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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
2019 Rauzan-Ségla, Margaux
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 9/17/2025 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 9/17/2025 | Send Email
The 2019 Rauzan-Ségla has proven itself to be a truly special, show-stealing wine every time we’ve revisited it, and remarkably, it continues to gain nuance and refinement with each passing year. Beyond its sheer quality in the glass, it also stands as one of the finest high-end collectible values available today, sourced with perfect provenance and offered at a price that remains only a fraction of its peers among the great estates of the Left Bank.
What makes this wine so compelling is the rare balance it achieves: a profound depth of flavor paired with elegance, precision, and lift—hallmarks of Margaux at its most ethereal. The aromatics are pitch-perfect, leading with violets, rose petals, and bright blackberry. On the palate, it unfurls in layers of red-tinged fruit—deep cherry, cassis, cedar, and ripe plum—underscored by subtle tobacco, graphite, and a fine, gravelly minerality that threads through the wine’s core.
From the silky entry, the wine glides effortlessly across the midpalate into a finish that is long, pure, and resonant, its seamless texture and fine-grained tannins a testament to both terroir and winemaking precision. It is simultaneously luxurious and restrained, offering immediate charm now while clearly built for decades of graceful evolution. This is a wine that invites you back to the glass again and again—both intellectually engaging and deeply pleasurable—a benchmark Bordeaux from a great vintage at a superb price.
2020 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
By: Kirk Walker | Review Date: 9/17/2025 | Send Email
By: Kirk Walker | Review Date: 9/17/2025 | Send Email
The aromatics of this wine have a dynamic push/pull between just-ripe and perfectly ripe red fruits and berries with those classic earthy underbrush (sottobosco) tones that I love to find in Tuscany. The wine is rich and nicely textured. There is a fullness here without any of the edges that can accompany Sangiovese. Vibrant red berries and fruits, with leather, more of that sottobosco, and an intriguing minerality that speaks to the region. It finishes long, with a right mix of fruit and savory elements. This wine caught me off guard! It delivers a beautiful expression of Sangiovese without any of those classic edges that can be a challenge for people who cut their wine-teeth on Cabernet. This will be Autumn's “Intro to Sangiovese” wine for me in the shop.
2022 MarBeso "Ascona Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
Boy oh boy, I love Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir. I have ever since I started in the wine business in the area, and it's just grown to be better and better over time. This has the prettiest and more pure fruit kind of persona, it's got this really pretty cherry on cherry nose, with fresh and dried. Then there's raspberry flowers, a little tomato leaf, and an really kind of pretty and loamy earth that brings the terroir into play. This is just fantastic and a really elegant and pure fruited expression, it's really everything you want a perfect Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot to be, at least for me. The palate is amazingly juicy, with lots of cherry and raspberry, but this time the floral notes are more rose and there's still that loamy forest note on the finish. I love this. Maybe you'll love it too.
2021 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Barolo
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
A little bit more dense and brooding than I expected at first, there's a little touch of tobacco along with some darker bramble-fruit, it's not pretty but it's more ruggedly handsome. The palate definitely has a good amount of tannin and acid both, making me really want to lay this down for a few years, but if you forced me at sword-point to drink this I would absolutely do that with some rich braised meat, or a thick and rich steak, or just something rich enough to cut the tannin and acid, and you know what? We would have a great time, because this bottle has so much promise and I'm excited to be offering something like this for our customers that's worthy to lay down and that I know would do well with more time, while still being approachable now.
Price:
$27.99
2016 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Barolo (Vintage Release)
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
This is just such a really pretty and alluring nose, that is just drawing me in deeply, almost like a siren song. It's just so pretty and pure fruited, lots of cherry and raspberry, backed by a touch of tomato leaf and some neutral barrel roundness. The palate is really beautiful, the tannins are soft and pretty ready, and there's this wonderful line of acidity pushing through the whole thing. The fruit is bright and very freshly ripe, raspberry, cherry, a little bit of pomegranate. This is exactly what you want when you're coming in for a bottle of ready to drink Barolo, and it's coming at you for less than you'll find a lot of declassified wines from the region. This is going to be a go-to recommendation from me until we sell out of this, it's just that good.
Price:
$34.99
2014 López de Heredia "Viña Bosconia" Reserva Rioja
By: Rachael Ryan | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Rachael Ryan | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
The Viña Bosconia wines are always distinctive for their Burgundy-shaped bottle, which references the wines original composition, which once included a high percentage of Pinot Noir as an homage to the wines of Burgundy. Today, the wine is mostly Tempranillo, balanced with Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo, but the bottle shape remains. The fruit is sourced from the family’s El Bosque vineyard which is located about one kilometer away from the winery. Vines here are planted on the south-facing foothills of the Sierra Cantabria range, providing them with the ideal conditions for ripening. As a result, the fruit profile tends to include darker fruit notes, and the 2014 Viña Bosconia clearly shows this unique character. Wild blackberries and black and red plum skin mingle on the nose, along with savory graphite, anise and porcini mushroom. This is such an elegant and nuanced example of Reserva Rioja, with still a lot of primary fruit freshness despite its over ten years of age, five of which are in barrel. The finish is so long, too. This is simply a great wine at a great price to secure while it’s still available.
Ariston Aspasie "Réserve" Brut Champagne
By: Gary Westby | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Gary Westby | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
I can't think of a single bottle of Champagne at K&L that has brought me such consistent pleasure as the Ariston Aspasie "Réserve." The Ariston family has worked very hard to deliver this great bottle to the Champagne lovers of the world. Most producers age their Champagne for less than three years in the bottle before shipping, but the "Réserve" gets five years. It is entirely estate-grown by one of the most careful growers in the business. On top of all that, it is made in one of the most modern facilities of any small producer that I have visited. The pressing is done in a €250,000 Coquard Diagonal press, and the fermentation is all done in computer-regulated, temperature-controlled tanks. The result is one of the best apéritif bottles that we sell, toasty and full, yet refreshing and crisp, a perfect balance between aged complexity and youthful vigor. And then there is the price; so fair that Cinnamon and I have had the opportunity to impact the world supply with our consumption! Don't miss it!
Price:
$37.99
2016 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Barolo (Vintage Release)
By: Carlo Delgado | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Carlo Delgado | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
I love a good Barolo that leans towards the savory, earthy side, and that is exactly what this wine showcases. Delicious flavors of soft plums, dark cherries, with developed, intriguing notes of laurel, tobacco leaf, tajin, and a touch of paprika. An excellent bottle of wine, and it's ready now!
Price:
$34.99
2021 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Barolo
By: John Downing | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: John Downing | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
I expect to have to spend a lot more for a 2021 Barolo of this pedigree and quality. It's a textbook example with fragrant aromas of red fruit, tar, florals and mineral. There's plenty of stuffing here with delicious fruit anchored by a layer of fine tannins and ample acidity. Although it can be enjoyed now with some aeration, it's certain to improve with cellaring.
Price:
$27.99
2022 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Super Tuscan
By: Lacie Schwarz | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Lacie Schwarz | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
This Super-Tuscan lets all three of the grapes in this blend sing. The Cabernet Sauvignon, making up the majority of this wine brings dark, black fruits of blackberry, black cherry and cassis. Petit Verdot gives a punch of dried violet and plummy purple fruits. The Cabernet Franc gives way to dust, white pepper and ripe pyrazines. The palate brings some intense structure - rich, but integrated tannin and powerful acidity. This wine could pair with a rare ribeye if the intention is drinking now but will absolutely benefit from some time in the cellar.
2016 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Barolo (Vintage Release)
By: John Downing | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: John Downing | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
It's highly unlikely and probably near impossible to find a perfectly aged Barolo from a great vintage at this price. It's a classic Nebbiolo with textbook aromas of cherry, tar and cedar and a soft palate with fully evolved tannins and wonderful acidity. If you've never previously tried Barolo this is the perfect introduction. And for those who enjoy Nebbiolo and are looking for a rare treat, I highly recommend purchasing this outstanding new arrival.
Price:
$34.99
2020 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
By: Lacie Schwarz | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Lacie Schwarz | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
Beautiful rustic red-fruit notes of dried cranberry and tart cherry in the foreground. The background brings leather and pepper spice with earthy notes of truffle and dried herbs. The silky texture and integrated tannin make this wine incredibly drinkable now. The acidity, though on the high-side, is not searing, so this wine works as a perfect solo-sipper or could easily pair with something like spaghetti or pizza.
2021 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Barolo
By: Jonathan Parnell | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Jonathan Parnell | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
Nose gives more oak than the 2016 Discovery Barolo.
Palate has bright red fruit, tanginess suggestive of cream cheese. The herb notes of tarragon & sage are brighter here, as well.
Delightful astringency and finish, Wonderful to try with the 2016 side-by-side and see it age, as well.
Price:
$27.99
2016 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Barolo (Vintage Release)
By: Jonathan Parnell | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Jonathan Parnell | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
Gorgeous nose with pine, slate, petrichor and mahogany.
Perfectly sumptuous palate of mellowed sage & tarragon, cranberry, ripe plum and allspice.
Nice astringency and delightful finish. Drink now!
Price:
$34.99
2016 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Barolo (Vintage Release)
By: Keith Mabry | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
By: Keith Mabry | Review Date: 9/16/2025 | Send Email
There is so much to love about this wine. It bursts from the glass with aromas and flavors of plum, strawberry, blood orange, and burnished leather. The tannins are seamless, perfectly integrated, and give the wine its remarkable balance. It’s a rare treat to find a Barolo that is so ready to drink right now yet still has the potential to evolve beautifully for several more years. Even more impressive is the price—comparable quality and depth haven’t been seen in nearly two decades. Quite simply, one of the best buys in the store—full stop!
Price:
$34.99
2016 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Barolo (Vintage Release)
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/15/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/15/2025 | Send Email
"This is a very special library release. The 2016 vintage is one of the greatest of our lifetime. A forward-thinking family estate, known for their impeccably balanced and polished Barolos, agreed to release a small parcel of their classic 2016 from their cellars for us. Now with years of perfect cellaring, this wine is entering its prime. The tannins have resolved into silk, revealing complex notes of dried cherry, tar, leather, and cocoa. It is a harmonious, complete, and utterly classic Barolo that is ready to drink tonight. A rare chance to enjoy a perfectly aged wine without having to wait."
Price:
$34.99
2015 Nikolaihof "Baumpresse" Riesling Wachau
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/14/2025 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/14/2025 | Send Email
This classically styled Riesling has become my new favorite. There are scents and flavors of yellow peaches, apricot, honey and lemon cream. Classic oiliness on the palate that coats the tongue without shutting down any of the fantastic flavors. Orange marmalade on the very long and lingering finish. Just wonderful!
2017 Trimbach "Cuvée Frédéric Émile" Riesling Alsace
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/14/2025 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/14/2025 | Send Email
This is the Rolls Royce of Alsatian Rieslings! Nice and salty with lemon zest, key lime, orange, white peach. There are also flavors of Granny Smith apples and fresh, pure honey. Slightly oxidative in the very best way! Long and lingering finish with marvelous complexity and generous mouthfeel. It will keep extremely well for many years to come!
2022 Trimbach Riesling Alsace
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/14/2025 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/14/2025 | Send Email
Who says that delicious Riesling can't be affordable? Not Trimbach! This excellent little bargain has a very pretty nose with some tropical and stone fruit scents and a light touch of classic Riesling petrol. Bright on the palate with fine acidity, crunchy citrus, nectarine and peach. Simply delicious.
Sawahime Junmai Gold Sake (720ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/13/2025 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/13/2025 | Send Email
This sake is super unusual and extremely unique. I find it to be something that would work best as a finishing sake, after a meal with nuts and chocolate or something similar. It is super savory (check that colour!) with a nose of soy sauce, mushrooms, fino sherry, marcona almonds. On the palate, smokey and savory with roasted nuts, brown butter, milk chocolate and caramel apple. So very unusual and tasty! Sake enthusiasts and sake geeks should really check this one out. It stands apart from the pack!
Price:
Hidden
Seven Junmai Ginjo (60%) Sake (720ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/13/2025 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/13/2025 | Send Email
This is (most likely) my favorite sake of 2025, so far. It has an exciting nose of green melon, plantain banana and savory spice. Sooooo interesting! On the palate, medium-bodied, cantaloupe, additional green melon, fresh ginger and light honey. Like the "50", it also retains a long finish of fresh and crisp minerality. I tasted it before hearing of the price and expected it to be well over $100.00. So, the price was a very happy surprise. Very well done!
Price:
$86.99
Seven Junmai Daiginjo (50%) Sake (720ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/13/2025 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/13/2025 | Send Email
This elegant and rich sake has a white flower nose with scents of ripe watermelon and vanilla cream. In the mouth, a wonderfully rich texture with flavors of ripe yellow apples, anise and spices. All finished with a lingering, clean and crisp finish. This is sashimi grade sake to pair with only the best cuts of fish and shellfish.
Price:
$109.99
2021 Cobb "Doc's Ranch Vineyard" Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
By: Mariah Mier | Review Date: 9/12/2025 | Send Email
By: Mariah Mier | Review Date: 9/12/2025 | Send Email
A gorgeous nose of raspberries and potpourri and tremendous lift on the palate. The acid is bright and focused while the tannins bring a gentle warmth with notes of tea and allspice. if you are looking for a quality pinot noir for a gift or special occasion, this memorable bottling is a fantastic choice.
2021 Cobb "Doc's Ranch Vineyard" Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/11/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/11/2025 | Send Email
One of the best experiences I've had here while working at K&L is getting (piling, stepping) into a van with a bunch of my coworkers to drive up to see visionary winemaker Ross Cobb, and listen to him talk about why he loves what he does. His passion, drive, and pride in his life's work just beams out of every single sentence he puts forth. He's more than happy to illustrate some of his past successes at previous wineries, but now he's home at his own place. Doc's Vineyard is a site he's been farming and producing wine from since 2017, and it carries all of the same sensibilities that you find in his Coastlands wines, but the fruit is slightly more elevated and has a touch more intensity. We tasted through all of his wines on our excursion, and this was consistently amongst the top picks of everyone I spoke with. This is a pure and sophisticated style of Pinot Noir that is truly about delivering the most elegant and pretty expression of the grape, while maintaining the racy acidity that true Pinot Noir lovers are looking for and with enough spice to keep you interested, a little gift brought to you by Ross Cobb, who is officially a super cool dude.
Michel Arnould "Gènese" Verzenay Grand Cru Brut Rosé Champagne
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/11/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/11/2025 | Send Email
The lees-y notes in the wine when coupled with the pretty red fruit give it a little bit of a pithy grapefruit on the nose, really intriguing, and then with that there's some white flowers and underripe strawberry. The palate is just pure and pretty with little notes of sourdough, but some pretty red fruit, a little bit of it crunchy like cranberry and some underripe raspberry as well, with a really great line of acidity through the whole thing. This is kind of a mid-point in rose, neither incredibly crisp or incredibly rich, but a nice middle ground for people who want a rose with a little bit more to it, but not so much that the lees underneath gets lost. Just a really beautiful sip for under 40 bucks.
Price:
$39.99
2022 Hamilton Russell Chardonnay Hemel-en-Aarde Valley
By: Rachael Ryan | Review Date: 9/11/2025 | Send Email
By: Rachael Ryan | Review Date: 9/11/2025 | Send Email
Hemel-en-Aarde (Afrikaans for “Heaven and Earth”) is a tiny subregion of the Walker Bay district, located in South Africa’s Cape South Coast. Close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and a southerly latitude makes this scenic region a premier cool climate growing area for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and Hamilton Russell is perhaps the benchmark producer here. Since 1976 they have been consistently delivering wines with incredible structure and finesse that rival the best in both the New and Old Worlds. The 2022 Hamilton Russell Chardonnay especially is a gorgeous example of a lean, finely structured Chardonnay, with pithy lemon zest notes and incredibly well-integrated oak. In this part of the world, the Benguela current (much like the Humboldt current in Northern California) cools the ocean which in turn cools the onshore winds that fan across the vineyards. As a result, the wines are incredibly racy, with fantastic tension on the palate. In a blind tasting, you might be forgiven for calling this wine Burgundy! The palate feel is so lean and nimble, with very fine, almost laser like acidity that calls to mind the best of Puligny Montrachet. If you haven’t yet tried a wine from Hamilton Russell, I highly encourage you to pick this one up, especially if you enjoy more mineral-driven styles of Chardonnay. This wine is so sophisticated and classy, it will likely reshape opinions of the potential of South African Chardonnay!
2021 Cobb "Doc's Ranch Vineyard" Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
By: Ryan Woodhouse | Review Date: 9/11/2025 | Send Email
By: Ryan Woodhouse | Review Date: 9/11/2025 | Send Email
Doc's Ranch is a vineyard immediately adjacent to Cobb's Coastlands estate. Originally planted in 1999, Ross Cobb leased the property in 2017 and has farmed the vineyard ever since, so it can essentially be considered an extension of the same estate. However, what is quite interesting is that despite it's proximity to Coastlands, there are a number of significant differences that make the wines quite distinct from one another. Coastlands has a westerly facing aspect looking directly out over Bodega Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Doc's Ranch faces southeast, just on the other side of a the ridgeline from Coastlands, facing away from the the ocean and is thus more sheltered from the frigid coastal winds and fog. Despite being sheltered from the wind, the vines also fall into shadow in the afternoons when the sun is sinking into the ocean, and the fruit is allowed to develop very slowly and gradually without direct afternoon sun. The soils at Doc's Ranch is made of the same ancient marine sedimentary rock as those at Coastlands, but tend to be more decomposed and sandy. The 2021 Doc's is absolutely stunning. To be honest the entire 2021 lineup from Cobb is world-class through and through. I found the Doc's to be one of the more accessible and refined wines in this youthful line up. Pristine red berries, Coastal Redwood grove, bramble, winter spice, subtle truffle hints, alpine herbs. So fine and elegant, but also with lots of coiled power and ageing potential for decades of enjoyment. I can't think of any producer in the country making better wines in this style than Cobb right now. They're at the top of their game and the wines are truly not to be missed. Put some in your cellar and thank me later.
2022 Canon, St-Emilion
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
Few estates in Bordeaux can claim a success story as remarkable as Canon. Since the benchmark 2015, each release has seemed to set a new standard of excellence. While naming a single “best-ever” vintage feels like a fool’s errand, the 2022 is unquestionably special—and has the potential to become a true reference point for the region.
Here’s the astonishing part: despite Canon’s meteoric rise and its position among the world’s top-tier collectibles, it remains an outright bargain compared to peers that garner the same best-in-class acclaim. That combination of pedigree, consistency, and relative value is exceedingly rare.
The 2022 marries the generosity of the vintage with remarkable density and complexity, offering both immediate appeal and the promise of effortless aging. Lifted, floral aromatics lead to layers of red fruit and cedar, each nuance unfolding with precision. On the palate, bright plum and perfectly ripe cherry give way to an opulent texture, super-fine tannins, and impeccable balance. The limestone terroir asserts itself in a long, mineral-driven finish. Weightless, graceful, and dynamic, every element is present—perfectly tuned and seamlessly integrated.
I’m excited to get the chance to follow this wine over the years. In a world where so many collectible wines seem ever more out of reach, it is bottles like this that remind me luxury in fine wine is still attainable—and keep me coming back to Bordeaux, and to Canon, again and again.
2025 Little Book "Chapter 9 - None for Granted" Blended Straight Whiskey
By: Josh Gelfand | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
By: Josh Gelfand | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
Noe knows. This latest stellar blend from Freddie Noe, the 8th-generation master distiller at Jim Beam and grandson of Booker Noe, to whom the Little Book line is a tribute, showcases his blending artistry at the highest level. Each Little Book release draws from the deepest stocks to craft a singular blend that tells another chapter in the Beam story, and this ninth edition honors the “founding flavors” of American whiskey, spotlighting the caramel, oak, vanilla, and char that have come to define the style.
Five whiskies make up the blend: four bourbons ranging from seven to eleven years old, joined by an eight-year-old rye that lifts the profile with a lively spark of spice. The dark cherry note I so often find in Jim Beam whiskies is here as well, though it plays a supporting role to the rich oaky char and velvety butterscotch.
The nose draws you in with layers of burnt vanilla, spiced oak, dark chocolate, and apricot jam, all draped over a foundation of dense caramel. On the palate, the rye makes itself known, with cinnamon and clove striking first before yielding to waves of butterscotch and ripe black cherries that flow into a long, luscious, and woody finish.
Beautifully balanced and full of character, this whiskey fulfills its promise: a celebration of the timeless flavors that have made American whiskey cherished for generations.
Price:
$149.99
2020 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
This wine comes from one of the benchmark estates in Montepulciano, a pioneer of biodynamic farming with a reputation for producing elegant, pure, and age-worthy Sangiovese. For this bottling, we were able to secure a few barrels from the generous 2020 vintage. The nose is a stunning expression of Prugnolo Gentile: ripe red cherry, plum, and violet, with the sweet spice and vibrant energy that is a hallmark of this iconic producer. The palate is polished and seamless, with silky tannins and a long, mineral-driven finish. It’s a sophisticated and deeply authentic Vino Nobile.
2022 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Super Tuscan
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
I’ve long admired a particular estate in the heart of Bolgheri, known for its powerful and structured Bordeaux blends. In the hot 2022 vintage, their meticulous vineyard work resulted in fruit of incredible concentration and balance. We worked with them to create this special cuvée, which has all the hallmarks of a top-tier Bolgheri red. It’s rich with notes of blackcurrant, cassis, cedar, and Mediterranean herbs. The palate is full-bodied and intense, with powerful but polished tannins and a freshness that defies the vintage. A true taste of Bolgheri's "magic mile" at a fraction of the price.
2019 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Brunello di Montalcino
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
The legendary 2019 vintage demanded a truly special Brunello for our series. I found it on the warmer, southern slopes of Montalcino, from a family estate renowned for its powerful, savory, and terroir-driven wines. This is a classic expression of the Castelnuovo dell'Abate subzone: deep aromas of black cherry, licorice, and balsamic herbs dominate the nose. The palate is structured and full-bodied, with firm, noble tannins and a long, savory finish that speaks to its warm terroir. This is a powerful, old-school Brunello built for the cellar, from a producer who truly captures the soul of southern Montalcino.
2021 K&L Discovery Series Italy, Barolo
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/10/2025 | Send Email
For our classic Barolo, I turned to a rising-star estate whose meticulous vineyard work in the stunning 2021 vintage produced a wine of incredible purity and elegance. This is the definition of a "discovery." The wine offers soaring aromatics of pure red fruits—crushed raspberry, cherry, and rose petal—with a vibrant, energetic palate supported by fine, silky tannins. It’s a beautifully transparent and fragrant Barolo that captures the finesse of the vintage. It’s a chance to get in on the ground floor with a future star of the region.
Price:
$27.99
2012 Michel Arnould "Causalité" Verzenay Grand Cru Champagne
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
We've had a lot of great 2012 Champagnes come through here thanks to Gary Westby, who I have personally voted as Champagne Buyer of the Year for the last five years I've worked here. It's only an award in my head, which also means he's won five years in a row and all of you that have interacted with him already know that I have voted with your interests in mind. This Champagne is absolutely delicious, the nose has some sourdough baguette notes at the forefront and then pretty white flowers, a little red apple skin, and then the chalky minerality. The palate is just amazing, more sourdough notes, but also a lot more fruit with red apples, a little hint of underripe rapsberry, and blood orange. The acidity is outstanding, and the depth and complexity are off the charts. This is probably one of the best bottles of Champagne under $100 that we have in the store right now, and that's saying a lot.
Price:
$99.99
2015 Nikolaihof "Baumpresse" Riesling Wachau
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
This is already starting to do the thing. We all love it when a wine does the thing. What's the thing? Oh, right. It's when a wine is just approaching this perfect drinking window in which it's giving you so much more than you thought you deserved. The nose is integrating itself perfectly where everything is stepping forward at once, it's not petrol then honey then fruit, it's this beautiful mélange of highly expressive slightly honeyed fruit and petrol at once, with little touches of nuttiness. The palate is fairly deep and rich, really long finish with a touch of sultanas and just a lot of really ripe and pretty stone fruit, it's hard to express in just letters and potentially numbers how enjoyable this is at every sniff and sip. This is just such a great example of a wine that's already been aged to greatness, and you get to just walk in and buy it. Outstanding.
2017 Trimbach "Cuvée Frédéric Émile" Riesling Alsace
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
I really like wine, if you've read my reviews you've probably clued into the fact that I'm kinda into wines of all kinds. Riesling is a stereotypical favorite of Sommeliers, and I'm no exception. Not that but it's an even nerdier Alsatian Riesling. The nose is everything you want Riesling to be. It's got a rich petrol, really pretty stone-fruit and citrus, some white flowers buried deep, and it's just rich and a little luxurious on the nose alone. The dry palate has really pretty honeyed sort of fruit, along with underripe peach, more petrol, and then at the end there's some really great lingering minerality playing around with the gas and little flicks of fruit. This is eight years old and probably wants another eight or so before you really dig into it, but if you want to enjoy it now it's a really fantastic sip.
2024 Bründlmayer "Kamptaler Terrassen" Grüner Veltliner Kamptal
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
Sometimes down the middle is the best place to be, and this is just an absolutely down the middle bottle of Austrian Gruner Veltliner in the very best of ways. The nose has some lemon citrus, a little bit of green, and just this really super light stone fruit in the very back part of the nosebleed seats. The palate is has a really nice and pleasant heft/mouthfeel, there's a really nice line of acidity through the whole thing, and towards the end there's just a little tiny hint of bitterness that's going to help this pair so nicely. Honestly, this is just a straight up quaffer, a bottle that needs no introduction except to be introduced to my wine glass. If you wanted to have it with food, by all means, I could see fresh cheese, roast chicken, and also a nice piece of salmon working well with this.
Price:
$24.99
2025 Little Book "Chapter 9 - None for Granted" Blended Straight Whiskey
By: Will Blakely | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
By: Will Blakely | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
The Booker's lineup remains one of the most famous in the bourbon world, and the highly coveted Little Book releases continue to spark fervor among enthusiasts. This latest edition is no exception and expertly showcases the quality of Beam's whiskey stocks and their blending prowess. This mix of 7-11 year bourbons and a cheeky 8 year rye starts with gooey caramel, toasted vanilla, charred wood, cinnamon and clove. The first pour feels a bit primary with the ethanol making itself apparent, but with enough air in the glass (and maybe a drop of water), the whiskey reveals a more suave and sophisticated nature. Glazed and grilled peach, praline, dusty rickhouse, and a more rye-focused spice start to draw attention from the bold oak, resulting in a long and complex finish worthy of the name. Don't take the fact that we got a decent allocation for granted; these won't last much longer.
Price:
$149.99
2009 K&L Discovery Series Bordeaux, St-Emilion
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/9/2025 | Send Email
Yet another wine whose pricing I find to be wicked bonkers, but hey I'm just a salesperson and wine review writer guy and it's good to know your role. This wine costs you, valued reader, less than a dollar per year that it has existed in this world. That's insane. I mean maybe it would make sense, if this wasn't impeccably aged and really delicious Bordeaux. This and it's older brother, the 2005, are both just really wonderful examples of what I like about Bordeaux and also different enough you can get a feel for the vintages and what aging does as well. This has a really charming nose, especially having had a few hours to develop. There's a little bit of creaminess to the fruit, more red than black, with a lot of cherry and even some sweet cranberries. There's also a lot of more savory notes, with dried and fresh tobacco, worn leather, a little touch of oil cured olives, and a dense sort of loamy note in the back holding hands with the barrel spice. The palate is just a little chewy, both from a firm but super integrated tannin profile, but also the leathery tobacco in the back palate. The fruit is very ripe but not quite stewed, with just a little bit of dried notes mixed in. There's a bit of a phenolic note on the finish too, a little bitterness that is going to help ensure that this pairs well with whatever you choose to eat it with. This is such a crazy nexus of great deal and great wine that I'm not sure if I'm able to express strongly enough how much you need to try this wine, but please know that I care about you and I want you to be happy and that's why I want you to try this wine.
Price:
$19.99
2015 Bodegas Casa Juan "Señor de Lesmos" Reserva Rioja
By: John Downing | Review Date: 9/8/2025 | Send Email
By: John Downing | Review Date: 9/8/2025 | Send Email
"Lesmos" Rioja Reserva remains a staff and customer favorite and we're pleased to offer this latest release from winegrower Angel Escudero. The 2015, is singing at the moment as its had time to soften and mature. Although it's in a perfect drinking window, it will certainly offer a lot of pleasure over the next few years. Ideal with meats and cheeses.
Price:
$19.99
2022 Raúl Pérez "Ultreia St-Jacques" Mencía Bierzo
By: John Downing | Review Date: 9/8/2025 | Send Email
By: John Downing | Review Date: 9/8/2025 | Send Email
This wine has been consistently great from vintage to vintage and this latest release is no exception. It offers delicious dark fruit in a juicy, medium-to full bodied frame with fine underlying tannins and solid acidity. The old vines fruit combined with skilled, low intervention winemaking make this an exceptional red..
Mas Codina Brut Reserva Cava Penedès
By: John Downing | Review Date: 9/8/2025 | Send Email
By: John Downing | Review Date: 9/8/2025 | Send Email
It's amazing how dramatically the quality of Cava has increased over the past several years. With improved vineyard practices and extended less aging, these affordable sparkling wines from Spain have become exceptional values. Mas Codina is one of our favorites as it offers a fair amount of complexity and and fruit richness and is ideal as an aperitif of with light eats. It's also a wonderful patio/poolside sipper.
Price:
$13.99
2022 Giovinco Etna Rosso
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/5/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/5/2025 | Send Email
A blend of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio from their parcels across the mountain. Aged in a combination of tonneaux and large casks, this Etna Rosso is both powerful and elegant. Notes of wild red berries, ash, and spice lead to a structured palate with fine-grained tannins and a long, persistent finish.
Price:
$26.99
2022 Antinori "Solaia" Toscana
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/4/2025 | Send Email
By: Orazio Campoli | Review Date: 9/4/2025 | Send Email
Solaia is a wine born from a specific place, a testament to the idea that the greatest wines are an expression of their unique terroir. Its story begins on the sunniest part of the Tignanello hillside, in the heart of Chianti Classico, a vineyard considered to be the estate's very best. From this privileged position, Marchesi Antinori cultivates the finest Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Sangiovese grapes that become the soul of Solaia.
The Tenuta Tignanello estate lies between the Greve and Pesa river valleys, on soils that originated from marine marlstone in the Pliocene period. This ancient ground, rich in limestone, schist, and marine fossils, imparts a distinct mineral complexity to the wine. Throughout the growing season, the vines bask in hot daytime temperatures, allowing for perfect ripeness, while cooler evenings preserve the grapes' vibrant acidity and aromatic nuance.
This harmony of soil and climate is palpable in the 2022 Solaia. The wine is a profound and compelling expression of its origin. The nose is a deep and captivating display of dark fruit—blackcurrant, ripe plum, and blackberry—seamlessly integrated with notes of graphite, cedar, and sweet tobacco that speak directly to its noble terroir. The palate is rich, velvety, and expansive, with a core of concentrated fruit framed by polished, noble tannins.
Defined by the international press as "among the most influential wines in the history of Italian viticulture," Solaia is more than a wine; it is one of the true super wine of the world.
2022 Raúl Pérez "Ultreia St-Jacques" Mencía Bierzo
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/4/2025 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/4/2025 | Send Email
Nicely straddling the line between traditional and modern, this release from Raul Perez places itself firmly in the former camp. Without going over the top, of course! Deliciously savory, with nicely done back of the throat (light) chalkiness. After these initial flavors and scents, the fruit takes over. Black cherries, blackberries, dried lavender, smoke and some bright minerals. There is even a floral undercurrent with a few nicely placed red fruit flavors. This wine is always enjoyable and also very affordable!
2019 Latour-Martillac, Pessac-Léognan
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 9/3/2025 | Send Email
By: Kerry Kennell | Review Date: 9/3/2025 | Send Email
The 2019 Latour-Martillac is both elegant and inviting. A true benchmark in every sense, it offers ripe blackberry, juicy red-fleshed plum, and pomegranate, layered with fresh sage, a touch of coffee bean, crushed rock and graphite on the finish. While it will show best with another year or two of cellar time, it’s already enjoyable with a decant. The blend is 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 8% Petit Verdot, aged 16 months in 40% new oak. Outstanding value makes this both a smart collector’s buy and a graceful entry point into Bordeaux at its best.
2019 G d'Estournel, Medoc
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/3/2025 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 9/3/2025 | Send Email
This gem from Cos d'Estournel is definitely worth looking at! Bright and fresh and bouncy! Red boysenberry fruit with tart cherries, anise, some savory spice and a hint of crunchy minerals. All with a very smooth and silky mouthfeel. The finish lingers and has a very nice tartness to it. So, you buy your Cos d'Estournel and cellar it. In the meantime, you can thoroughly enjoy the "G" on your dinner table tonight. It's too good to pass up!
Cesar Florido Moscatel Especial Chipiona (375ml)
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/2/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/2/2025 | Send Email
This is such a pretty pretty pretty dessert wine, which is probably a little surprising since it's got that distinctly brown color that we typically prefer wines not have. This is a sherry and is made with a fun process that partially involves boiling some of the juice to concentrate it and then pour it back into the very very low alcohol (2%) wine that you've made before fortifying it in the end. The nose is super floral with touches of brown sugar and caramel showing through, along with a sort of brighter fruit that it's hard to put my finger on at the moment, and then on the finish a touch of black tea. The palate is pretty much what I've always thought kissing an angel would be like, it's sweet and floral and there's this kind of blackstrap molasses meets dried fruit note in the very finish that is I feel is from the boiled grape juice and really ties the whole palate together amazingly. This is just a fantastic dessert wine, and really is sweet enough to pair with most desserts that you might bring to the table, I would definitely do this more with cake than pie, but poured over some vanilla ice cream this would be insanely good also.
Price:
$23.99
Rare Wine Company "Historic Series - New York" Malmsey Madeira
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/2/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/2/2025 | Send Email
I really love Maderia, it's just perfect for so many things and this is one of my perennial favorites and a bottle I've sold to a lot of customers, their Malmsey which is pretty much equivalent to Tawny port in sweetness, but with a bit of an acid bump in the mid palate which I think helps make it as perfect as it is. To make Madeira, wine is put through a torture test so the other benefit is once you open a bottle it'll stay good pretty much indefinitely, not that it gets a chance in my house. There's just such a deep and intense nuttiness to the wine, it having fully oxidated as part of the winemaking process. There's stewed fruit, bits of crunchy toffee, burnt caramel, a little touch of umami savoriness, and then all those nuts just bolstering the whole thing up. The palate is a little bit fresher due to the acid bump the fruit is more dried, and there's still caramel but also a little bit of salinity on the very finish. This is absolutely fabulous and anyone who appreciates a sweet finish to their meal should give this a look, it's worth your attention.
2019 K&L Discovery Series Bordeaux, Pomerol
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/2/2025 | Send Email
By: Aaron Hughes | Review Date: 9/2/2025 | Send Email
Well, well, another K&L Discovery wine has landed ashore and this time it's from Pomerol. Let's see how we feel about this one, so far it's been a pretty glorious bounty, but you never know which way the tide will turn. Well, there's definitely a real nice level of sophistication on the nose, so that's a big mark in favor. I definitely get the terroir, and there's a really pretty and generous amount of fruit already showing despite having just opened the bottle. Blackberry, cherry, cigar box, barrel spice and just a touch of vanilla round out the really elegant and stately nose. The palate is no different, the tannins are incredibly fine and incredibly well integrated, the palate has pretty fruits reminiscent of the nose, but also this kind of creaminess that I'm really enjoying. The barrel is there, but the fruit wins out ultimately in the finish, which is always something I enjoy in a wine. Yes, Darryl, I like a wine that tastes like fruit, it's made out of fruit, this shouldn't be a controversial opinion. There's a good amount of savory components in the mid-palate and finish, I think that I'm going to have to grab a couple bottles of this to try with a few different meals. I see this going great with a slightly leaner cut of steak like a NY Strip and a moderate potato, or maybe something more like a filet mignon and a fat potato. You just have to find the right balance. Either way, for the price this bottle of wine absolutely slaps and I highly recommend you give a try, because you might have just found your new Wednesday bottle.
Price:
$29.99