90 points and one the Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2009: "Bright plum, dried cherry and flowers on the nose. Full-bodied, with fine tannins and refined berry and cherry flavors. Drink now." (10/09) And from Wine Spectator's James Suckling's Blog: "I came across an incredible value in my office in Tuscany today...the most impressive [wine] for the money was the Monte Antico 2006. Its suggested retail is $11, and it could sell for less. And it's in the market now. Granted, I have not tasted it blind yet. But it's in the very good to outstanding range... Read More » 

Inventory: Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Giovanni Blason and his wife Valentina are nascent producers who shocked us with their price-to-quality ratio, earning tons of kudos in Gambero Rosso and beyond. They come from the Isonzo region, right up against the Slovenian border. Their Pinot Grigio is really sensational, full in the mouth, rich on the palate and extraordinarily drinkable at this price! 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

This wine has been the #1 selling Italian wine for more than a decade at K&L! You can't get that kind of continued success without having a supremely consistent quality to price ratio. The South Tuscan coast is a breadbasket of wine making, stable temperatures, solid history of quality yet no fame and fortune. Our benefit is the incredibly price bargains that come out of the region! This wine is wonderful, soft, forward and easy to drink Sangiovese with an enticing mixture of cherry, plum and a hint of subtle soil character and it is affordable enough to... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Antinori moves south! Piero Antinori has been one of the leaders of the Italian wine industry for decades. He was involved in starting the Super Tuscan movement, developing coastal Tuscany and now he has turned his focus to Puglia. Antinori however sees the potential for quality at an exceptional price and with their incredible base of knowledge and skilled winemakers they have crafted some unique and delicious wines. The Tormaresca "Neprica" is made for 40% Negroamaro, 30% Primitivo and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. Negroamaro and Primitivo by themselves some... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

90 points Wine & Spirits and named one of that magazine's "Year's Best" and "Top 100 Values": "There's a spicy, peppery edge to freshen the ripe black cherry fruit in this primitivo. The texture is broad and rich, with lasting flavors of blackberry and wild flower honey." (06/09) And, according to Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "Readers looking for a tasty, value priced red will want to consider the 2007 Primitivo from Vinosia. A juicy, mouth filling red, the wine is loaded with fragrant dark red fruit in a soft, seamless style showing no hard edges. Th... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Sfuso means "bulk wine" in Italian, and this is just like the straightforward and simple wine you get in an Italian trattoria, or when you bring your bottles to the vino-olio store - just fresh Montepulciano, soft, easy and delicious. (Greg St. Clair, K&L Wine Merchants) The 2008 Contesa Vino Sfuso Rosso is everything that I want in an everyday red. This is made from 100% Montepulciano grown in the Marche. A vibrant nose with dark red and black fruits, the palate is dominated by lots of primary fruit tones and it has a modest finish with good acidity. ... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Wow, this is an impressive wine for the price! From the Folonari family, owners of the Nozzole and Cabreo labels, this supple and delicious blend of 40% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 20% Syrah. Power, aromatics, color, balance, length and purity, this is really a stunning effort for good wine for the price! (Greg St.Clair, K&L Italian buyer) 

Inventory: Hollywood

There is nothing musty or old fashioned about this straight forward red, with fresh "modern" styling in its rich dark fruit and sweet tannins. Made entirely of the Montepulciano grape from the region of Abruzzo, this will work well with pizza/pasta or just as an all-around excellent Tuesday night quaffer! 

Inventory: Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Ruby red with purple hues. On the nose, it is fresh, with aromas of currant, strawberry and raspberry. On the palate the wine is fresh and fruity, well balanced and smooth. Fermented in stainless steel, this is a great all-around red that goes with what you're eating! 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City

Collalbrigo was founded by Alberto Cosulich in 1967 and since 1996 his son Francesco has run the winery. The estate of Collalbrigo is located in the first hill outside of Conegliano, its beautiful steep slopes having been treasured by noble Venetian families and devoted to viticulture for centuries. Their wildly popular (in Italy, anyway) prosecco is made with 90% Prosecco and 10% Pinot bianco. The bouquet has an unmistakably fruity aroma reminiscent of pears and golden apples. On the palate it is rich, intense and smooth. 

Inventory: Hollywood

Giovanni Blason and his consulting enologist Andrea Rossi have turned this 37-acre property into a juggernaut of affordable quality wines. Giovanni and his wife Valentina own this winery in Gradisca d’Inzonzo, 3.75 miles from the Slovenian border and about 20 miles north of Trieste. Generally I write about the easier-to-sell wines before the more difficult-to-figure-out. This Cabernet Franc is so good you won’t believe it! The flavor just bursts out of the glass, spice laden, black pepper, red fruits, vivacious, fresh and curvy all at the same time, and ... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

From an outstanding vintage in Chianti, this is classic Sangiovese offered now at a ridiculously low price. Deep cherry fruit, integrated tannins and bright acidity call for meat-based red sauces and your favorite Tuesday night pasta! 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

A real non-aged Super Tuscan for not much more than $10! Ample, multilayered, with a very unusual fruit component, and a wine that is generously inviting to taste. The palate is soft and enveloping, full of cherry fruit and an earthy-woodsy component with a long, intriguing aftertaste. Sangiovese (40%), Ciliegiolo (20%), Merlot (20%) and Cabernet (20%). 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City

The Dolcetto d'Alba, Arsigà, which in the Piedmontese dialect means to take a risk, is born from the blend of Dolcetto grapes from various vineyards of the Batasiolo estates. While each of these vineyards is marked by their individual characteristics, all have in common the same prerequisites: 25 to 30 year-old vines, low yields per hectare and a southern exposure at an altitude of 300 to 400 metres. Arsigà has a deep ruby-red color with violet reflections; an intense fruity nose, with particular notes of morello fruit and under-tones of vanilla. The pal... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

The wine is pale straw in color, with aromas of almond, citrus and a hint of herbs. It is bone dry and finishes with a very attractive hint of apple-skin. This is a knockout everyday bottle of white wine, flavorful enough to stand up to a range of dishes but bright enough to make a good dry aperitif. 

Inventory: Main Warehouse Redwood City

Riccardo Cotarella is one of Italy's most famous winemakers (actually consults for a Bordeaux producer!) and his own winery is named Falesco and it sits at the Lazio-Umbrian border. This wine is a blend of 1/3 each of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese and has been universally acclaimed by wine critics everywhere as a superb bargain. Cotarella is a master winemaker knowing just how much technique is needed for each varietal to add to the blend. The wine has a Cabernet-Merlot dominated nose but the addition of the Sangiovese gives it more balance, ... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Tenuta di Sesta is a new producer for K&L, and they are making some of the best value wines to come out of Tuscany. The Sesta estate is located in the southern part of the municipality of Montalcino between Sant'Angelo in Colle and Caselnuovo dell'Abate near the well known Romanesque Abbey of Sant'Antimo. The soil here has clay and is rich in marl and limestone. This is a blend of Sangiovese, Colorino and Canaiolo, with nice sweet fruit (blackberries and cassis), a little dustiness, a lovely tobacco note and a really nice long finish. And yes, it's just ... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

This is called the one-night wine, and not just because you won't have any left at the end of the night to store in your fridge until tomorrow! Montepulciano grapes are left to macerate with the must for just a few hours, all the time needed to give this wine its classic cherry (cerasa) color and all the fragrances of red fresh fruits, rendered even more refined by flowery accents of rose petal. 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

I first fell in love with Salice Salentino as a twenty-two-year old, living in San Francisco with way too many roommates and not near enough cash. I bought mine from a grocery store whenever I could find it. It was not from Rivera, I can't exactly remember the name (that's how old I am now), but like this 2004, it was negro-amaro it all its tannic and food friendly glory. It tasted great with pizza, pasta in red sauce, grilled veggie burgers, all those foods I ate when I was broke. The Rivera Salice Salentino is similarly endowed with acid and tannin, an... Read More » 

Inventory: Main Warehouse San Francisco

This winery, newly imported by K&L, is located in the far northern portion of Puglia (the heel of Italy’s boot) near the town of Foggia, which runs a bit cooler than the lower-altitude zones of this sun-baked land. The 2007 Posta Arignano San Severo Rosso is 80% Montepulciano and 20% Sangiovese, and in a word, it is luscious. Such balance and vibrancy, this one is exciting, animated and very friendly to drink. Loads of fruit, richness (always balanced) and gusto that is just wonderful to enjoy now. Spaghetti Bolognese, grilled meats and lasagne would be ... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood Redwood City

According to Lynne Char Bennett in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Frizzante rather than spumante, this unusual Prosecco is a light pink-colored wine. It is bottled with a cork and string - no cage or foil. The nose has subtle berryish tones underscored with light peach and blossoms; then gently tart flavors and a long, pleasant finish. It can definitely take you to lox-and-bagel territory without breaking the bank. A blend of 75 percent Pinot Bianco, 15 Prosecco and 10 Pinot Nero." (Sunday, May 3, 2009) 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse

This rosé, typically named 'Cerasuolo,' is a shocking value given the prices of some of the well-known rosés from southern France. (The Montepulciano grapes are crushed, the skins macerage for 12 hours or so, then the wine is vinified off the skins like a white.) Good solid deep pink color; aroma and flavor of strawberry, with some herbal notes; lively and fresh on the palate but flavorful enough to stand up to all sorts of food. Grilled chicken or salmon come to mind. 

Inventory: Main Warehouse Redwood City

Considering the myriad grape varieties of Italy, it's not surprising that many of us have not even heard of more than a few of them. Chances are good, however, that we'll all be hearing a lot more about Inzolia, one of Sicily's native grapes found mainly in the region surrounding Mt. Etna. This stupendous new arrival is vibrant, fresh, balanced yet soft and luscious, and a great value 

Inventory: San Francisco

The brooding presence of Mt. Etna makes for some interesting pictures in this part of Sicily, it also makes for the ideal growing conditions for the local nerello mascalese grape (near-ello masca-lazay). This is Greg St. Clair's (K&L's Italian buyer) personal favorite Sicilian red variety. It resembles nebbiolo a bit in structure but without heavy tannins. It's complex with a good mix of fruit and earth, plus it's a steal! 

Inventory: Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Since its establishment in 2001, Tenuta Coppadoro has fast become the new benchmark for quality winemaking in the southern Italian province of Puglia. Coppadoro's vineyards are located on the Gargano peninsula, a promontory of land projecting out from the Italian coastline into the Adriatic Sea; it forms the “spur” above the heel formed by Puglia's Salentino peninsula. Home to Italy’s largest national park, the area is characterized by thickly forested ravines and sunlit valleys, likened to bowls, or coppe in Italian; hence the winery name, meaning "Bowl... Read More » 

Inventory: Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Cherries galore, wrapped with very subtle tannins. This is an elegant red wine made to go the distance from informal backyard barbecues to formal dinners Famiglia Cielo has made a wine that can truly do it all. All this for a very reasonable price. 

Inventory: Redwood City

Valentino Sciotti and Camillo de Iulis are not unlike some of their young Californian counterparts. Not everyone is blessed with an inheritance of acres of vineyards and a winery that your great-great-grandfather built and is paid for! They are negociants who work closely with growers in several regions looking to produce wines of character, from vineyards that aren’t tied to any one winery. They can offer more for the grapes because they have little overhead, they rent space as they need it, and because they are getting paid more the growers are more wi... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood

Fresh, low-alcohol 5.5%, semi sparkling, sweet, red wine! Serve chilled this super refreshing and easy to drink Piemontese wine made predominantly from Brachetto grapes in the tiny town of Santo Stefano Belbo will charm the pants off you. Buy two - you won't be able to resist. This wine is produced using the Charmat method, which gives a sparkle to the gorgeous strawberry aromatics, and although it's sweet, the crsip acidity makes this wine perfectly balanced. Have on a summer afternoon, with Sunday brunch or your late night munchies. It is like a soda w... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood

The F.lli Lombardo company was founded in 1881 when Giuseppe Lombardo Maltese, a man of endless energy and enthusiasm, and a gifted and resourceful shipbuilder, realized that with his sailing ships he could take the wine of his land, Marsala, all over the world. This particular dry Marsala wine makes for a tasty tipple when served alongside many of the holiday season's treats like pannetone and traditional fruitcake. A blend of catarratto and grillo, it is rich and warm with roasted notes and dried fruit flavors. Also very handy to have in the kitchen fo... Read More » 

Inventory: Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Giovanni Blason and his consulting enologist Andrea Rossi have turned this 37-acre property into a juggernaut of affordable quality wines. Giovanni and his wife Valentina own this winery in Gradisca d’Inzonzo, 3.75 miles from the Slovenian border and about 20 miles north of Trieste. Franconia is rarely seen in the U.S. (the name of the grape has nothing to do with Franken wines of Germany), and it's a shame. This is a ruby red wine, with a distinctively herbal aroma and flavor, and a velvety mouth feel. Best of all, it is quite low in alcohol, making it ... Read More » 

Inventory: Redwood City

Considering the myriad grape varieties of Italy, it's not surprising that many of us have not even heard of more than a few of them. Chances are good, however, that we'll all be hearing a lot more about Inzolia, one of Sicily's native grapes found mainly in the region surrounding Mt. Etna. This stupendous new arrival is vibrant, fresh, balanced yet soft and luscious, and a great value 

Inventory: Redwood City

Half dry and half blissfully sweet (but never cloying), this bubbly red is fragrant and fruity on the nose with black cherries and maraschinos. The bubbles are quite elegant and persistent on this number, ushering in a palate impression that is richly full bodied and harmonious. More full flavored and intense that other Ca Berti wines. 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

An unusual blend for this richly fruity pink wine, 70% merlot and 30% franconia, however the taste is anything but bizarre. Strawberries and spice mix with flowers and lots of refreshing acidity, which makes this the rose to wash down cheese-rich foods like ricotto-stuffed ravioli. Minerals and stone fruit make for a fascinating finish on this value-packed rosé. 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

This ruby red evanescent beauty is made with 85% lambrusco grasparossa and 15% fortana (locally known as the 'golden grape'). The nose is intense and persistent with vinous notes of fruits and flowers, recalling blackberries, cherries and plums. The palate is dry, light on the alcohol and soft, with good acid and low tannin. It is just plain delicious, folks! 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City

The improvisational wine beverage, this is spicy, light in the tannin department with cherry fruit flavors. Soooo smooth with a light sparkle! SERVE COLD! 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco

Giovanni Blason and his consulting enologist Andrea Rossi have turned this 37-acre property into a juggernaut of affordable quality wines. Giovanni and his wife Valentina own this winery in Gradisca d’Inzonzo, 3.75 miles from the Slovenian border and about 20 miles north of Trieste. Franconia is rarely seen in the U.S. (the name of the grape has nothing to do with Franken wines of Germany), and it's a shame. This is a ruby red wine, with a distinctively herbal aroma and flavor, and a velvety mouth feel. Best of all, it is quite low in alcohol, making it ... Read More » 

Inventory: Hollywood

According to the Wine Spectator: "Light and simple, with some good red cherry and mineral character." (Web only, 2008) 

Inventory: Main Warehouse

This is a party wine plain and simple, and it features accents of pear and summer peaches with a semi-sweet and delightfully sparkling finish. Serve it well chilled and in good supply! 

Inventory: Hollywood Main Warehouse Redwood City San Francisco