Offre Wine in Black 'Sélection 94+ points'

A blend of the 2015 and 2016 vintages, the NV Côtes du Rhône S M checks in as the same equal parts Grenache and Syrah raised in tank and barrel. A huge nose of cassis, ground black pepper, garrigue, and olive tapenade gives way to a ripe, rounded, medium to full-bodied effort that has good acidity, building tannin, a seamless, light texture, and a great finish. It's a singular wine that has a big kiss of Northern Rhône Syrah with a touch of the rounded, sexy, opulent style of the south. It's going to drink nicely for a decade.

A blend of 50% Syrah from the Northern Rhône with 50% Grenache from the Southern Rhône, the NV Vin de France SM Second Edition is a fascinating wine, combining smoky, peppery, herbal notes with ripe black cherries. Full-bodied, plush and velvety, Vignon allows that it's "more 2016 than 2015" in style, but no matter how you characterize it, it's a lovely, complex wine.

Black cherries and dried roses on the nose, following through to a full body with linear and focused tannins, as well as bright acidity. Chewy, but fine-textured. From organically grown grapes.

One of Campania's flagship reds, the Feudi di San Gregorio 2017 Taurasi Riserva Piano di Montevergine bears some of the weight and softness of this infamously hot and dry growing season. The fruit comes from a beautiful site with volcanic sand and clay soils. The wine later ages in oak for 24 months (and 20,000 bottles are made). This edition is more open-knit and accessible compared to some of the recent past releases we may have set aside for long cellar aging.

Dave Clouston est l’une des stars montantes de la région de Marlborough, en Nouvelle-Zélande. Issu d’une famille active dans la viticulture depuis cinq générations, il a produit du vin dans le monde entier et, depuis quelques années, a réalisé son rêve avec son propre domaine au cœur de sa région natale.

Le millésime 2021 a été le premier millésime entièrement personnel de Jolandie Fouché et il est difficile de croire à quelle vitesse ses vins ont gagné en notoriété et ont été très bien notés. Mais quiconque a la chance de déguster un vin comme la syrah 2023 comprendra la raison de ce succès. Ces créations sont tout simplement délicieuses !

Meaty and fragrant, showing rich black-plum, dried-herb, mocha and olive aromas. Medium-bodied on the palate, it’s structured and fresh, not at all heavy. Has a firm and fine tannin frame. Still tightly wound. 100% whole-bunch fermented, mostly syrah from iron clay soils with 10% from vines grown on schist.

A vineyard on red clay in Malmesbury provides the dominant component for this
Swartland Syrah, with the remaining 10% sourced from Kasteelberg schist. Entirely whole
bunch fermented, it's a dense, compact wine that needs more time in bottle, with lots of
concentration and grip, layers of damson, cranberry and wild herbs and some underlying
ferrous grip.

Autrefois, le vigneron Álvaro Palacios comptait parmi un petit groupe de pionniers qui ont redécouvert le Priorat, dans le Nord-Est de l’Espagne, au cours des années 1990. Après que ses vins de cette région eurent acquis une notoriété mondiale, l’appel de la maison est venu de la Rioja pour y reprendre le domaine familial. Les résultats parlent d’eux-mêmes.

Sumptuous aromas of plump cherries, leading into equally succulent fruits on the palate. Fresh acidity arrives lightly, and then grows, leading to a long taut finish, with the sligh echo of oak. Very young now, it will give much pleasure as it matures. A fine achievement: 100ha of certified organic vineyard, producing wines in quantity (some 500,000 bottles) and quality. Over the years Alvaro Palacios has transformed this from a 50% Tempranillo vineyard to firmly Garnacha-dominant, with a shift towards bush vines from double cordon. 95% Garnacha with 5% other traditional red varieties.

I had not yet tasted the 2021 La Montesa, and I'm glad I did. Álvaro Palacios was super proud of this vintage, and he told me that "many people consider it at the level of a very good Burgundy village at a fraction of the price!" It is indeed a great value, even more so in an exceptional year like 2021. But it was unmistakably Garnacha, with notes of garrigue and aromatic herbs, red cherries and flowers. It fermented with 20% full clusters in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in barrel for 12 months. It's clean and precise, with a lace texture, very fine tannins, flavors of red berries and herbs and a long, tasty, chalky finish. It has to be one of the finest vintages of Montesa to date. It has 14.3% alcohol, a pH of 3.5 and 5.3 grams of acidity. It's not a small cuvée; they produced 592,372 bottles! It was bottled in March 2023.

Beautiful berry-fruit purity with dark raspberries, pomegranate, some moss and subtle mineral and spices. Expressive and crunchy on the firm, medium-bodied palate with succulent berries and minerals. Pure and pithy finish. Drink or hold.