Countdown to the New Year: Champagne Tasting Every Day

Every day until The New Year we’ll be sampling from our elaborate selection of small-production, Grand and Premier Cru Champagnes.

We’ll be featuring Champagne from some of the leading producers in the region: Like Paul Bara and his 26 acres in Bouzy, boasting some of the best Pinot Noir in the Montagne de Reims. Erick de Sousa, who over the past 30 years has refined the best of traditional thinking and progressive new methods to revitalize, transform and grow his estate to become one of the top producers in the Côte des Blancs. Brothers Charles-Henry and Emmanuel Fourny, producing beautifully rich Champagne in the highest rated Premier Cru village of Vertus.

If you are looking for that extra special bottle we also have a selection of the foremost cuvées in all of Champagne, including 2004 Salon, 1999 Billecart-Salmon Le Clos Saint-Hilaire, and 2005 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses, to name a few.

These are the work of passionate small producers and individual growers who are deeply connected to the particularities of each of their vine parcels and believe that wine is made in the vineyard first. They craft Champagne that express terroir by rigorous work in the vineyards, picking fruit at its peak, and employing minimal intervention in the cellar.

Champagne Kiosk at the annual Christmas Market in the city of Reims, France – the heart of the Champagne region.

- - -
Posted on 2016.12.26 in France, Champagne  |  Read more...

For the Holidays – The Five Days of Burgundy

We’ll be tasting red and white Burgundy all week long leading up to Christmas. Stop by to enjoy a few samples and stock up for the season with special prices.

Burgundy is much more than Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from France, it’s a winemaking region with more classified geological complexity and nuance than any other in the world. And Elie Wine Company is not an average wine shop, because we keep wine from the best vintage years our selection of Burgundy is deeper in appellations and vintages than most wine shops in Burgundy itself.

One of the most remarkable aspects about the Burgundy region is the breadth of different expressions that can be derived from two grape varieties. We have prime examples of everything from inexpensive Mâcon-Villages white and Bourgogne red to the inimitable Grand Crus of Montrachet and the Côte de Nuits.

Whether you’re having a dinner party, looking for a special bottle with some age as a gift for a connoisseur, or just need to fortify your stock for the holidays, we’ll help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

While we’re on the subject of classic expressions of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, these two varieties also happen to be the most important in Champagne. Since our move to Birmingham, we’ve expanded our Champagne selection further and can truly offer some of the best grower/producer Champagne available to modern humans – which we’ll be tasting the entire week between Christmas and the New Year.

- - -
Posted on 2016.12.19 in France, Burgundy  |  Read more...

The Gift of Bordeaux in 6-Pack Wood Box or Magnum

Mixed 6-pack of Top-Quality Bordeaux in Wood Box $275 SOLD OUT

Stop by this Saturday to sample a few exceptional wines from the Bordeaux region of France — packed in attractive wood six pack boxes. This makes a perfect gift for the wine lover in your life (even if that wine lover is you).

Includes 2 Each:
Château Marquis de Terme (Margaux 2012) Red
Château Carbonnieux (Pessac-Léognan 2012) Red
Château Carbonnieux (Pessac-Léognan 2014) White
Château Marquis de Terme (Margaux 2012) Red

Once part of the vast, 17th Century Rauzan estate of Margaux, the classified “Fourth Growth” estate of Marquis de Terme consists of gravel, sand, limestone and clay “Left Bank” soils planted with a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. The estate has been undergoing modernization for the past few decades and a switch to organic farming techniques. Today the estate is producing the best wines in their long history. The wines are vinified in stainless steel vats and then aged in a combination 50% new French oak barrels and a small amount of 600 liter, Nomblot, concrete, egg shaped vats for up to 18 months. Marquis de Terme is a choice example of the classic perfumed fragrance and blackcurrant fruit of Margaux.

Château Carbonnieux

One of the oldest estates in the entire Bordeaux wine region with a history dating back to the 12th century, Château Carbonnieux has 220 acres of vineyards in the gravel, sand and clay soils of Pessac-Léognan. They are one of the few Bordeaux estates to produce close to equal amounts of red and white Bordeaux wine. This is prime real estate, as illustrated by Ctheir neighbors Château Smith Haut Lafitte and Château Haut-Bailly. The estate has recently added new, temperature controlled, stainless steel vats to allow vinification on a parcel by parcel basis. Today, Château Carbonnieux is considered one of the top estates in Bordeaux.

Château Carbonnieux (Pessac-Léognan 2012) Red

Château Carbonnieux red is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot that spent 16-18 months in barrels (35% new oak). A heady and complex nose of black currant, cherry, mocha and cedar precedes a rich and full-bodied sip of generous, concentrated fruit. The copious but integrated structure provides excellent balance on the finish and the promise of further development in a proper cellar over the next 15 years.

Château Carbonnieux (Pessac-Léognan 2014) White

A blend of 75% Sauvignon, 25% Semillon that was barrel-fermented in 25% new French oak and then aged another 10 months in the barrel. Scents of apple blossom and lemon curd precede a crisp and elegant palate with a focused, stony finish. Break out a few bottles this holiday season to pair with dishes like lobster ravioli or pan-fried scallops with beurre blanc and throw a handful in the cellar for future drinking.

En Magnum

If one or two double-sized magnum bottles of Bordeaux make more sense as a gift for your wine loving friend or your cellar, we have a large selection of 2012 Bordeaux to choose from. Prices range from $160 to $290 for some of the top producers of the region, including: Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé Château Troplong Mondot, Second-Growth Saint-Julien Château Léoville-Barton, and Third-Growth Margaux Château d’Issan, among many more.

- - -
Posted on 2016.12.14 in Saturday Sips Wines, France, Bordeaux  |  Read more...

The Pleasures of Pomerol – The Crown Jewel of Bordeaux’s Right-Bank

Château La Pointe (Pomerol 2012)
Special 6-pack Price: $297 (~$49/bottle)

The soils of gravel, sand, and clay that cover the small Bordeaux appellation of Pomerol are ideal for producing wines that express the complete range of the Merlot variety. Indeed, famous estates like Petrus quite often fetch higher prices than the first-growths of the Médoc and Graves. With a standard of quality high and production low bargains in Pomerol are not exactly easy to find.

At 54 acres, Château La Pointe is considered a large operation by Pomerol standards. While known for its quality wine dating all the way back into the mid-19th Century, it’s the most recent iteration of Château La Pointe that has both critics and consumers excited. Estate manager Eric Monneret has presided over renovations that include a completely new vat room and barrel cellar, allowing for plot-by-plot vinification, and thus enabling fine-tuning of the selection for their top label. Winemaking is assisted by the renowned oenologist Hubert de Boüard de Laforest, who also co-owns Château Angelus in Saint-Emilion.

In the midst of this rebirth, the 2012 vintage (an excellent year for Merlot across Bordeaux) may be Château La Pointe’s best wine to date. A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, a glass exudes aromas of mocha, sweet berry fruit, and spice. Well-balanced and pure, this is classic Pomerol in structure – lush and accessible now, yet with an energetic core that promises a developmental curve that covers another decade, at least.

The Merlot grape variety often gets a bad rap due to the glut of simple, fruity wines that bear its name lined up on party store shelves. But when the soils and climate are right as in Pomerol, and production is focused on quality, the variety is capable of making some of the finest, age-worthy wines in the world. 2012 Château La Pointe will make a beautiful gift, or a stellar pairing with a holiday roast, without breaking the bank.

- - -
Posted on 2016.12.07 in France, Bordeaux, Saturday Sips Wines  |  Read more...

Bargain Price for Blue-Chip Chianti Classico

Castello di Ama “San Lorenzo” (Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2011) Red
Special 6-pack Price: $195 (~$32/bottle)

While we’re always doing our best to offer great wine at prices that are competitive with the rest of the country, every once in a while we will find a ridiculously good deal that can’t be passed up. We are stocked with Castello di Ama “San Lorenzo” — a benchmark Chianti Classico Gran Selezione that will thrill anyone that loves flawlessly produced wines that speak of place. With our special 6-pack discount we’re offering this wine at close to $13 less per bottle than the average national price.

Aged for approximately 12 months in barrel and 18 months in bottle before release, Gran Selezione was created as a new designation of Chianti Classico with requirements that go beyond those of Chianti Classico Riserva. 2011 Castello di Ama “San Lorenzo” is produced from 80% Sangiovese with the remainder of the blend Malvasia Nera and Merlot from vines planted in 1974, 1978, and 1996. The wine was aged in barriques, of which 20% were new and the remainder second pass. The result is a luscious expression of Chianti Classico loaded with a perfectly ripe berry medley of spiced fruit alongside a silky body of polished tannins and a spirited finish.

The 2011 vintage in the Chianti Classico zone began cold and troubled, only to see a heatwave in August before lower autumn temperatures settled in to delay the harvest somewhat. This was a relatively early-ripening vintage and a wine like “San Lorenzo” is truly drinking in its prime right now.

Managed by the husband and wife team of Marco Pallanti and Lorenza Sebasti, the 220 acre estate of Castello di Ama sits 12 miles northeast of Siena in the hills of Gaiole. This is the heart of Chianti Classico, a bucolic rolling landscape of woods, vineyards and olive groves. Over the last quarter century the couple has replanted all of the vineyards and upgraded all of the winemaking capabilities to make themselves one of Tuscany’s showcase producers. Almost since they began production in the early 1990s the Castello di Ama team has garnered accolades from both consumers and critics alike.

- - -
Posted on 2016.11.29 in Saturday Sips Wines, Italy, Tuscany  |  Read more...

previous   -   next