Offers
Wine Offers
Below are wines on special offer - new Vintages or older stock at release or promotional prices. Sometimes specific mixed cases will be offered, but please note MINIMUM ORDER remains six boottles. Prices listed are bottle, case or half-case prices unless otherwise stated and include VAT but NOT delivery.
MELLOW MERLOT With the negative impact of Sideways diminishing, Merlot is fighting back. Fleshy and often rather jammy and unstructured in youth, good Merlot develops more complex earthy, spicy, mocha tones as it ages (just look at Chateau Petrus). The selection below all have enough bottle age to render them more interesting than many New World examples available and are better value than many Bordeaux at the price.
NB - prices listed are by the bottle inc. VAT, min order 6 bottles)
Merlot 2001, Valle
was £14.50 NOW £11.50
A great introduction to Merlot from Friuli - this Lalande-de-Pomerol look-a-like is an affordable way to experience how well the grape performs in the hillside vineyards of the region.
Longobardo 1998, Enzo Mecella
was £16 NOW £13.00
A savoury Bordeaux blend, with attractively-aged fruit compote flavours and a decent whack of spice. The tannins and acidity still lend the wine structure with some resinous woody tones but this wine is maturing beyond its constituent elements into a sophisticated and complex drop.
Merlot Riserva, Kastellaz 2001, E. Walch
was £29.50 NOW £24.00
A touch more austere and serious than the Villa Gresti from San Leonardo, Elena's Reserve Merlot is very-well defined - lean and green (but not mean), there is a refreshing herbaceous edge to the complex fruit and spice at the wine's core.
PROSECCO, PINK & PARTY
A mixed case of summer wines (worth £118, offered at £100 i.e. 2 bottles of the Rosso FREE)
4x Prosecco Spago NV, Col Vetoraz
Lively but elegant, balanced and frizzante, rather than fully spumante. Delightful aperitivo on its own or as the base for a classic Bellini.
4xChiaretto Rose 2005, Villa Sparina
A blend of Barbera and Dolcetto, benefiting from the fresh acidity of the former and sweet fruit of the latter. Quite a mouthful, with a distinct creaminess underlying the wine's strawberry, cherry and rhubarb character, the Chiaretto makes for a good 'food' rosé, powerful yet elegant, full yet balanced.
4xSeiano Rosso 2007, d'Amico
The combination of Sangiovese and Merlot works attractively here, the latter grape softening and fleshing out the former's more chalky/mineral and cherry/savoury character without losing the freshness and aromatic definition of the wine.
Contact Tom to order a mixed case or two for the weekend.
'04 GALORE
2004 WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL VINTAGE IN ITALY, ACHIEVING A RIPENESS BUT ALSO BALANCE AND COMPLEXITY THAT MARKS IT OUT AS A CLASSIC, FOR WINE LOVERS AND INVESTORS ALIKE. IN SUCH A GREAT VINTAGE YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPEND A FORTUNE AS QUALITY IS HIGH ACROSS THE BOARD, SO BELOW ARE THREE EXCEPTIONAL AND VERY DIFFERENT WINES THAT WILL ALL REPAY CELLARING AND DRINK FOR 10-20 YEARS.
Barbaresco Santo Stefano, Castello di Neive, 93 POINTS, ROBERT PARKER
This spicy, sinewy, structured nebbiolo is like a rapier blade - taut, lean, strong, steely, more Iceman than Maverick but still the wine chosen by Tom Cruise for his wedding to Katie Holmes'; 'a terrific effort' Antonio Gallini, Wine Advocate, Oct '07
£150 per six bottles
Villa Gresti, Tenuta San Leonardo, TRE BICCHIERI, GAMBERO ROSSO
Merlot-based cuvee from this historic estate, much more akin to Bordeaux than Bolgheri with an underlying elegance rather than opulence. Blind taste this alongside similarly Pomerols from the same vintage and prepare for a pleasant surprise.
Old price: £162 per six bottles, NOW £132
Rocca di Frasinello (Rocca di Frasinello)
One for shrewd investors and lovers of rich Tuscan reds. A joint venture from Castellare and Domaines Rothschilds, with Dr Christian Sommer (ex of chateau Latour) as consultant oenologist, this is surely the next hot-to-trot Super Tuscan and '04 is, propitiously, their first vintage to be released. Get it before critical acclaim pushes the price up alongside Tignanello and Ornellaia etc...
£180 per six bottles
Contact Tom to order these little belters.
