MIXED CASE : EUROPEAN TOUR 6
Azores Wine Company Arinto dos Açores 2024, Pico, Azores, Portugal. $66
Arinto dos Açores is a unique grape native to the Azores, unrelated to mainland Portugal's Arinto. These vines are planted in the rock cracks at the foothills of the volcanic mountain, almost touching the ocean. The vineyards are protected from the strong salty marine breezes by rock walls known as currais. This was native fermented in horizontal stainless barrels, where it remained on lees for 8 months. White grapefruit pith and peel, crunchy green apple is lit with energy and lingering long with salinity. What a wine of place.
Pascal Clément Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Planchots 2021, Bourgogne, France. $77
Pascal Clément, well known for his exceptional white wines, loves using older foudre for his whites, as he feels it brings out the saltiness in the wine. Pascal employs MLF but never bâtonnage on his wines, leaving them on full lees in barrels after pressing. Les Planchots is located at the entrance to the Savigny-lès-Beaune valley, close to the national highway. The Rhoin River flows close to the plot. Planchot is the Burgundian derivative of Planche (from the late Latin Planca). Since the Middle Ages, the word Planche has been used to describe a footbridge, a small bridge made of planks allowing people and animals to cross on foot. This organic estate wine was native fermented and rested in older wood for 8 months. It opens with ample toasty, buttered popcorn and lemon curd, kissed with reduction and loaded with flake salts. Ripe green apple, lemon peel, and toast fill out the rest of this powerful, driven wine, more a Meursault in style than a typical Savigny-les-Beaune. Certainly age worthy.
Artemis Karamolegos Winery Kouloura 2024, Santorini, Greece. $88
Artemis Karamolegos is one of the most dynamic wineries on the unique island of Santorini. Led by his grandfather, who started making wine and cultivating vines as a hobby in the 1950s, Artemis founded the winery in 2004. They own just over 3ha of vineyards (some over 100 years old) across Pyrgos, Megalorchori, Exo Gonia, Akrotiri and Fira and have long-term contracts to farm another 5 hectares. This comes from vines averaging 80 years and blends 90% Assyrtiko and 10% blend of Athiri / Aidani. This was fermented and aged in stainless on lees for seven months. Lemon, green apple, green fig, white grapefruit sails through the bright palate, lit with marine salinity. Lovely now, and with time ahead.
Loimer Pinot Noir 2023, Niederösterreich, Austria. $42
From vineyards in Gumpoldskirchen and Langenlois, this biodynamic Pinot was native fermented over 3 weeks, entirely whole bunch, before resting 1 year in 300L oak casks, plus 6 months in large oak, and then 4 months in stainless tank before bottling, without fining or filtration, and with minimal SO2. Wild herbs, damp forest, and moss lead this medium bodied red, with a juicy core of raspberry and cherry wrapped with finely sticky tannins, hugging the sides to a stony, saline, medicinal cherry finish. A lovely pure look at cool climate Pinot.
Le Ragnaie Rosso di Montalcino 2022, Toscana, Italy. $65
Unlike many Rosso di Montalcino that often are composed of the inferior barrels for Brunello, this is a site-specific bottling treated every step along the way like Riccardo's Brunello offerings. The Castelnuovo vineyard is situated in Castelnuovo dell'Abate on a steep hillside with Mastrojanni's Vigna Schiena d'Asino on one side and Poggio di Sotto on the other. After a long, cool natural fermentation in concrete, this is racked to 25-50L Slavonian vats where it rests quietly on lees for 24 months prior to bottling with no fining. Fragrant and fresh with black cherries, balsamic, herbs and spices. Medium-bodied, it is round and smooth on the palate, to a lengthy, bitter cherry finish. Elegant now, it will continue to gain in complexity with a few years in the cellar.
Suertes del Marqués La Solana 2023, Valle de la Oratova, Tenerife, Spain. $45
La Solana is a single 1.5 hectare vineyard in northern Tenerife, between 350-450m and on loamy clay atop volcanic soils. This is from a single plot of 100+ year old Listán Negro vines, in the traditional cordón trenzado training system. After a native ferment in concrete, with 100% whole cluster, this aged 11 months in 500L neutral French wood before being bottled unfiltered. Pink peppercorn, scrubby florals, wild raspberry waft through this lighter red, with ample marine salinity and balsam acidity to lift, and downy / sticky tannins to frame, finishing with lingering salinity. Most certainly a volcanic island wine, showing place.
Price:
6 bottles for $418+ HST, including delivery in GTA, and most larger cities in Ontario.
*prices outside of main cities may incur additional delivery charges.
Estimated delivery time is 3-10 business days.
Please note we cannot process wine orders outside of Ontario. Wine can only be ordered from, and shipped to, an address in Ontario.
MIXED CASE : EUROPEAN TOUR 6
Azores Wine Company Arinto dos Açores 2024, Pico, Azores, Portugal. $66
Arinto dos Açores is a unique grape native to the Azores, unrelated to mainland Portugal's Arinto. These vines are planted in the rock cracks at the foothills of the volcanic mountain, almost touching the ocean. The vineyards are protected from the strong salty marine breezes by rock walls known as currais. This was native fermented in horizontal stainless barrels, where it remained on lees for 8 months. White grapefruit pith and peel, crunchy green apple is lit with energy and lingering long with salinity. What a wine of place.
Pascal Clément Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Planchots 2021, Bourgogne, France. $77
Pascal Clément, well known for his exceptional white wines, loves using older foudre for his whites, as he feels it brings out the saltiness in the wine. Pascal employs MLF but never bâtonnage on his wines, leaving them on full lees in barrels after pressing. Les Planchots is located at the entrance to the Savigny-lès-Beaune valley, close to the national highway. The Rhoin River flows close to the plot. Planchot is the Burgundian derivative of Planche (from the late Latin Planca). Since the Middle Ages, the word Planche has been used to describe a footbridge, a small bridge made of planks allowing people and animals to cross on foot. This organic estate wine was native fermented and rested in older wood for 8 months. It opens with ample toasty, buttered popcorn and lemon curd, kissed with reduction and loaded with flake salts. Ripe green apple, lemon peel, and toast fill out the rest of this powerful, driven wine, more a Meursault in style than a typical Savigny-les-Beaune. Certainly age worthy.
Artemis Karamolegos Winery Kouloura 2024, Santorini, Greece. $88
Artemis Karamolegos is one of the most dynamic wineries on the unique island of Santorini. Led by his grandfather, who started making wine and cultivating vines as a hobby in the 1950s, Artemis founded the winery in 2004. They own just over 3ha of vineyards (some over 100 years old) across Pyrgos, Megalorchori, Exo Gonia, Akrotiri and Fira and have long-term contracts to farm another 5 hectares. This comes from vines averaging 80 years and blends 90% Assyrtiko and 10% blend of Athiri / Aidani. This was fermented and aged in stainless on lees for seven months. Lemon, green apple, green fig, white grapefruit sails through the bright palate, lit with marine salinity. Lovely now, and with time ahead.
Loimer Pinot Noir 2023, Niederösterreich, Austria. $42
From vineyards in Gumpoldskirchen and Langenlois, this biodynamic Pinot was native fermented over 3 weeks, entirely whole bunch, before resting 1 year in 300L oak casks, plus 6 months in large oak, and then 4 months in stainless tank before bottling, without fining or filtration, and with minimal SO2. Wild herbs, damp forest, and moss lead this medium bodied red, with a juicy core of raspberry and cherry wrapped with finely sticky tannins, hugging the sides to a stony, saline, medicinal cherry finish. A lovely pure look at cool climate Pinot.
Le Ragnaie Rosso di Montalcino 2022, Toscana, Italy. $65
Unlike many Rosso di Montalcino that often are composed of the inferior barrels for Brunello, this is a site-specific bottling treated every step along the way like Riccardo's Brunello offerings. The Castelnuovo vineyard is situated in Castelnuovo dell'Abate on a steep hillside with Mastrojanni's Vigna Schiena d'Asino on one side and Poggio di Sotto on the other. After a long, cool natural fermentation in concrete, this is racked to 25-50L Slavonian vats where it rests quietly on lees for 24 months prior to bottling with no fining. Fragrant and fresh with black cherries, balsamic, herbs and spices. Medium-bodied, it is round and smooth on the palate, to a lengthy, bitter cherry finish. Elegant now, it will continue to gain in complexity with a few years in the cellar.
Suertes del Marqués La Solana 2023, Valle de la Oratova, Tenerife, Spain. $45
La Solana is a single 1.5 hectare vineyard in northern Tenerife, between 350-450m and on loamy clay atop volcanic soils. This is from a single plot of 100+ year old Listán Negro vines, in the traditional cordón trenzado training system. After a native ferment in concrete, with 100% whole cluster, this aged 11 months in 500L neutral French wood before being bottled unfiltered. Pink peppercorn, scrubby florals, wild raspberry waft through this lighter red, with ample marine salinity and balsam acidity to lift, and downy / sticky tannins to frame, finishing with lingering salinity. Most certainly a volcanic island wine, showing place.
Price:
6 bottles for $418+ HST, including delivery in GTA, and most larger cities in Ontario.
*prices outside of main cities may incur additional delivery charges.
Estimated delivery time is 3-10 business days.
Please note we cannot process wine orders outside of Ontario. Wine can only be ordered from, and shipped to, an address in Ontario.
Fill your wine passport with this whirlwind tour around Europe’s classic regions: France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, and Austria.
