Page 23 - Blog

When Roman Bratasiuk decided to become a winemaker, he literally drove the backroads of McClaren Vale, stopping to taste grapes before he found the vineyard now known as Astralis. Once he found this magical place, where the stars seem almost close enough to touch, his fate was sealed. He worked from sun up to sun down. His hands were stained a deep red-purple from picking the grapes, and it is the way his sons, Alex and Adam, fondly remember him during those years.

The Bratasiuks have such reverence for the vineyards and terroir – Roman has always referred to the vines, some of the oldest in the world, as ‘gentlemen’ and the family believes that terroir ‘tells the story in every bottle’. They still do most of the labor by hand and look forward to passing this beautiful property onto the next generation. Alex and Adam are now largely in charge.

Knowing the Clarendon Hills story made opening a bottle of the 2005 Romas

Sociando Mallet derives its name from two previous owners. A nobleman known as Sociando owned the property back in the 1600s. The second part of the estate’s name comes from a naval captain who owned the estate by the name of Mallet. It was Mallet who combined the two names to form Sociando Mallet. When Jean Gautreau purchased Sociando Mallet in 1969, the property had fallen into disrepair in both the wine making facilities as well as the vineyards. Gautreau quickly expanded and replanted the vineyards and remodeled the wine making facilities creating a state-of-the-art production facility. From a “wine geek’s” standpoint the most interesting point for me was that Sociando Mallet does not green harvest, as most Bordeaux estates do. He has some of the highest yields in the entire region. Jean Gautreau prefers to allow nature to decide. Those high yields at Sociando Mallet are part of what gives

Fontodi Flaccianello by all standards could be classified as a Chianti; however, the Manetti Family that produces the wine still classifies it as a Super Tuscan and thus, it’s still how people perceive it. This week I had the opportunity to try the 2012 Fontodi Flaccianello and got to see firsthand how this wine compares to some Chiantis and some Super Tuscans. 

Fontodi has belonged to the Manetti Family since 1968, but the estate itself dates back to the 16^th century. Today the winery, which is in the heart of Chianti, produces seven different wines, one of them being the Flaccianello Della Pieve that originally got its name from the vineyard where the grapes came from. It is one of the first mono-varietal Sangiovese Super Tuscans that started production 1981. Since 2001 though, Flaccianello gets its grapes from a few different sources, but only the best grapes go into it. With the

2013 Domaine Vincent Paris Cornas Granit 60

$37.95 – 93 VM

Having been in the fine and rare wine business for nearly 13 years, it’s not every day that I’m blown away by a new find. I’ve been fortunate to have tried some of the greatest bottles from the best wine producing regions on earth. That being said, I love trying new wines from regions that I typically do not focus on tasting. I recently noticed that we had several cases of 2013 Domaine Vincent Cornas “Granit 60” come into stock with a killer price, and that it somehow had passed under the radar of our sales team. It’s not often that I have the chance to grab a bottle

If you’re looking for the perfect bottle to bring to the beach, on a picnic or to any summer gathering, why not try the newest release from Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and the Perrin Family?  2014 was a great effort, but I think 2015 will top it easily. Perhaps I’m just ready for a summer sipping wine, but my experience with the 2015 proved to me that Pitt, Jolie and Perrin know what they are doing when it comes to Rosé. 

In 2012, Jolie and Pitt purchased the 1,500-acre estate and haven’t looked back. The famous Perrin family, who you might know from Chateau de Beaucastel in the Rhone Valley, has paired with the celebrity couple to produce four vintages that have impressed the world of wine. Pitt and Jolie have the utmost respect for the estate and the land. They believe in the potential and want to continue the success by adding superb vintages of

To strongly reiterate, “2013 for many wineries in Napa and Sonoma has produced the finest wines I have tasted in 37 years…2013 a classic of power, intensity and equilibrium…” - Robert Parker

With everyone from wine critics to winemakers to wine collectors raving about this stellar vintage, I am always anxious to open a bottle, and the 2013 Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay seemed particularly appealing one night this week when my husband was taking some salmon burgers off the grill.

Newton sources their Chardonnay from the Carneros region of Napa, on hills that roll toward the San Pablo Bay. This location is especially good for the vineyards – the fog rolls in each evening and lingers through morning, and the afternoon brings gentle breezes. Because the season is quite long, the fruit is harvested beautifully ripe. 2013

Since the year 1860, the Boiron Family has impressively crafted wine at the property, and for the past six generations, the Domaine has been handed down from father to son, holding up to the tradition of the estate.

The 2012 Les Bosquet des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape Chante le Merle Vielles Vignes is an extremely elegant wine, which is drinking beautifully now, and should have another two decades of total longevity.  

Pronounced - (sha-toh-nuhf-doo-PAHP), and as the name suggests, this wine will surely POP! This spicy French red is packed with ripe flavors of black fruits, coffee, and pepper which are all native to the Southern Rhone Valley’s Wine Region. 

2010 (99-RPWA), 2011 (97-RPWA), and 2012 just so happen to all have been epic back to back vintages, highly sought after and appraised. The 2012 vintage produced an extremely rich, forward,

1. We have found that the overall quality of the 2015 vintage is somewhere between very good and outstanding, depending on the appellation and producer. When we think about comparing the 2015 vintage to other memorable vintages, we believe that it falls somewhere between the power of 2005 and the accessibility of the 2009, but with lower alcohol levels, which makes it feel fresher and perhaps, even more pure.

2. The 2015 vintage is proving to be an especially good year for Right Bank producers. While many excellent wines were produced on the Left Bank, the overall consistency of quality in St. Emilion and Pomerol cannot be ignored and may ultimately end up rivaling the extraordinary 2005 vintage. Ausone, Cheval Blanc, Clinet, La Conseillante, Larcis Ducasse, Troplong Mondot and  La Tertre Roteboeuf are just some of the highlights of the outstanding wines we were fortunate enough to taste. 

3. On the Left Bank, the best

Burgundy and all of its different appellations can be a little daunting at times. I mean within Burgundy itself, it has 100 different appellations or AOCs (Appellations d’Origine Controlee) that can be broken down into four levels which includes, Regional, Village, Premier Cru and Grand Cru. So when I had the opportunity to try the 2011 Jean Marc Pillot Chassagne Montrachet Les Vergers Premier Cru White Burgundy, I wanted to get to know more about the area that the wine comes from.

Of the 100 different AOCs that a wine from Burgundy can be classified from, there are 23 Regional appellations, which means that grapes can come from a large stretch of land within Burgundy, such as wine being called Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Beaune. Then there are 44 Village appellations, which are localized even further to a smaller area, such as Chassagne-Montrachet. Within these Village appellations,

The property on which Castello dei Rampolla exists has been owned by the di Napoli family since 1739, but no vineyards were planted there until visionary Alceo di Napoli Rampolla inherited the farmland in 1965. By 1975, the first bottles of Chianti Classico were produced, but Alceo, who was always striving to create a greater wine, decided to plant Cabernet Sauvignon to blend with the Sangiovese. With the help of friend and famed oenologist, Giacomo Tachis, the concept for one of the first “Super Tuscans” was born and Sammarco would eventually release with the 1980 vintage.

In 1991, Alceo unexpectedly passed away, and in 1994 his second son Luca returned to the estate to help his sister Maurizia manage the property. To further his father’s vision, Luca immediately began implementing biodynamic practices. In his 2015 article covering three decades of Sammarco, Antonio Galloni noted: “there is a clear dividing line at 1994, when the wines acquire more density,