We tasted this Champagne and liked it when it was expensive, but didn't feel that it offered great value at that high price. After months of going back and forth, we ended up with a better deal than we thought possible and bought everything the distributor had. This is a wine cut from the Ace of Spades cloth (which we sell for $269), both in production (the Ace is also a brand made by a separate producer) and in flavor. It is made entirely from the first press juice of a strict selection of Beaumont des Crayeres 212 acres of vines. It is very well balanc... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Redwood City San Francisco

This is a collaboration between Vueve Clicquot and the luxury Italian boat designer Riva. It is gorgeous packaging, like the sort of thing James Bond might own. Ad of course, the wine is amazing, too. 93 points and 2 Puffs from the Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine: "64% Pinot Noir; 36% Chardonnay. Seemingly a bit livelier than the typical Grande Dame, but still a rich wine based on its Pinot Noir heritage, it combines an admirably strong mousse with plenty of acidity and a dried toffee, nutty overlay of burgeoning complexity. Lovely." (12/08) 92 p... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood

Lopez de Heredia does not produce a rosado every year! The crop of their Tondonia vineyard was reduced in 1998 due to April springtime frosts. But hot temperatures, low rainfall, and a dry and sunny September resulted in terrific quality grapes. Amazingly complex, this fascinating 11 year-old rosé has a fine, straw-orange color and a "vineux" bouquet. Fresh, fruity, with hints of bitter almonds and hazelnuts, this wine has refined, supple flavors that endure. 60% Garnacha (Grenache), 30% Tempranillo, 10% Viura. 

Inventory: Main Warehouse Redwood City

95 points Wine Enthusiast: "This Krug vintage is showing some maturity, especially from its toast aroma. But certainly not too much maturity, because on the palate the fruit remains young at heart, a crisp burst of freshness coming through the more mature acidity. All the elements are in balance, making a finely shaped wine, which impresses as much from its elegance as from its richness." (12/1/2008) 94 points and a Collectibles designation from the Wine Spectator: "This is both refined and opulent from start to finish. Whole-grain toast, roasted almond... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

93 points and 2 Puffs from the Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine: "64% Pinot Noir; 36% Chardonnay. Seemingly a bit livelier than the typical Grande Dame, but still a rich wine based on its Pinot Noir heritage, it combines an admirably strong mousse with plenty of acidity and a dried toffee, nutty overlay of burgeoning complexity. Lovely." (12/08) 92 points Wine Spectator: "There's plenty of finesse in this sleek Champagne, along with an airy texture and loads of grip. Graphite, lemon, toast and mineral aromas and flavors prevail, and this takes on ... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Domaine Fontanel is a small gem of an estate located in the Cotes du Roussillon. Pierre Fontanel is a grower/winemaker who is meticulous thoroughout every stage of the grapegrowing and winemaking process. This fabulous dessert wine is made from 60-year-old grenache blanc vines. It is wonderfully complex, thoughtful and hedonistic, displaying a classic rancio nose along with carmelized nut, dried flowers, and a light but elegant spice. This wine is stunning served after a meal with a cheese from the area such as Ossu Iraty and roasted almonds! 16% abv. 

Inventory: Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Ideally aged Gran Reserva here, in all its tradtitionally glory! This Tempranillo blend is packed with earthy notes (tobacco, forest floor, mineral and oak) along with mature red fruits and a finish at once spicy and soft. Try with lamb or hard, aged cheeses. 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse San Francisco

90 points Wine Spectator: "Loads of plum, berry and cherry aromas. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and a long, long finish. Very well done and superfine. Best after 2008. 6,665 cases made." (01/01) 90 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: "Dark red. Plum, currant, tar, tobacco, smoke, cedar and minerals. Supple and dense, with excellent precision of crystallized red berry flavors thanks to ripe acids and firm minerality. Very dry, sophisticated finish is long and gripping. The merlot was even better in '98 than in '00, said Sanders, but i... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City

93 points from Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: "Medium red. Suave red berry, kirsch, anise and dried rose aromas are compelling and strikingly precise. Silky in texture and packed with sweet red berry, licorice, vanilla bean and floral pastille flavors. Fine-grained tannins lend structure to this suave, flat-out delicious wine, which possesses outstanding depth and complexity and finishes with haunting floral echoes." (Jul/Aug 2007) 91 points from the Wine Advocate: "The 1998 Pecina Gran Reserva was aged for 48 months in used American oak. Si... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse San Francisco

92 points Robert Parker’s Wine advocate: “The estate’s 1998 Brut Cuvee Louise is a linear, focused wine endowed with layers of smoke, flowers, minerals and white fruit that come together with impressive length and clarity. This deceptively mid-weight wine closes with a long, elegant finish. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018.” (12/08) 92 points Wine Enthusiast: “As it ages in bottle, this Champagne is showing real class. It remains as delicate as when reviewed last year, but it is now showing much more mature toastiness and bread flavors, and less of the gr... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Redwood City San Francisco

From an extremely successful vintage on this bank of the Gironde, this Merlot-based value is packed with rich plum and red berry notes with vanilla spice and oak tones filling in the middle and ample though integrated tannin apparent in the finish. A great all-around red for use at table with a host of foods. At over ten years of age, it is drinking its best now. 

Inventory: Redwood City

90 points Wine Spectator Issue: Nov 30, 2002 Harmonious red. Plums and blackberries, with hints of flowers, turning to fresh mushrooms. Full-bodied, with soft tannins and a long fruity finish. Best after 2005. 500 cases made. (JS) 

Inventory: Redwood City

90 points Wine Spectator: "A mix of apricot, dried cherry and lemon aromas and flavors are sharply etched, and there's a grainy texture to this bubbly, which has intensity, even if it is a bit chunky. Drink now through 2018." (Web only, 2009) 90 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, Nov/Dec 08: "($150; 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay; L22112) Bright yellow-gold. Assertively perfumed bouquet of honeyed apple and pear, dried flowers, buttered toast and smoky lees. A dense, chewy Champagne, with deep orchard and caramelized pit fruit flavors... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City

90 points from Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: "Dark red. Toasty red berries and cherry on the nose, with oak spice, mocha and dried flowers adding complexity. Smooth, fleshy flavors of ripe cherry and sweet berries are framed by supple tannins. Gains sweetness and an exotic, sweet chewing tobacco quality on the sappy finish. The oak character builds slowly and lingers behind. This is ready to drink." (Jul/Aug '08) 

Inventory: Main Warehouse

94 points Robert Parker: "A dense opaque purple color offers up restrained, but pure aromas of liquid minerals, blackberries, black raspberries, and flowers. Medium to full-bodied, with high tannin but a long, super-pure, symmetrical mouth-feel, this dazzling, extremely complex Ausone requires 6-10 years of cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2050." (04/01) K&L's notes - Black color. Mocha aromas with meaty undertones. Great breadth and depth. Tannic finish. 50% Merlot and 50% Cab Franc. Superb wine with great aging potential. 

Inventory: Redwood City

90 points Robert Parker: The 1998 Merlot is light, but it is undoubtedly one of the finest Merlots produced in this irregular vintage. A blend of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc (1,750 cases), Jayson Pahlmeyer and winemaker Erin Green decided to eliminate 38% of the wine. Full-bodied, thick, and juicy, with low acidity as well as melted chocolate, cherry, smoke, and toast aromas and flavors, it is best drunk over the next 5-8 years." (12/00) 88-90 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: "Deep red-ruby. Aromas of red berries and maple syrup. ... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City

The development of the Hartwell estate began with a small one-acre vineyard planted to the Bosche Clone with cuttings taken from Grace Family Vineyard. The vineyard produced its first wine in 1990 and was then followed by the development of the Sunshine Vineyard, which came into production with the 1993 vintage. As a result of different clonal selections, each of these vineyards display their own unique characteristics. The 1998 vintage shows ripe black cherry, cassis and cocoa flavors with a long, silky finish. 

Inventory: Redwood City

96-98 points Robert Parker: "This Chardonnay represents an evolution in style. It possesses all the power and concentration of Steve Kistler's most successful wines, but it also has a certain restraint allied with extraordinary complexity and elegance that a few years ago would have been found only in the finest Burgundy grand crus." (01/00) 93(+?) points Stephen Tanzer: "Subdued but pure aromas of apple, apricot and nuts. Thick and rich, but vibrant and sharply delineated, with flavors of spiced apple and minerals. This already boasts terrific breadth,... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City

96 points Robert Parker: "Blackberry jam, juniper berries, and spices can be found in the rich aromatics of the stunning, dark-colored 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon. A wine of awesome breadth, width, concentration, and power, this full-bodied beauty is crammed with lush layers of blackberries, plums, and cassis. This offering's prodigious fruit envelopes its copious silky tannin. Additionally, it displays an extraordinarily long finish. Drink it between 2005 and 2016." (12/02) 94 points Wine Spectator: "Dense, deep and powerful, a many-layered red that piles ... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City

96 points Stephen Tanzer: "Pale green-tinged color. Musky, leesy aromas of lime, ginger and iodine; showed more exotic pineapple and dried fruit notes as it opened in the glass. The palate detonates with sweet, penetrating, creamy fruit of extraordinary depth. As powerful as this is, it conveys an impression of poise. The explosive, endless finish combines palate-saturating fruit and dusty mineral notes. This is surely the greatest young chardonnay I've tasted in my dining room so far this year." (May/June '01) 93-95 points Robert Parker: "The sensation... Read More » 

Inventory: San Francisco

According to Wine Spectator: "Lean in structure, but generous enough with its berry, mushroom and spice flavors to make this a worthy candidate for the cellar. Needs to lose some fine tannins, but has a distinctive personality. Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz." (01/01) 

Inventory: Redwood City

According to Stephen Tanzer: "Red-ruby. Black cherry, flowers, iron and mint on the nose. Supple on entry, then less sweet in the middle than the proprietary blend; more backward and dominated by its structure. Light notes of meat and tobacco. Clings nicely on the back end, which offers notes of tobacco and black licorice. A sample of the petit verdot component of the '99 bottling showed more fully expressed, riper, more floral black fruit flavors, firm acidity and excellent length. Viader may yet add a pinch of this stuff to the cabernet blend 'to add w... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City

According to the Wine Spectator: "Subtle aromas of berries and minerals, with hints of spice. Medium-bodied, with fine tannins and a long, elegant finish. Best after 2003. 755 cases made." (09/01) 

Inventory: Redwood City

92 points Robert Parker: "The 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard was bottled earlier than usual as this vintage is not as massive or concentrated as its predecessors. To my palate, the 1998 is good, although I am not convinced it will be long lived. There are 2,300 cases of this 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit-Verdot, and 3% Cabernet Franc blend. It is supple and elegant, with a complex, evolved bouquet of smoke, black currants, spice box, and cedar. In the mouth, the wine is forward with sweet tannin, gorgeously rich, concentrated fruit, and impre... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City

According to the Wine Spectator: "Well-proportioned, with a mix of rich coffee, toffee, currant, herb, cedar, earth and tar...Drink now through 2009. 1,100 cases made." (10/01) 

Inventory: Hollywood

96 points Robert Parker: "Blackberry jam, juniper berries, and spices can be found in the rich aromatics of the stunning, dark-colored 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon. A wine of awesome breadth, width, concentration, and power, this full-bodied beauty is crammed with lush layers of blackberries, plums, and cassis. This offering's prodigious fruit envelopes its copious silky tannin. Additionally, it displays an extraordinarily long finish. Drink it between 2005 and 2016." (12/02) 94 points Wine Spectator: "Dense, deep and powerful, a many-layered red that piles ... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood

91 points Robert Parker: "With a limited production of 435 cases, the 1998 Gemstone Vineyard is the finest Livingston offering I have tasted in many years. It exhibits a dense ruby/purple color as well as sweet aromas of cassis, licorice, and oak. Full-bodied, fleshy, rich, and pure, this is a mouth-filling effort. Consume it over the next 15 years." (02/02) The "Gemstone Vineyard" is situated in Yountville in the heart of the Napa Valley. The 1998 is a blend of 60% Cabernet, 25% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petite Verdot. Winemaker John Kongsgaard... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City

According to Robert Parker: "The 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon 17th Anniversary Release offers a dark ruby color as well as a big, peppery, spicy, black currant, plum, mineral, earth, and dried herb-scented bouquet. Medium to full-bodied, with a fine texture in addition to a medium-weight, Bordeaux-like style, it has firm tannin, but not much lushness and complexity. It requires 2-3 years of cellaring, and should keep for 15-16 years." (12/2000) 

Inventory: Redwood City

96 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "The 1998 Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St.-Urbain Selection de Grains Nobles sports 11.5% alcohol and 130 grams of residual sugar. It bursts from the glass with magnificent mineral and lemony caramel aromas. It is medium to full-bodied, admirably focused, and possesses a laser-like, syrupy personality. Its candied, jellied apricot flavors are rendered lively by its stupendous acidity. This incredibly long wine is powerful, highly expressive, and intense. It has the potential to last 25 or more years." (12/01) 

Inventory: Redwood City

98 points Robert Parker: "The 1998 Tokay-Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St.-Urbain Selection de Grains Nobles has 13.5% alcohol and 160 grams of residual sugar. Even though no new oak was employed, its aromatics reveal vanilla, powerful smoke, and spice scents. This is a raspberry, apricot, peach, spice, and toast-flavored wine with magnificent breadth and an unbelievably long finish. Even though its flavor profile is unctuous, almost jellied in character, it possesses brilliant focus. This is an extraordinary wine with an enormous upside. Drink it over... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City

According to the Wine Spectator: "A pleasant red, with plum and light spice character, medium body and a soft, creamy texture. Drink now." (Web only, 2001) 

Inventory: Redwood City

90 points Robert Parker: The 1998 Merlot is light, but it is undoubtedly one of the finest Merlots produced in this irregular vintage. A blend of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc (1,750 cases), Jayson Pahlmeyer and winemaker Erin Green decided to eliminate 38% of the wine. Full-bodied, thick, and juicy, with low acidity as well as melted chocolate, cherry, smoke, and toast aromas and flavors, it is best drunk over the next 5-8 years." (12/00) 88-90 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: "Deep red-ruby. Aromas of red berries and maple syrup. ... Read More » 

Inventory: Main Warehouse

One star from the Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine: "Fairly intense in aromas with a good measure black cherry fruit pushed along by an even larger serving of sweet and smoky oak spice, this big, mouthfilling wine is long on ripeness, extract and body, but it is fit with a slightly discordant trim of late-arriving acidity that leaves it a little hard at the finish. Still, there is more than enough richness here to support its much-needed four or five years of cellar time." 

Inventory: Redwood City

96 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "The extraordinary 1998 Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Vendange Tardive has a mouth-watering nose of candied blood oranges lightly dusted with botrytis-caused spiciness. Creamed red, yellow, and white fruits are interspersed with earth, minerals, and gravel in this complex, concentrated, full-bodied behemoth. Its massive personality is well-buttressed by its superb acidity. Additionally, this muscular yet graceful wine has an unbelievably long finish. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2025." (06/2000) 

Inventory: Redwood City

94-96 points Robert Parker: "The rich and wonderful 1998 Chardonnay Kistler Vineyard, made from a vineyard planted with the Mount Eden clone, is extremely full-bodied, with striking purity, and powerful, concentrated, honeyed flavors with nuances of butter, smoke, roasted nuts, and minerals. The creamy texture is buttressed by good acidity. Toast, gravel, and slate-like richness intermixed with fruit make this a compelling, intensely flavored Chardonnay. It should drink well for 5-7 years, perhaps longer." (01/00) 92 points Wine Spectator: "Lots of spic... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City

96 points Wine Spectator: "This riveting white begins with candied citrus peel and Poire William aromas that turn to caramelized brown sugar and maple notes on the palate. A nice juxtaposition of sweet and tart in the crisp structure supports the flavors. Best from 2001 through 2010." (02/2000) 

Inventory: Redwood City

Inventory: Redwood City

90 points Wine Spectator: "Starts soft, then gains momentum with black cherry, jammy plum, game and spice notes that carry through the ripe tannins of the lingering finish, where the toasty oak shines through." (02/01) 

Inventory: Redwood City

93 points Wine Spectator: "Brilliant Pinot. A firm Burgundy that offers muchc haracter and a real sense of terroir-driven fruit. Structured and rigorous, with toasted, tarlike smoke and plenty of blackberry and red berry character. Elegant, with a crisp, clean, pure, fruity finish. Best from 2003 through 2010." (10/2000) 93 points Allen Meadows: "Beautifully fresh pinot nose cut with ripe, crushed black fruit (though not nearly as ripe as the '99) followed by extremely rich, gloriously complex flavors that ooze extract. The tannic structure is a good d... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City