. The palate is fleshy, flavourful and mellow, with power, density, richness and silky, assertive tannins. The finish is persistent and balanced, with menthol notes.
Tenuta Luce 2021 Luce Toscana IGT
Italian Red
Intense ruby-red colour accompanies dark fruit, wild blackberry and mulberry, with sweet violet, blossoms and mixed spice. The palate is broad, with silk-smooth tannins, balance and a long spice-infused finish. Merlot and Sangiovese form the blend. Fermentation takes place in concrete for twelve days, with twenty-two days of skin maceration. Ageing lasts twenty-four months in eighty percent new and twenty percent once-used barriques.
Champagne Jacquesson Cuvée No. 747 Extra Brut
French Sparkling
This Extra Brut Champagne includes reserve wine. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier form the blend, and dosage is 1.5 grams per litre. Candied lemon, mint, white pepper, mandarin peel and graphite appear with rich texture and vibrancy. Warm bread, vanilla cream and sweet spice join generous fruit and a chalky finish. Vinification and ageing use foudres on lees, without filtration or fining.
Poggio Antico 1997 Brunello di Montalcino
Italian Red
The wine is made from Sangiovese. Plum, berry and cherry aromas are present with a full-bodied palate. Ripe fruit, refined tannins and a long, caressing finish appear in the profile. Dark ruby colour has a garnet core. Clove, juniper berry, white pepper, iris and cedar accompany blackberry, sweet tobacco and liquorice. Dense texture, crispness and firm tannins are also present.
Domaine Billaud-Simon 2011 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos
French White
Pale, bright yellow-green colour accompanies aromas of lime, apple, powdered stone, quinine, mint and white pepper. Citrus fruit, spice, white flowers and fresh herbs appear in a fresh, elegant profile that is precise, brisk and seamless. The Chardonnay was made entirely in stainless steel. The long finish has mineral and white-flower notes, with salinity, penetration and concentration also present.
Domaine Billaud-Simon 2014 Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses
French White
Chardonnay comes from the domaine's oldest vineyard and is aged equally in stainless steel and old barrels. Bright pale-yellow colour accompanies peachy fruit salad. Petrol, citrus, white flower, pear and sea-shore elements are present. The wine is plush and very ripe, with a creamy texture and a faint phenolic quality. Mineral complexity and a strikingly long finish are also present.
Domaine Billaud-Simon 2014 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos
French White
Chardonnay comes from a Chablis grand cru climat situated between Valmur and Blanchots. The site once had enclosing walls. Pale golden colour carries green glimmers. Mineral and honeyed notes join citrus and white stone fruit on a delicate nose. The palate is powerful, dense and fleshy with lively acidity. A mineral and saline finish is also present.
E. Pira & Figli Chiara Boschis 2020 Via Nuova Barolo
Italian Red
Nebbiolo comes from six vineyards in Barolo, Monforte d'Alba and Serralunga d'Alba. Fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled stainless steel with punch-downs and pump-overs. The wine matures for about two years in casks and French oak barriques, then one year in bottle. Dried leaves, bark and disturbed earth appear with violet, liquorice and spice. Elegance and freshness accompany finely shaped tannins and long saline persistence.
Sea Smoke 2014 Ten Pinot Noir
American Red
Ten Pinot Noir clones from the estate vineyard form the blend, which ages sixteen months in French oak, seventy percent new. Vanilla, warm cherry sauce and caramel appear with berry fruit and purple flowers. Chipped-slate minerality is accompanied by dried thyme and bay leaf. Red currant, raspberry and cherry are finely textured. Chocolate and savoury notes are present. The finish has sandalwood and thyme.
Domaine Billaud-Simon 2009 Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots Vieilles Vignes
French White
Rich gold colour shows green reflections. Honey, toast and hazelnut are joined by fresh fruit, lemongrass, verbena and menthol, with vanilla and toasted wood also present. The Chardonnay is powerful and fleshy, combining maturity, freshness and generosity. Fruit, mineral and wood elements are integrated in the profile. Production for this old-vine Chablis grand cru totalled twelve hundred bottles.
Domaine Billaud-Simon 2009 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos
French White
Hand-harvested Chardonnay grows on Kimmeridgian ground with south to south-east exposure. Vinification uses stainless steel, and maturation lasts eighteen months in tank. Pale gold colour carries green reflections. The nose is fine and complex, with citrus, vanilla, fresh butter, hazelnut and an iodized mineral touch. The wine is pure and rich, with an exceptionally long finish.
Château Malescot Saint-Exupéry 2018 Margaux
French Red
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc form a 60/32/8 blend. The vineyard has Pyrenean gravel, ten thousand vines per hectare and an average vine age of forty-five years. Fruit is hand harvested and sorted. The wine ferments in temperature-controlled stainless steel and concrete, then spends thirteen to fifteen months in barrel, seventy percent new. Balance, depth, freshness and silky tannins appear with lightly woody, toasted notes after aeration.
Trimbach 2005 Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre Gewurztraminer
French White
This Gewurztraminer includes fruit from Osterberg and Hunawihr. Honey, rose petal, peony, sweet pea, bacon fat and cinnamon are present. The palate is rich and firm, with a cool chalky impression. Fifteen grams of residual sugar appear alongside unusually high acidity and palpable extract. Refined and elegant in character, the wine has persistent juiciness, florality and subtle spice.
Palmer & Co 2015 Grands Terroirs Brut Champagne
French Sparkling
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier form a 50/38/12 blend drawn from Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards across the Montagne de Reims. Orange blossom, acacia and yellow fruit accompany fried pineapple and tonka bean. The profile is fresh, with citrus, brioche and dried-fruit notes. The wine has a creamy texture and a persistent finish, and dosage is seven grams per litre.
Tenute Silvio Nardi 2016 Brunello di Montalcino
Italian Red
Sangiovese from Casale del Bosco and Manachiara is blended from twenty separate vinifications. Grapes are hand harvested, then fermentation and maceration last twenty-eight days below twenty-eight degrees. Maturation lasts twenty-four months in large Slavonian oak, followed by eighteen months in bottle. The wine shows dark colour saturation, with dark fruit, plum, soft potting soil and grilled herb, alongside freshness and a tannic backbone.
Domaine Rostaing 2022 Cuvée Ampodium Côte-Rôtie
French Red
Syrah from thirteen parcels forms the blend, which ages primarily in old 600-litre demi-muid barrels. Saturated ruby in colour, the wine offers ripe dark berries, cherry, olive, pungent flowers and black pepper. Black raspberry, cherry-cola, violet pastille and star anise are also present. The finish is pliant, sweet and focused, with smooth tannins and tenacity.
De La Riva 2022 Macharnudo El Notario Vino de Pasto
Spanish White
Palomino Fino comes from the El Notario parcel in Macharnudo. This unfortified white wine ages under a veil of flor in Sherry casks. Pale golden in colour, it combines floral notes, citrus fruit, bakery aromas and nuts. The profile is fresh, complex and mineral, with a long finish. Alcohol is fourteen percent, and production totals two thousand bottles.
Paul Hobbs 2018 Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon
American Red
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot form an 85/10/5 blend. The fruit is hand harvested at night and fermented with indigenous yeasts in small, closed stainless-steel tanks. The wine receives a five-day cold soak and thirty days of total maceration. After spontaneous malolactic fermentation in barrel, it ages twenty months in French oak, sixty-nine percent new, before unfined and unfiltered bottling. Wild blueberry, dried lavender, mocha, red currant, black fig, sage and leather meet fresh acidity, fine-grained tannins and crushed-rock minerality.
Ridolfi 2018 Brunello di Montalcino
Italian Red
Hand-harvested Sangiovese comes from the north-eastern side of Montalcino at 300 metres, where the soils contain clay, marine fossils and alberese. Fermentation uses indigenous yeasts, and skin maceration lasts forty-three days. The wine spends thirty-six months in large Slavonian oak and at least twelve months in bottle. Dark berries, cherries, violet, sweet spices and balsamic notes accompany an elegant, rich profile with salty tannins and long persistence.
Jurij Fiore & Figlia 2021 PuntodiVista Lamole Chianti Classico
Italian Red
Fifty-year-old Sangiovese grows at a density of ten thousand bush-trained vines per hectare and is co-fermented with a small share of local varieties. Eucalyptus, sandalwood, white pepper and cinnamon are present. Broad, grainy tannins accompany a juicy blood-orange note. The wine is powerful, sinewy and midweight, and comes from the Chianti Classico area of Lamole.
Blandy’s 2011 Bual Colheita Madeira
Portuguese Fortified
Hand-harvested Bual matures under the canteiro system in 650-litre American oak casks until bottling. Amber-gold colour accompanies toasted walnut, crystallized fig and date, and dried-fruit cake. Rounded and medium-sweet, the wine has biscuit and vanilla butter-cookie notes, fresh acidity and a long finish. It contains twenty percent alcohol, carries the DOP Madeira designation and comes from Calheta on Madeira.
Blandy’s 2011 Malmsey Colheita Madeira
Portuguese Fortified
Hand-harvested Malmsey matures under the canteiro system in 650-litre American oak casks until bottling. Amber-gold colour is present. Floral tea, spice, fruitcake and brandy-soaked raisins are part of the profile. The wine is sweet and full-bodied. Concentrated milk, mature brandy, spice and a long finish are also present. It contains twenty percent alcohol and comes from São Jorge on Madeira.
Blandy’s 2011 Sercial Colheita Madeira
Portuguese Fortified
Hand-harvested Sercial matures under the canteiro system in 650-litre casks until bottling. The dry, fresh profile combines candied citrus, aged brandy and saffron, with lemon character and a long finish. Brandy and orange marmalade are also present. The grapes come from cooler northern vineyards near Seixal and elevated southern sites near Jardim da Serra, and alcohol is twenty percent.
Blandy’s 2011 Verdelho Colheita Madeira
Portuguese Fortified
Hand-harvested Verdelho matures under the canteiro system in 650-litre casks until bottling. Golden colour accompanies candied and dried apricot, aged brandy and iodine. Medium-dry in style, the wine has salinity and a long finish; mango chutney and spice are also present. Soft texture, wood-ageing flavours and twenty percent alcohol are also part of the profile.