Page 8 - Staff Tastings

Nothing goes better together than wine and cheese, but not every cheese pairs with every wine. Impress your friends at your next get together by doing the perfect cheese and wine spread.

Pairing Tips:

Always taste the wine before you taste the cheese. Cheese has a much bigger impact on the flavors and aromas in wine than the other way around.

You want to make sure the texture of the cheese and the wine are compatible. If the cheese is heavy, it is less likely to go with a light wine since the wine will get overpowered by the strong cheese.

Hard cheeses, like cheddar, go best with oaky wines.

Note on soft cheeses, like Brie, the rind can affect the taste of the wine. Try tasting with and without the rind to see if you enjoy one more than the other.

Avoid salty cheeses all together as it can clash too harshly with the wine.

In order to get the full flavors from cheese and white wines, the cheese should be served at room temperature

Searching for exciting quality wines that are also affordable? We're your source to not only the most sought-after, rare wines on the planet, we're also equally passionate about discovering inexpensive gems that still taste like the world's greatest wines. Below, we’re sharing seven wines that you need to have on your wine list for spring and summer, and the best part is that they’re all under $25!

2018 D'Esclans Whispering Angel Rose - Kick off spring and summer with this seasonal favorite, Whispering Angel Rosé! The new 2018 vintage just checked into stock and will sell out quickly. It has a beautiful, pale pink color with a crisp and pure finish that exemplifies Provencal Rosé. It’s created by Sacha Lichine, son of the famous Alexis Lichine, who spent time working at his family’s chateau in Bordeaux. Whispering Angel Rosé is a world-class

Easter is quickly approaching, and we have the greatest wines for you to pour with your Easter celebration!

Here are ten amazing wines - five Chardonnays and five Pinot Noirs from Burgundy and California that are sure to impress you and your guests.

PINOT NOIR:

2015 Wilde Farm Pinot Noir Donnelly Creek Vineyard Anderson Valley - An earthy wine, like this one, is a great one for your Easter Dinner. Its black plum, allspice, strawberries and minerals make it a really delicious and complex tasting for your meal. It’s under $25 and a great value when it comes to California Pinot Noir. 

2015 Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills - This tasteful wine is from one of California’s top producers and delivers

It’s wedding season again with love and dancing in the air. Nothing really tops off a wedding quite like a champagne toast. Something about popping that cork makes it seem so official! So why not gift the bride and groom an amazing bottle of champagne that they can enjoy on a future anniversary or special occasion?

If you’ve recently received a wedding invitation, or are certain one is coming your way, here are five champagnes to gift the future Mr. and Mrs. this year.  

Delamotte Brut - Uncork this wine to find that the warm bread, nutty and ginger accents will give you that blissful wedding day feel. With its vibrant aromas of lemon pith, pear skin and honeysuckle, it pairs perfectly with a fruity dessert like raspberry wedding cake. It’s priced at just $37.95 and over-delivers in quality.

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It’s that time of year again. We’ve moved our clocks forward, we’ve opened up the curtains and maybe are doing a bit of spring cleaning. Well, there is one thing that the season wouldn’t be complete without, and that is wine! Nothing breaks in spring like enjoying a glass of white wine while sitting on your porch or at the lake.

Here are some white wines to kick start your spring!

2015 Brewer-Clifton Chardonnay Santa Rita Hills  - This springtime favorite at Sokolin with its notes of buttered citrus rind, candied lemons and honeycomb is a refreshing splash on a warm day. It took three different vineyards to make up this blend and only one glass to fall in love with it. It has a 95 point score and is priced at only $26.95, delivering tremendous quality for the money.

2017

Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta is one of the founders of the so called ‘Super Tuscan’ wine, and his wine Sassicaia has become one of the most sought-after wines in the world. Located just south of Livorno in Tuscany sits the Tenuta San Gudio estate, and this is where Mario had the vision to plant Cabernet and Merlot vines. He thought the ‘rocky’ terrain mimicked the soil of Graves in Bordeaux and set out to produce a world class wine from these varietals.

>> Shop all sassicaia wine >>

The Marchese’s first couple vintages weren’t exactly considered hits to the critics, who were accustomed to drinking the lighter style wines indigenous to the area.

From 1948 to 1967, Sassicaia was only produced to be enjoyed by family members and then in 1968, son

"For my money, Corton Charlemagne is as good as any Grand Cru white Burgundy (Montrachet, Chevalier Montrachet, etc.) at a fraction of the price. It’s the most serious Grand Cru white Burgundy at the most reasonable price point." - Dave Sokolin

Corton Charlemagne is also the most popular Grand Cru white Burgundy for a reason – almost every bottle is generally great. Louis Latour is consistently one of our top-selling producers of Corton Charlemagne, year after year. The Latour family is the largest landowner of the Corton Charlemagne appellation and has been producing wines for over 200 years. 

Tuscany continues to produce world-class wines at every price level.

2013 was an epic vintage for the region, with critic James Suckling stating, “The 2013 vintage…produced many superb wines.”

We just received in our final allocation of one of the Top Tuscan Wines of 2013, the 98 point 2013 Castello di Ama L’Apparita. Castello di Ama L’Apparita is the Petrus of Italy, but for much less.

“...a real stunner. Deep, explosive and beautifully layered in the glass, the 2013 possesses stunning nuance...built more on finesse than power. The translucence and total sense of elegance here are both truly remarkable. In short, this is a memorable edition for one of Tuscany's very finest wines. Layers of rich, dark fruit, spice, leather and smoke infuse the creamy, voluptuous finish…” – Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

Only 520 cases

It’s THE Rosé time of year! Guests love it, and people want it. With summer quickly approaching, we’d like to share our top recommendations that we love and our customers love. They can be enjoyed at the beach, on a picnic or sipping poolside. Not only are these selections delicious and drinking well now, they are all priced under $22!

2017 Diving Into Hampton Water Rosé is the newest Rosé we’ve added to our lineup and is one of the “IT” Rosés of the summer. It’s actually a collaboration between rock star Bon Jovi, his son and the famous winemaker, Gerard Bertrand. The entire 2017 production sold out very quickly on allocation, and we were lucky enough to receive a small shipment that we don’t expect to last long. It’s being chased by Rosé lovers and will likely be one of the most-Instagrammed wines this