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- David Othenin-Girard (336)
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Staff Favorites
| If you’re going to have Robert Parker or Stephen Tanzer over for dinner, selecting a wine they’ve rated highly will be a nice choice. However, when you’re buying wines for yourself, we’d love to see you find wines that match up your unique palate and pocketbook. We have a large staff of friendly and knowledgeable wine professionals that taste hundreds of wines each week. They can put you in touch with bottles that you are likely to love, often at a much lower cost than the highly-rated gems that often see a run-up in price and frequent availability issues. Like any great group of opinionated professionals, our staff has varied tastes themselves. Often our customers will find a particular staff member with a style that corresponds to their own. That concept works extremely well in our retail stores, and this section is our effort to bring you the same online. Don’t get us wrong, we love the highly rated wines from the press and will continue to offer them, but we think you’re missing out if you’re not augmenting those selections with picks from our excellent staff. Here are their favorites. (Click on a name to see their other selections - or to drop them a line.) Cheers! |
Reviews
2023 Domaine du Bagnol Cassis Blanc
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/30/2025 | Send Email
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/30/2025 | Send Email
Composed of 50% Marsanne, 35% Clairette, and 15% Ugni Blanc that grows on clay and limestone soils. Dry and with no malolactic fermentation. It's a delightful peach/pear tug-of-war with refreshing acidity and a gravelly finish that brings the fruitiness back down to earth.
Price:
$24.99
2000 La Cabanne, Pomerol
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/30/2025 | Send Email
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/30/2025 | Send Email
The 2000 Château la Cabanne Pomerol is composed of 92% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc sourced from vines planted on gravelly clay soils. The wine ages for approximately 18 months in 60% new barrels. This 25-year-old gem reminds me of sipping Bordeaux in basement wine bars in London—proper Pomerol territory, which makes me smile—ripe plum, pipe tobacco, dusty rose, autumnal forest floor—everything is just so, as it should be. Silky tannins, neat as a pin, wrap the palate in comforting familiarity. If you want a benchmark Pomerol, this is it. Considering it's 25 years old and ready to drink, it's a fantastic value!
Arette Artesanal K&L Exclusive Single Barrel Añejo Suave Tequila (750ml)
By: David Othenin-Girard | Review Date: 7/30/2025 | Send Email
By: David Othenin-Girard | Review Date: 7/30/2025 | Send Email
The hallmark of Arette is the distillery’s unusually narrow heart cut, a choice that strips away harsher elements and highlights the core of their elegant, agave-driven character. The result is a soft, round texture and remarkable purity, something that sets Arette apart in a crowded field. Whenever someone asks for something “smooth” (a term I usually avoid for its vagueness), I instinctively reach for Arette, knowing it delivers refinement without sacrificing flavor. While single barrels can sometimes veer from a house profile, this particular cask amplifies all the best traits of the standard Añejo without losing its identity. It’s richer, deeper, and a bit more intense, but still restrained and composed. The color is a gorgeous pale gold (0.6), and the nose is a symphony of warm vanilla, cinnamon stick, dried stone fruit, toasted coconut, and light oak spice. On the palate, the texture is luxurious, lifted by just enough proof to carry the weight without showing heat. There’s a flash of spice at the center that reminds you this tequila has some age on it, unusual for Jalisco, but it never becomes tannic or overly woody. Instead, the finish glides into soft vanilla, sun-ripened agave, and a final wash of tropical fruit. This cask hits the sweet spot between traditional structure and expressive personality, making it one of the most compelling single barrel tequila selections we’ve seen.
Price:
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Arette Artesanal K&L Exclusive Single Barrel Añejo Suave Tequila (750ml)
By: Josh Gelfand | Review Date: 7/30/2025 | Send Email
By: Josh Gelfand | Review Date: 7/30/2025 | Send Email
The nose opens with beautiful, musty waves of cooked agave, rich cacao, and vanilla bean, followed by a lift of cinnamon spice, cracked black pepper, and damp, earthy oak. The first sip brings even more fruit into the picture, with ripe apricot joining dark cherries, all wrapped in warm floral notes and a peppery butterscotch undertone.
On the finish, the herbs, spice, and a streak of minerality common to lowland tequilas gently blanket the lingering sweetness of the agave, leading to a rich, oily landing that’s both grounded and graceful. With only 15 months spent in used bourbon barrels, the oak is present but never overpowering. Instead, it adds a soft, woodsy caramel warmth that rounds out the whole experience beautifully.
Price:
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2000 La Cabanne, Pomerol
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 7/30/2025 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 7/30/2025 | Send Email
This small, 9-hectare property lies in prestigious company—nestled among names like Trotanoy and Clinet—on the prized clay soils that have made Pomerol legendary. These rich, complex soils are the backbone of the region’s most expressive wines, and this estate is no exception. Their steadfast dedication to traditional winemaking practices, combined with a modest annual production of just 2,500 cases, has kept them under the radar for years.
That’s all the better for us. Because finding a genuine, beautifully made Pomerol from the storied 2000 vintage—now at the 25-year mark—is already a rare treat. But to secure it with impeccable provenance, shipped directly from Bordeaux, and offered at this kind of price? That’s practically unheard of.
Aromatically, it’s a captivating blend of mature red and black fruits layered with earthy truffle, forest floor, and just a whisper of floral perfume. With air, the bouquet deepens and expands. On the palate, you’ll find pure, supple red fruits wrapped in silky, mouthcoating tannins, supported by impressive density and balance. It speaks to the generosity and warmth of the 2000 vintage, yet it also retains a lift and freshness that keeps it alive and vibrant.
This is exactly the kind of wine that reminds you why Pomerol is so revered, shows the caliber of the 2000 vintage, and what a wonderful experience aged Bordeaux can be. It’s in a beautiful place right now—fully mature, expressive, and evolving gracefully in the glass. A hidden gem with real pedigree, ready to drink but still holding a little more magic for those who want to see what the years will bring. At our current retail, it's a stunning buy.
2024 Tahbilk Marsanne Nagambie Lakes Victoria
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
Really fresh nose, with big tropical hit off the top note, before descending down into fleshy apricots and peaches accompanied with a hit of lemon. The palate is weighty with just a little bit of pith, and a lot of white peach with candied lemon, despite being completely dry. This is your cheap and cheerful bottle when you want a bottle of white wine but you just can't quite decide what. This will pair with most things, but really only needs a glass and some sunshine to get the job done right. Not something to be contemplated, but instead something to be consumed, enjoyed, and then excitedly picked up later with remembrances of the fun day you had while you drank it.
2024 Swinney Mourvedre Rosé Frankland River
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
Really soft and pretty nose, with a little bit of red raspberry, some very light strawberry, and a little bit of some white flowers. There's a little bit of something savory, some light dried herbs and a little bit of lemon zest. The palate is really nice and incredibly dry with a little bit of a pithy bitterness that's going to make this absolutely sing with foods. The fruit is light and ethereal, more raspberry and strawberry along with just a little spritz of lemon over the top, and a little bit more of those dried herbs from the nose. This is something I want to sit down and have a bottle or two while outside and having some sort of barbecue adjacent meal, maybe some chicken and grilled vegetables.
2019 Domaine Naturaliste "Morus" Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
The nose already has some signs of a little bit of age, there's a little touch of oil-cured olive and a little bit of a loamy mushroom note deep in the background, along with some fresh green peppercorn pyrazines. All of those more savories are accompanying a nice rich black cherry and blackberry compote with just a little bit of thyme. There's also just a little touch of something pleasantly horsey, but it's just a player in this game, not a driving factor. The palate is really gorgeous with great acidity with some pretty savory notes, but there's a ton of fruit there still, rich and ripe blackberry and bramble-fruit, a little bit of raspberry playing in with the blackberry, the pyrazines are less present and it's more fruit-focused. The finish has some lingering barrel spice, a bit of cedarwood, and some pepper that all plays with what remains of the fruit, the savory slowly taking over until the finish is just a little bit toasty.
2022 Mount Edward Pinot Noir Central Otago
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
The nose has just a little bit of a savory start before diving right into the fruit. Really bramble-fruit driven with a heavy dose of cherry along with that, there's a soft touch of rose petals as well. The palate has a rich savory mid-palate with fruit on either side, a brighter red fruit with underripe raspberry, cherries, and a little bit of crunchy cranberry. This has opened up quite a bit since this morning, when it was a bit chewier and more dense. The finish is incredibly lingering and delightful, there's something a little opulent feeling about how long and how pretty the finish is. This definitely made me crave some kind of duck or other kind of fatty poultry, I'd even take some chicken with compound butter stuffed under the skin with it. Either way, yum yum.
2019 TWR (Te Whare Ra) Pinot Noir Marlborough
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
Really pretty slightly dusty nose, the fruit is a little bit more brooding than one might expect, but so far I'm really digging it. Cherry, a little raspberry, and some richer oak spice in the back. The palate really pretty, with a nice line of acidity and some really good brighter red fruits. There's a good amount of oak influence on the palate, but it just makes the whole thing richer instead of muting the fruit or taking over the whole show. This is a little bit bigger and more serious than some of the other Pinots that we had today, something with a little bit more gravitas behind it.
2023 Allram "Ried Gaisberg" Riesling Kamptal
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
The moment you put your nose to the glass to smell this wine you know there's something special happening here! Energetic notes of petrol and lemon curd jump from the glass while the palate is electric and shimmers with a kaleidoscope of citrus fruit flavors framed by flinty mineral notes and racy acidity. Tasted blind you could easily guess this as a Grand Cru Alsatian Riesling thanks to its structure and classic feel. This is a great wine that showcases Austria's ability to make world-class Riesling.
2023 Allram "Ried Renner" Grüner Veltliner Kamptal
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
This is a crazy value at under $30! White flowers and Orchard fruits dominate the nose while the palate is a richly-textured combination of citrus and orchard fruits that create a complex and harmonious wine. Easy to drink and impossible not to enjoy this is a tasty Gruner Veltliner from one of the greatest vineyard sites in Austria.
2023 Allram "Ried Gaisberg" Grüner Veltliner Kamptal
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
This is really where the wines of Allram shine; classic wines made from top vineyard sites in Austrian wine country. The 2023 Allram Gaisberg Gruner Veltliner is a terrific wine with aromas of white flowers, citrus and flint while the palate is deep and rich with that classic Gruner phenolic feel that accompanies pithy notes of orchard fruits and spice. There's a great mid-palate that seamlessly leads to a long, full finish.
2023 Allram "Alte Reben" Grüner Veltliner Kamptal
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/29/2025 | Send Email
Alway a winner and consistently over-delivering the 2023 Allram Alte Reben Gruner Veltliner is a wonderful introduction to the Allram style and provides amazing value. Classic Gruner aromas of orchard fruits and flint rise from the glass while the palate has that incredibly pleasing phenolic feel with copious amounts of fruit, spice and hints of crushed stone. A great wine that once again punches way above its weight.
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2022 K Vintners "Motor City Kitty - Boushey Vineyard" Yakima Valley Syrah
By: Ryan Woodhouse | Review Date: 7/28/2025 | Send Email
By: Ryan Woodhouse | Review Date: 7/28/2025 | Send Email
We just jumped on rare chance to grab a chunk of this brand new release at an extra special price! This wine is always one of the most highly rated and sought after K Vintners wines, and right now we can offer it at 25% off the regular pricing! The new 2022 release of Motor City Kitty has already racked up two 98-point scores from Jeb Dunnuck and James Suckling, with a solid 95-point back up from The Wine Advocate! Hailing from one specific block of the legendary Boushey Vineyard, this hillside parcel is the highest point on the estate featuring extremely rocky volcanic soils and wind exposure that concentrates yields. As with most K Vintners wines, fermentation is completed whole-cluster, and the wine is given a long, slow elevage in large format oak as is traditional with Rhone varieties. The results once again are spectacular. It's brimming with dark fruits, plum, blackberry, plus dried herbs, smoldering embers, pepper-crusted steak and some crushed rock mineral. Quite rich and fruit driven, but with plenty of savory elements so essential to the best expressions of Syrah. An exceptional value especially at our razor sharp price!
2024 STiRM "Neptunite" Cienega Valley Rosé
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/27/2025 | Send Email
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/27/2025 | Send Email
Composed of 58% old-vine (planted in 1964) Riesling from Wirz Vineyard, 38% Chenin Blanc from Gimeli (aka El Gabilan) Vineyard, and 4% each of Pinot Noir and ancient-vine Cabernet Pfeffer—all meticulously sourced fruit grown on granite and limestone mixed gravel soils. “Netptunite,” named after a rare gemstone found in the old mines of San Benito County, underwent spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel and neutral oak where the wine aged on its fine lees and underwent full malolactic. Bottled unfined after a delicate filtration for clarity, only 200 cases were produced. Juicy lychee, fragrant nectarine, tangerine zest, and orange blossoms—clean, dry, 12.5% ABV, medium-bodied and so full of flavor. This is a mesmerizing sensory experience—something completely different and I love it!
Price:
$17.95
Kawatsuru "Olive" Junmai Ginjo Sake (720ml)
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/27/2025 | Send Email
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/27/2025 | Send Email
Kawatsuru Olive sake is composed of Sanuki Yoimai grown adjacent to Kawatsuru Brewery, which was founded in 1891. What makes this sake unique is it’s made with yeast cultivated from the Sanuki olive—native to the Sanuki region of Kagawa. With an SMV of -3.5 and a semaibuai of 55%, it’s subtle, clean, and effortless—light bodied and more on the savory side with winter melon, crunchy Asian pear, and finish of fresh fennel bulb followed by a delicate brininess. Serve with lighter fair like sushi, salads, and shellfish.
Price:
$39.99
Domaine Carneros "Cuvée de la Pompadour" Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/25/2025 | Send Email
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/25/2025 | Send Email
Cuvée De La Pompadour, a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, is aged 18 months in-bottle sur lie and has a 0.9% dosage. It bursts with zesty pink grapefruit and vibrant, fresh crunchy cherries. Notes of vanilla pastry cream, honey, and perfectly balanced toasted brioche and flint create a delightful finish. I adore this wine. When Domaine Carneros’ pioneering winemaker Eileen Crane retired in 2020, I feared change, but this remains as fabulous as ever—consistent, familiar, and truly la vie en rose.
2015 Ronchi di Cialla Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 7/25/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 7/25/2025 | Send Email
The Rapuzzi family transforms wild rustic Refosco grapes into refined noble wines. The wine presents dark flavors with spicy notes and structured tannins which include black cherry and wild herbs and earthy minerality. The grape's firm tannins receive expert integration which indicates the wine will age remarkably well.
1997 Ronchi di Cialla "Ciallabianco"
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 7/25/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 7/25/2025 | Send Email
This is not your typical Friulian white. The Cialla Bianco represents a masterful combination of Ribolla Gialla, Verduzzo and Picolit grapes which produces a complex wine with textural elements and savory characteristics that require aging. The wine presents itself as a structured wine with mineral notes that will evolve over time. The wine reveals dried apple and chamomile and beeswax notes and a strong salty core which develops complexity and depth as it ages.
Price:
$79.99
2022 Ronchi di Cialla "Ciallabianco"
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 7/25/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 7/25/2025 | Send Email
This is not your typical Friulian white. The Cialla Bianco represents a masterful combination of Ribolla Gialla, Verduzzo and Picolit grapes which produces a complex wine with textural elements and savory characteristics that require aging. The wine presents itself as a structured wine with mineral notes that will evolve over time. The wine reveals dried apple and chamomile and beeswax notes and a strong salty core which develops complexity and depth as it ages.
Daniel Bouju "Fines Saveurs" K&L Exclusive Grand Champagne Cognac (750ml)
By: David Othenin-Girard | Review Date: 7/24/2025 | Send Email
By: David Othenin-Girard | Review Date: 7/24/2025 | Send Email
After a many-year hiatus, this longtime staple from an underrated house in one of Grande Champagne's prime terroirs is finally back. Bouju played a pivotal role in reshaping my understanding of Cognac. When I first approached the category, I was frustrated by the widespread use of additives meant to soften or correct the spirit. But after tasting thousands of cask-strength Cognacs, I came to understand that traditional methods often produced better-tasting results. When done properly, the “classic” elevage remains a proven path to excellence. Yet there are a handful of producers who, through time and care, can raise untouched brandies that transcend convention. Dudognon was the first to show me this, and Bouju confirmed that there was another way that did not rely on traditional manipulation. Mr. Bouju is a true master of elevage, gently coaxing the soft nuance and layered complexity from his exceptional fruit while tempering the raw power of young Grande Champagne eau-de-vie. The only thing ever added to this Cognac is water. The result is delicate but never weak, complex without being inaccessible. It is floral and fruit-driven, and at this price point, no other additive-free Cognac delivers a better experience. It's a spectacular value good enough to serve to even the most ardent aficionado, yet inexpensive enough to consider using in your Sidecar. It's dryer than large house cognac, but never austere and since there's no sugar added it's the perfect base for many many drinks.
Price:
$44.99
2019 Canon, St-Émilion
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 7/24/2025 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 7/24/2025 | Send Email
Canon has been one of the greatest success stories in modern wine, but that success didn’t come easily. After being purchased by Chanel in 1996, the estate underwent two decades of renovation—from the vineyards to the winery—all guided by a long-term vision that few outside the wine world can truly appreciate.
Their long, painstaking efforts began to bear fruit over the past decade, most notably with the epic 2015 vintage. But the not-so-well-kept secret is that they didn’t stop there, nor was 2015 a flash-in-the-pan success. Instead, they’ve continued to produce one remarkable wine after another—luxurious yet refined, always expressive of their incredible limestone terroir.
Canon is a wine that can easily rival the world’s finest collectibles and has garnered a litany of 100-point scores, all of which make its still-reasonable price seem almost contradictory. I’d argue it’s the poster child for the modern generation of Bordeaux: had it been made ten years earlier with this level of accomplishment, the price would likely be double. Instead, it remains a wonder of a wine, still priced within reach.
As for the 2019, I find it notably more structured than its peers in 2018, 2020, and 2022. That might come as a surprise given the generally generous nature of the 2019 vintage, but I think it speaks to the wine’s character and long-term potential—qualities that elevate it even among a lineup of outstanding wines from this year.
As always, Canon delivers incredible refinement in 2019: concentrated but never heavy, with deep red fruits lining the palate, bright acidity, and a long, textured finish tinged with saline minerality. Though it’s tightly wound today, there’s already so much to enjoy at this early stage. A scintillating wine that hits all the marks—I cannot recommend the 2019 Canon enough.
Fallet-Dart Brut Rosé Champagne
By: Craig Morris | Review Date: 7/23/2025 | Send Email
By: Craig Morris | Review Date: 7/23/2025 | Send Email
One of my favorite direct-import Champagnes in our portfolio. This is a rich and powerful rose, with the intensity no doubt coming from the 60% Meunier. But, the remaining 40% Pinot Noir is there to really add some red fruit. This is a fresh and fruity Champagne, but complex and brooding at the same time. There's red fruit, minerality, and acidity for sure, but there's also candied ginger and spice permeating the entire sip. The result is a shockingly complex Champagne for an absolute steal of a price!
Price:
$39.99
2023 Maison Verget Pouilly-Fuisse "Terres de Pierres"
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/23/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/23/2025 | Send Email
Wow! If this is where the wines of Pouilly Fuisse are headed we are in for a treat. This wine easily stands up qualitatively to village-level Chassagne Montrachet & Meursault with ample fruit, impressive depth and complexity with a purity of fruit and substance that is remarkable. Layered and rich this wine has classic Burgundian fruit with salty/smoky nuances and a long layered finish.
Price:
$49.99
2023 Clos de la Roilette "Cuvée Tardive" Fleurie
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/23/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/23/2025 | Send Email
What a beautiful wine! Super aromatic and bright on the nose with a tad more structure and purity of fruit than the village Fleurie. The Cuvee Tardive really unfurls on the palate to reveal more fruit, more spice and just layer-after-layer of complexity and power. This is a delicious wine that easily competes with entry-level red Burgundy at a similar price point.
2023 Clos de la Roilette Fleurie
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/23/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/23/2025 | Send Email
I always love this wine and the 2023 vintage is once again a great wine in the making. Classic aromas of crushed geraniums, pulverized volcanic rock and spicey dark fruit give way to a palate of red and black raspberry with wonderful complexity, excellent depth and grippy tannins. This is a serious Fleurie that deftly combines floral notes with dark fruits. It there is a quintessential Fleurie this is it!
Fallet-Dart "Clos du Mont" Brut Champagne (2006)
By: Gary Westby | Review Date: 7/22/2025 | Send Email
By: Gary Westby | Review Date: 7/22/2025 | Send Email
Our longest aged current release, this is profound, majestic single vineyard champagne! This wine blew my mind with extraordinary brioche and white flower notes on the nose, subtle elegance in the mouth and a nearly all night finish. I am convinced that this is not only one of the best bottles at K&L, but also an incredible piece of affordable luxury at the price. One of my top releases of the year!
Price:
$79.99
2024 Bodega Chacra "Mainqué" Chardonnay Rio Negro Patagonia
By: Rachael Ryan | Review Date: 7/21/2025 | Send Email
By: Rachael Ryan | Review Date: 7/21/2025 | Send Email
Since 2017, Bodega Chacra owner Piero Incisa della Rocchetta (third generation member of family behind Sassicaia) has teamed up with friend Jean-Marc Roulot of Domaine Roulot to craft exceptional Chardonnay from the marginal climate of the Rio Negro subregion of Patagonia. Piero always held a passion for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir – obviously not varieties commonly seen in Tuscany! – and after a blind tasting of Pinot Noir in 2001 was stunned to discover that the wine he loved most was from Patagonia. He searched the region for vineyards, many of which has been largely abandoned in favor of more developed regions further north. In 2004, Bodega Chacra was formed with the acquisition of several old vine vineyards, with plantings as old as 70 years. The 2024 Mainque Chardonnay is sourced from three parcels, all farmed biodynamically, and fermented in neutral barrel. Piero believe this southerly region of Argentina, located about equidistant from the Andes mountains and the South Atlantic Ocean, has a pure, unpolluted energy, and this undeniably comes through in the glass. So racy and electric, with notes of crisp green apple and celery leaf, the purity of the fruit is radiant. Very lean and mineral-driven, with a slightly saline finish that stretches on, this is an incredible example of cool climate New World Chardonnay that might just convert a few Burgundy lovers!
2022 Ghostnote Wines "Calleri - Siletto Vineyard" San Benito County Corvina
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
Hello Corvina! This darling variety of the Valpolicella comes from own-rooted, organically grown vines planted on the limestone-rich soils of the Caleri plot within Stiletto Vineyard in San Benito County. The wine underwent native primary and secondary fermentation, aged 16 months in neutral 225L barrels and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. This strikes clear notes of black raspberry, cassis, blood orange, and whispers of vanilla and crushed rock. Fresh, clean, light on its feet and well-defined—it's so easy to sip, ideally with a light chill.
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2023 Evidence "Marfarm Vineyard" Edna Valley Grüner Veltliner
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
Sourced from a single vineyard planted on the calcareous clay soils Edna Valley, this Grüner was whole-cluster pressed—a smart move that adds welcomed complexity. Fermented in stainless steel, then transferred to 500L neutral oak puncheons, the wine aged 6 months on its lees, which was stirred once per week. Talk about a labor of love, and it shows here—brilliant lemon, lime zest, fresh green herbs (probably from those stems, hat tip to the winemaker), jasmine tea, and a stimulating touch of flintiness in the finish. It’s dry, delightfully low 11% ABV, mouth watering, and thirst quenching. You will hear me say this time and time again, if you don’t know what to bring to dinner, bring a Grüner Veltliner. It’s not the usual character of Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc, so no one will argue. Even those who profess to only drink reds are likely to dive in—as has been my experience—time and time again. Only 80 cases were made so don’t snooze on this terrific deal!
2019 Mastroberardino "Radici" Taurasi
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
A more austere and traditionalist expression of Taurasi, this wine has a formidable tannic backbone and a focus on earthy, mineral tones, promising decades of evolution.
2019 Mastroberardino 'Stilema' Fiano di Avellino Riserva
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
A brilliant expression of Fiano’s potential for complexity, this shows textural depth with notes of hazelnut, pear, and honey, all held together by vibrant acidity.
2020 Almaviva "EPU" Bordeaux Blend Puente Alto Valle de Maipo
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
A lot of you already know about the reputation for quality that Almaviva has. No exception with this release! What a nose! So dark and inviting with dark, dark, dark, black and blue fruits. Dark cassis, blackberry and just a smidge (a small smidge!) of game scents and dried herbs. In the mouth, mouth-coating with an undertone of bright red fruits. Dominated by cassis, cream, fresh oak (not toasted) and cocoa. This is all finalized by a lingering finish with a very nice subtle "bite" of acid and clean stoney flavors. I have had experience with aging the more expensive Almaviva wines, so I would expect this one to age equally well. Bordeaux and admirers of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon should really sit up and take notice of this wine. It is a serious competitor.
Laurent-Perrier "Héritage" Brut Champagne
By: Philip Roufail | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
By: Philip Roufail | Review Date: 7/18/2025 | Send Email
Move over, there is a BRAND NEW CHAMPAGNE in town and it's made by Grand Marque Laurent-Perrier (established in 1812)! Laurent-Perrier has not produced a new champagne since its inaugural release of their Blanc de Blanc Brut Nature in 2019. The Laurent-Perrier Héritage Brut Champagne continues Laurent-Perrier's history of innovation. Unique, distinctive, and groundbreaking, the Héritage is a masterful blend of four reserve wines and reserve wines ONLY. There are no new harvest grapes in the blend. The first Héritage release is 55% Chardonnay and 45% Pinot Noir from 2019 (great ripe vintage with zippy acidity), 2018 (also a great ripe vintage), 2016 (vintage has aged beautifully), and 2014 (the last of the "classic cool" years before the onset of the now normal "solar" vintages) and will be available in all of our stores on September 1st, 2025. For those who are familiar with Laurent-Perrier's prestige cuvee, Grand Siècle, may notice a similarity in winemaking methodology. The Grand Siècle is also a multi-vintage blend, but of three vintages that includes the current harvest year. Building on that success (the last release #26 was given 100 points by James Suckling), the Heritage combines Laurent-Perrier's focus on Chardonnay and the art of blending. By the numbers, 40 crus are in the blend, half of which are Grand Cru, fermented in stainless steel tanks, and is aged on the lees for a minimum of 4 years. This new cuvee is already making a splash, racking up 90 + point scores from Janice Robinson, Wine Advocate, and Decanter. Since this is new release, I'm posting LP's official winemaker notes: "A white gold colour with a fine and persistent effervescence. A nose offering notes of lemon, white peach and fruits in syrup followed by aromas of toasted bread and toasted almonds. Fresh at first which gives way to a lively, elegant and complex palate with aromas of white fruits and citrus zest. Héritage offers a perfect balance between freshness, elegance and maturity with notes of floral honey."
2023 Domaine Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru "Montmains"
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/15/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/15/2025 | Send Email
The "Montmains" is the most classically Chablis of the 3 1er Crus. Iodine, sea shell, white flowers and wet stone aromas spring from the glass with green fig, tangerine and kiwi flavors running across the complex and layered palate. A bright and zesty finish makes this a great 1er Cru Chablis.
2023 Domaine Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru "Fourneaux"
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/15/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/15/2025 | Send Email
Fourneaux is known as a warm vineyard site and the 2023 Chablis 1er Cru "Fourneaux" displays rich orchard fruit aromas verging on tropical. There is a kaleidoscope of fruit here which flows across the complex, layered palate into a powerful finish. This is easily the most open and ready for business of the 3 1er Crus.
2023 Domaine Samuel Billaud Chablis
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/15/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/15/2025 | Send Email
Sexy aromas of prickly pear and white flower flow into a classically-structured Chablis with hints of saline and wet stone. This is a great introduction to the Samuel Billaud style, richly-textured, open-knit with tons of pure fruit and Chablis-like aromas with wonderful drive and intensity.
2023 Domaine Samuel Billaud Petite Chablis
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/15/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/15/2025 | Send Email
What a fantastic little Petit Chablis! White flowers and yellow waxy fruit aromas mingle effortlessly with hints of salty sea breeze on the nose while the palate is awash in citrus and crushed stone notes. Medium-bodied and elegantly structure this is a clear winner.
2023 Samuel Billaud Bourgogne d'Or Chardonnay
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/15/2025 | Send Email
By: Alex Pross | Review Date: 7/15/2025 | Send Email
White flowers, sea shells and orchard notes all seamlessly flow from the glass while the palate is surprisingly rich and dense. There is a wealth of ripe orchard fruit and citrus flavors with a complex and delineated palate that flows into a long, full finish. What an impressive Bourgogne Blanc.
Price:
$32.99
Fallet-Dart "Clos du Mont" Brut Champagne (2006)
By: Simon Li | Review Date: 7/14/2025 | Send Email
By: Simon Li | Review Date: 7/14/2025 | Send Email
If you want something with real age and complexity, this is the one. A single-vineyard Champagne aged over 15 years on the lees and made with a good amount of Chardonnay, it pours deep gold and smells like baked pear, dried flowers, toasted nuts, and even a bit of spice. It’s rich and layered, with caramelized apple and nutty, earthy tones coming through. But what makes it special is that it’s still fresh—there’s acidity, tension, and a kind of quiet power to it.
Price:
$79.99
Fallet-Dart "Cuvée de Réserve" Brut Champagne
By: Simon Li | Review Date: 7/14/2025 | Send Email
By: Simon Li | Review Date: 7/14/2025 | Send Email
This is a bigger, more generous style of Champagne made mostly from Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir, and you really feel that weight and warmth. On the nose, it’s like walking into a bakery—baked apple, toasted brioche, and hazelnuts. The palate is broad and full, but not heavy—it’s lifted by a bright core of citrus and fine bubbles. There’s a little edge of bitterness and minerality that keeps everything in check and gives the finish some grip. It’s a great example of a rounder, more savory Champagne that still feels fresh.
Price:
$34.99
Petiau "Cuvée Prestige" Brut Champagne
By: Simon Li | Review Date: 7/14/2025 | Send Email
By: Simon Li | Review Date: 7/14/2025 | Send Email
This is Petiau’s top cuvée, made from old Chardonnay vines with just a little Pinot Noir in the mix—and it definitely drinks like a flagship. The nose has a lifted floral character—honeysuckle, citrus zest, and a little almond biscotti vibe. It’s lean and clean, but there’s this slow-building richness underneath. On the palate, you get golden apple, a touch of pear skin, and super fine bubbles that feel really polished. What I love most is how precise it is—no oak, no spice, just pure, mineral-driven fruit and chalk.
Price:
$49.99
2020 Viña Maquis "Lien" Red Blend Valle de Colchagua
By: Rachael Ryan | Review Date: 7/11/2025 | Send Email
By: Rachael Ryan | Review Date: 7/11/2025 | Send Email
Bold and juicy at first approach, the 2020 Maquis “Lien” balances densely concentrated blackberry and bramble fruit with gorgeous tannic structure and lively acidity. 2020 was a warm, dry vintage in this part of the world, and while this certainly comes through in the density and ripeness of the fruit, the winemaking team at Maquis clearly handled the challenges of the vintage well. The wine completely avoids any sense of over ripeness and instead delivers a full-bodied experience with gravitas and depth. This wine will appeal to Bordeaux and Napa enthusiasts who prefer a bolder, richer style. It’s also a wine that crying out for a steak or burger! Really approachable now, this is a bottle to crack open next time you fire up the grill.
Fallet-Dart "Clos du Mont" Brut Champagne (2006)
By: Carlo Delgado | Review Date: 7/10/2025 | Send Email
By: Carlo Delgado | Review Date: 7/10/2025 | Send Email
Fallet Dart's single vineyard 'Clos du Mont' is a great example of a perfectly balanced, well-aged Champagne. Aromas and flavors of white jasmine, slices of yellow pears, soft apricots, bruised lemons, and marzipan. Barrel fermentation adds complexity, several years on lees gives it texture, and ample acidity maintains it's freshness.
Price:
$79.99
2020 Almaviva "EPU" Bordeaux Blend Puente Alto Valle de Maipo
By: Rachael Ryan | Review Date: 7/10/2025 | Send Email
By: Rachael Ryan | Review Date: 7/10/2025 | Send Email
Full-bodied, richly concentrated and packed with juicy plum, cassis and raspberry notes, the 2020 Almaviva “EPU” bursts from the glass with vibrant, youthful energy. As the second wine of Almaviva—a collaboration between Baron Philippe de Rothschild (owners of Château Mouton Rothschild) and Concha y Toro (one of Chile's most famous wine companies)—EPU is made from younger vines at the estate and is crafted to be accessible upon release, offering up immediate pleasure. The attention to detail in the winemaking, however, is the same as the flagship bottling, showcasing the impeccable terroir of the Puente Alto subregion of the Maipo Valley. This vintage is 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, balanced with 12% Carmenere, 5% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. 2020 was a warm dry region in Puente Alto, which is immediately apparent in the high level of fruit density and voluptuous mouthfeel. A subtle green herbaceous edge (rosemary, thyme) adds complexity, while supple, well-integrated tannins offer fantastic structure. At 15% alcohol, this is not a shy wine, but will certainly appeal to Napa wine collectors, especially at this very reasonable price point! Pair this one with ribeye, osso buco or anything involving grilled portobello mushrooms.
Fallet-Dart "Cuvée de Réserve" Brut Champagne
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/9/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/9/2025 | Send Email
There's a really lovely quality to the leesy-ness on this, it's like a well-toasted piece of brioche. There's also apple butter, very light bits of a lemony chalk and a little bit of orange zest. The palate is crisp and delicious, really nice throughline of acid running through the whole palate, but it's not too much for those who are afraid of an acidic bite, it's a little more soft and gentle. This is a great bottle of approachable and shareable Champagne that will please a wide range of palates, exactly the kind of bottle you need to reach for when you aren't quite sure what to get.
Price:
$34.99
2020 Viña Maquis "Lien" Red Blend Valle de Colchagua
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/7/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 7/7/2025 | Send Email
Before I even knew what the blend was, I knew that this was Carménère based. Well, I suspected it and hedged my best on it possibly being Cabernet Sauvignon, so with those two grapes accounting for 90% of the wine I feel fairly validated. What led me to that conclusion? Pyrazines. Those are that green bean, bell pepper, super herbal or even green peppercorn note that you can find in wines and this has it in abundance. For a while it evades a specific kind of reference before finally my nose allows it to go settle in the background so that the very pretty and very ripe black fruit can show on the nose. The palate is very nice and deeply fruited, blackberries and cherries alongside some barrel spice with a long and tasty finish. This is very tasty wine, made in a very structured and still elegant wine, with nice fine tannins and a decent acidity. I could see this aging well for a while, or just pulling this bottle for a steak night when I don't want to spend over $40.
2020 Viña Maquis "Lien" Red Blend Valle de Colchagua
By: Simon Li | Review Date: 7/7/2025 | Send Email
By: Simon Li | Review Date: 7/7/2025 | Send Email
2020 Maquis Lien doesn’t just show fruit—it shows form. It opens with dark berries and graphite, but quickly draws you into deeper layers: smoke, grilled herbs, tobacco leaf, even a peppery hint of Tabasco. The texture is rich but focused, with firm tannins and a mineral edge that makes each sip feel sculpted.
2020 Ducru-Beaucaillou "Croix de Beaucaillou," St-Julien
By: Simon Li | Review Date: 7/7/2025 | Send Email
By: Simon Li | Review Date: 7/7/2025 | Send Email
Beautifully inky in color, it kicks off with rich black plum and blackberry on the nose, overlaid with graphite, crushed stone minerality, violet florals, and a whisper of tobacco leaf. It’s full-bodied with intense fruit concentration, plush mid-palate energy, and fine-grained, ripe tannins that give it a velvety yet powerful grip. On the palate, expect layers of cocoa, roasted almond, and dusty minerality, all held together by a saline, linear backbone. The finish is long and precise, echoing dark fruit, smoke, and a fresh mint-kissed lift. Though approachable now with decanting, its tannic structure suggests it shines better with a few more years in the cellar.