$195 “The Sergio Leone” Wine-Aid Package – 12 Bottles of Spanish Wine (8 Red + 4 White, All Included and Delivered)

“I’ve always believed that true cinema is cinema of the imagination.” — Sergio Leone

Introducing The Sergio Leone, a $195 Wine-Aid package that includes 12 Bottles of Spanish Wine showcasing the quality and value of Spanish wines from the slopes of Montserrat near the Mediterranean Sea to the Val do Salnés on the Atlantic coast. The price includes tax and delivery, as well as a 20% discount. We will also honor a 10% discount on any bottles you might wish to add to the Wine-Aid package. 

While Sergio Leone is an Italian director most of his films are inextricably tied to the landscape of Spain. The Tabernas Desert in the southeastern province of Almería is probably the most famous setting, but he filmed all over the country. Indeed, the first film of the “Man With No Name Trilogy” that made both Leone and Clint Eastwood famous, and is considered the birth of the spaghetti western genre, was principally filmed in the municipality of Hoyo De Manzanares, a short drive from the vineyards of our first featured winemaker Uva de Vida.

It’s easy to imagine that those many years ago the cast and crew might have been drinking very similar wines as are featured in this Wine Aid package. And it is this idea of geography, and its connection to the history of humanity, that can make the simple act of drinking a good bottle of wine something more profound. 

Included in The Sergio Leone Wine-Aid box are four bottles of each:

1) Uva de Vida “Latitud 40” (Vino de la Tierra de Castilla 2015)  Regular Price $23

The wife-and-husband team of Carmen López and Luis Ruiz have harnessed the soul of the land to produce wines of purity, brilliance and energy. Biodiversity of plant and animal life is promoted in their 33 acres of vines planted at 1,600 feet of altitude in the clay-based soils near the tiny village of Santa Olalla just up the road from the city of Toledo. Uva de Vida employs minimal intervention techniques from start to finish. 100% Graciano and nearly opaque deep red, a glass of “Latitud 40” radiates aromas of cherry fruit leather, dark chocolate, herbs, and salty, sun-baked earth. These heady scents merge seamlessly into a mid-weight sip of blackcurrant fruit with a long and juicy finish. 

2) Ca N’Estruc Negre (Catalunya 2016) Regular Price $14

Francisco Martí is co-owner of perhaps the finest wine shop in Spain, Vila Viniteca, located in the El Born district of old Barcelona. Yet he has spent much of his life in the vineyards of the Ca n’Estruc estate that lies on the slopes of Montserrat at over 500 feet in elevation. The Vineyards are ideally orientated to optimize sunshine and hold some vines that are close to 80 years old. Ca N’Estruc Negre is a blend of Garnatxa, Samsó (Carinyena), and Ull de Llebre (Tempranillo) grown in alluvial soils. Ripe raspberries and cherries underneath a hint of rosemary make this one of the more interesting everyday value wines that you’ll find. 

3) Fento “Bico da Ran” (Rías Baixas 2018) Regular Price $17

Bico da Ran is 100% Albariño made from fruit grown in the sub-zone of Val do Salnés. Considered the birthplace of the Albariño grape this is the original and oldest sub-region in Rías Baixas. With an altitude below 1,000 feet and vineyards that reach the Atlantic Ocean, this is the coolest winemaking zone in the region. Some of the best vineyards in Salnés produce the Bico da Ran fruit. The vines are 15 to 25 years old. Grapes are harvested in early morning to preserve aroma and freshness. Vinification and aging is done in stainless steel. All of this results in a wine that is aromatic with citrus and a delicate herbality. On the palate it is refreshing and crisp, with layers of crunchy orchard fruit.

Still from A Fistful of Dollars (1964) compared to a recent photograph in Hoyo De Manzanares

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Posted on 2020.05.10 in Spain DO, Wine-Aid Packages, Catalunya, Rias Biaxas  |  Read more...

$160 “The Leonardo da Vinci” Wine-Aid Package – 6 Bottles Italian Wine (4 Red, 2 White, All Included and Delivered)

“The discovery of a good wine is increasingly better for mankind than the discovery of a new star.” — Leonardo da Vinci

Introducing The Leonardo da Vinci, a $160 Wine-Aid package that includes six bottles of Italian wine. This small range of wines from stellar producers in north central Italy are just a small sample of the variety available from these ancient lands. The price includes tax and delivery, as well as a deep discount. We will also honor a 10% discount on any bottles you might wish to add to the Wine-Aid package. 

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Perhaps a lesser known fact is that da Vinci owned several vineyards in central and northern Italy. His letters to friends, family, and farm managers show that he was an ardent wine taster, producer, and even cultivator.

He was particularly inspired by “the divine juice of the grape” in the late 15th century, when he was painting The Last Supper in Milano. During this period, da Vinci experimented with all parts of the winemaking process, from cultivating his own varietals, to perfecting the grape press, to distilling brandy.

Included in The Leonardo da Vinci Wine-Aid box are two bottles of each:

1) Ampeleia Cuvée “Ampeleia” (IGT Costa Toscana 2015) Regular Price $47 

Ampeleia is an exciting project led by star winemaker Elisabetta Foradori near the Tuscan coast. It seeks to reveal the diversity and potential of Maremma’s Colline Metallifere, a mineral-rich, mountain-hill group mined since Etruscan times that occupies the central-western part of Tuscany, just west of Montalcino. The base of the wine consists of low yields of Cabernet Franc from vines planted in the early 1960s. A grocery cart of heady aromatics include mixed berries, cherry licorice, minty herbs, a touch of chocolate, and a whisper of lavender. A sip is generous with dense fruit that seamlessly merges with a medium-bodied mid-palate and a mineral-rich, lengthy finish. 

2) Scacciadiavoli Montefalco Rosso (DOC 2016) Regular Price $28

The green hills of Umbria match neighboring Tuscany in their splendor and are finally catching up with the level of wine quality. This fact is most apparent in the hills of Perugia, and even more specifically the comune of Montefalco. It is there that the native, naturally low-yielding grape variety of Sagrantino reigns. Montefalco Rosso is a blend of 60% Sangiovese, 25% Merlot, and 15% Sagrantino. After vinification, the wine is matured for 12 months in large wooden oak barrels and a further six months in the bottle. It sports an elegant bouquet with scents of cherry and spice. A sip offers bright flavors of red fruits while the finish is quite herbal with polished tannins and good length. It’s a pleasantly complex wine with enough structure to develop for a few more years.

3) Andrea Felici “Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Superiore” (DOC 2013) Regular Price $19

Winemaker Leopardo Felici is a superstar. In its 33rd edition, the chief Italian wine rating publication, Gambero Rosso, has awarded him “Grower of the Year, “ calling him “a true vigneron capable of interpreting every nuance of his land, Castelli di Jesi.” Leopardo is a Verdicchio perfectionist. Soon after taking over his family’s small 25 acre estate in Apiro, the highest of the villages surrounding the town of Jesi, he immediately began transitioning to organic farming to help create the purest wines possible. You won’t find many wines at this price level with this concentration and specificity of place. Drinking at its peak, this wine shows outstanding varietal purity, full of white fruits, hints of brine and almonds, and serious length. 

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Posted on 2020.05.05 in Wine-Aid Packages, Marche, Italy, Tuscany, Umbria  |  Read more...

$270 “The Thomas Aquinas” Wine-Aid Package – 12 Bottles of Côtes du Rhône from Producers in Châteauneuf-du-Pape (All Included and Delivered)

“Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.” — Thomas Aquinas.

Introducing The Thomas Aquinas, a $270 Wine-Aid package that includes 12 bottles of Côtes du Rhône from producers based in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This range of wines represents the high level of quality and value that stellar Châteauneuf-du-Pape winemakers are capable of producing with their more everyday, regional wines. The price includes tax and delivery, as well as a deep discount. We will also honor a 10% discount on any bottles you might wish to add to the Wine-Aid package. 

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the arrival of the Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the question of the relation between faith and reason. Born in Lazio, Italy, Thomas eventually completed his studies at the University of Paris. The Catholic Church has over the centuries regularly and consistently reaffirmed the central importance of Thomas’s work, both theological and philosophical. 

Fifty years after Thomas’s death, Pope John XXII, seated in Avignon, pronounced Thomas a saint. Pope John XXII regularly drank the wines from the vineyards that we now know as Châteauneuf-du-Pape and did much to improve viticulture practices there. Whether you are Catholic or not, you can appreciate him for his wisdom in both wine and philosophers. 

Included in The Thomas Aquinas Wine-Aid box are four bottles of each:

1) Domaine Chante Cigale “Vieilles Vignes” (Côtes du Rhône 2016) Regular Price $25

Domaine Chante Cigale is one of the most important family estates in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Young winemaker Alexandre Favier and his team are dedicated to traditional winemaking using native yeasts for fermentation. The estate boasts close to 100 acres, divided into 45 parcels, across exceptional terroir. The diversity of soils and grape varieties allows the elaboration of wines that truly represent Southern Rhône. The fruit for Chante Cigale’s old-vine Côtes du Rhône comes from hand-harvested, 50-year-old vines in the Plan de Dieu, one of the finest lieux-dits in the appellation. Composed of 70% Grenache, 20% Carignan, and 10% Syrah, the wine shows loads of cherry fruit and spice. 

2) Domaine Charvin (Côtes-du-Rhône 2017) Regular Price $25

Until recently, Laurent Charvin, who holds about 25 acres in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, was almost the only grower to vinify with whole-cluster fermentations. Today that is becoming the trend. His Côtes-du-Rhône is a blend of low yielding vines, mainly Grenache with small additions of Mourvèdre, Carignan, and Syrah.  Some vines are as old as 90 years, with the average around 40 years old.  The fruit is organically farmed and harvested by hand from north-facing slopes on the northwest limit of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape lieu-dit Maucoil. Only indigenous yeasts are used and fermentation is done in cement tanks. Dark red fruits and an herbal vibe make this a seriously tasty wine.

3) Domaine de Beaurenard (Côtes-du-Rhône 2018) Regular Price $25

Traditional winemakers Daniel and Frédéric Coulon hold a little under 80 acres of vines in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and around 60 acres in the Côtes du Rhône Villages Rasteau appellation. All of Domaine de Beaurenard’s vines are certified biodynamic. In the vineyatds, these methods involve working the soil without herbicides, spreading carefully-dynamised manure, and maintaining sensible grass cover. Their Côtes-du-Rhône is a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah from parcels of limestone and clay. The fruit is co-fermented with native yeasts and a short maturing period to preserve the delicacy of the fruit. The embodiment of the Beaurenard style, the wine shows ideal balance between fruit and spice. Fragrantly aromatic native herbs intermingle with pure, sumptuous fruit. 

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Posted on 2020.05.03 in France, Wine-Aid Packages, Southern Rhone  |  Read more...

$165 “The Matisse” Wine-Aid Package – 6 Bottles Southern French Red Wine (All Included and Delivered)

“What I dream of is an art of balance.” — Henri Matisse

Introducing The Matisse, a $165 Wine-Aid package that includes six bottles of Red Wine illustrating the rich fruit and herbal fragrant wines from vineyards across southern France’s Languedoc-Rousillon region. The price includes tax and delivery, as well as a 10% discount. We will also honor the 10% discount on any bottles you might wish to add to the Wine-Aid package. 

Henri Matisse was one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. In 1905 he was residing in the coastal village of Collioure in the Languedoc-Roussillon when he was inspired to fill his canvases with passionate hues and a brash distortion of form. For these stylistic innovations he was branded a fauve (wild beast) and thus fundamentally altered the course of modern art with the founding of Fauvism.

The selections in The Matisse Wine-Aid are not only a nod to the “art of balance” but also to the bold and ecstatic vibes, much like Matisse’s work, that these wines display in the glass. We’re pretty sure that Henri would approve. 

Included in The Matisse Wine-Aid box are two bottles of each:

1) Domaine Saint Sylvestre Rouge (Languedoc 2015) Regular Price $45

Vincent and Sophie Guizard are cultivating less than 20 acres of prime vineyards in Terrasses du Larzac, an appellation known for its unique climate that benefits from both the warm Mediterranean sea and the cool air that blows down from the Larzac plateau on summer nights, creating wines that are fresh, yet delicate. They use no synthetic fertilizers or herbicides in the vineyards. Fermentation is completed using only indigenous wild yeasts. The wine is a blend of 70% Syrah, 20% Grenache, and 10% Mourvedre aged for two years in used French oak barrels from Burgundy before blending and bottling without fining or filtering. It exudes an intoxicating nose of blackberry, garrigue, raw red meat, violets, and a curl of wood smoke. 

2) Le Clos du Serres “Saint-Jean” (Terrasses du Larzac 2017) Regular Price $24

In 2006, Béatrice and Sébastien Fillon purchased 37 acres divided into 15 parcels near the town of Saint Jean de la Blaquière. The diversity of the soil across all of their parcels includes schist, sandstone, pebbles & shingle, and red ruffes (deep deposits of sandstone accumulated some 265 million years ago and exposed by erosion). “Saint-Jean” is a blend of 25% each Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, and Oeillade (a grape indigenous to the Languedoc and close to extinction). It’s a wine that expresses all the terroir the village has to offer. After maturation for 12 months in concrete vats the result is a wine that is luscious with fruit but balanced, with floral, spice, and red berry aromatics.

3) Domaine Bertrand-Bergé “Origines” (Fitou 2016) Regular Price $23

Fitou Montagneux is a patch of mountainous schist fifteen miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea. Winemakers Jérôme and Sabine Bertrand’s estate is comprised of many old-vine parcels that cover an area of 84 acres dotted around the hilly countryside of Paziols, the air fragrant with the scent of wild juniper, thyme, rosemary and lavender of the local garrigue shrubland. The estate is cultivated entirely using organic techniques. Of the wide range of soils that are found in the region, the pudding stones found around Paziols contribute much to the high quality of the wines. “Origines” is a starting point to understanding and enjoying the terroir of Fitou. A blend of 60% Carignan and 40% Grenache aged for 18 months in concrete, “Origines” delivers juicy ripe black fruits accented by clean earth.

The Wine Press — Henri Matisse

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Posted on 2020.04.28 in France, Wine-Aid Packages, Languedoc-Roussillon  |  Read more...

$260 “The Cézanne” Wine-Aid Package – 12 Bottles Southern French Red Wine (All Included and Delivered)

“A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.” — Paul Cézanne

Introducing The Cézanne, a $260 Wine-Aid package that includes 12 bottles of Red Wine illustrating a range of ripe and luscious flavors and aromas from vineyards across Mediterranean France. The price includes tax and delivery, as well as a 10% discount. We will also honor the 10% discount on any bottles you might wish to add to the Wine-Aid package. 

Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations for 20th century art. His paintings formed a bridge between Impressionism and the early 20th century’s new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism. Both Matisse and Picasso claimed that Cezanne “is the father of us all.” 

The Sainte-Victoire mountain near Cézanne’s home in Aix-en-Provence in southern France was one of his favorite subjects and he is known to have painted it well over 60 times. This is the type of landscape you find throughout Mediterranean France and from which our latest selection of wines is inspired. Cézanne painted the mountain from different angles, at different times of the day, and under different weather conditions. Browsing all of his works on this subject and you get a sense of the different elements over a growing season the winemakers represented in this selection must face every vintage. 

Included in The Cézanne Wine-Aid box are four bottles of each:

1) Mas des Caprices “ZE” (Fitou 2016) Regular Price $31

Mireille and Pierre Mann quickly made a name for themselves by producing tasty, genuine wines on the Mediterranean coast. Certified organic in 2009, their guiding philosophy is meticulous work in the vineyard while respecting nature. A blend of 40% Carignan, 35% Grenache, and 25% Mourvèdre from the windswept Leucate cliff. Fruit, both ripe and fresh, provides the foundation for this crowd-pleasing red. Maturation takes place for nine months, mainly in concrete vats, with around 20% aging in old barrels. Exceptionally floral on the nose, a sip seduces the palate with velvety tannins and silky berry salad. Pop a bottle for pizza, shawarma, or (virtual) game night with friends.

2) Le Clos du Serres “Saint-Jean” (Terrasses du Larzac 2017) Regular Price $24

In 2006, Béatrice and Sébastien Fillon purchased 37 acres divided into 15 parcels near the town of Saint Jean de la Blaquière. The diversity of the soil across all of their parcels includes schist, sandstone, pebbles & shingle, and red ruffes (deep deposits of sandstone accumulated some 265 million years ago and exposed by erosion). “Saint-Jean” is a blend of 25% each Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, and Oeillade (a grape indigenous to the Languedoc and close to extinction). It’s a wine that expresses all the terroir the village has to offer. After maturation for 12 months in concrete vats the result is a wine that is luscious with fruit but balanced, with floral, spice, and red berry aromatics.

3) Domaine Saint Patrice “Vieilles Vignes” (Côtes-du-Rhône 2016) Regular Price $18

From their first vintage, Domaine Saint Patrice became one of the finest producers in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  “Vieilles Vignes” Côtes-du-Rhône is boisterously fruity in aromatics and flavor with some clean earth and a hint of herbs. A sip is downright poundable, juicy, with a finish that extends far beyond its reasonable price. It has all the elements one looks for in the type. The attractive price is just the cherry on top. It is a blend of Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Syrah from three plots: Les Champauvins, Le Coudoulet, and Boisfeuillet. In the cellar, maceration and fermentation are done in concrete tanks. Aging takes place over 14 months in concrete vats and large oak foudre with a further 12 months after bottling.

Mont Sainte-Victoire

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Posted on in France, Wine-Aid Packages, Languedoc-Roussillon, Southern Rhone  |  Read more...

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