Vinopolis Tuesday Newsletter 12/20/22

 In This Newsletter:

Do you want to make this holiday season sparkle?

Say yes to life and treat yourself to a gorgeous 9L bottle of Schramsberg. That’s right, 9 whole litres of pure joy, on special this holiday season for $899. Only one lucky person will be able to go home with our 2016 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs, North Coast, 9L. Buy it before it’s gone. This is the only bottle on sale now in the country.

Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs, North Coast 2016 9L, holiday special $899, only one bottle available
Wine Enthusiast 92 points “Complexity and layering make this wine especially interesting as it goes from aromas of apple, butter and vanilla to deeper toast and baked apple on the palate. It’s medium in body, has tantalizing acidity and a lingering finish. Best through 2026.”
Wine Spectator 91 points “Sleek, with pinpoint focus, offering harmonious Meyer lemon, candied almond and fresh ginger flavors that fan out on the crisp finish. Drink now. 36,209 cases made.”
Wine Advocate 90 points “The nose of the 2016 Blanc de Blancs is bright and fresh, with scents of quince peel, red apples, floral perfume, brioche and a nutty undercurrent. The light-bodied palate is dry with energetic mousse and a nice balance of mineral and tirage character, finishing with fantastic freshness. 36,209 cases produced. The Blanc de Blancs was the first cuvée Schramsberg produced, in 1965.”

 

 

Looking for an affordable red wine from California?

Here is a list of Californian red wines under $25 

Marietta Cellars ‘Christo’, California 2019 750ml $21.90 special, 19 bottles in stock now
Wine Advocate 96 points “A blend of Syrah, Grenache, Petite Sirah and Viognier, the 2019 Christo has a deep ruby-purple color and alluring scents of blueberry jam and cassis with accents of loamy earth, violet, coffee beans and iron. The full-bodied palate is powerful yet silky, with seamless acidity and gobs of pure violet perfume on the long, layered finish. It’s easy to drink now but offers a decade or more of cellaring potential.”

Marietta Cellars OVR Old Vine Red, California NV 750ml $18 special, 5 bottles in stock now
Wine Advocate 95 points “The NV OVR Lot 73 is composed mainly of Zinfandel with smaller portions of Syrah, Petite Sirah, Carignan and Barbera. Medium ruby, it offers intense red cherry, blood orange and apricot perfume with accents of rooibos tea leaves, red licorice, saline, lilac and loads of spicy nuances. The medium-bodied palate is light on its feet with soft tannins, bursts of refreshing acidity and detailed amaro accents on the long finish. This is so easy to drink!”
    
Marietta Cellars ‘Roman’ Estate Grown Zinfandel, North Coast 2020 750ml $21.90 special, 18 bottles in stock now
Wine Advocate 92 points “A blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Barbera, the 2020 Román Zinfandel has a medium ruby-purple color and aromatic layers of raspberry, red cherry, rhubarb, aniseed and lilac with touches of iron and orange peel. The medium-bodied palate is gently chewy, with tart, juicy fruits and a spicy finish.”

Daniel Cohn Bellacosa Cabernet Sauvignon, North Coast 2016 750ml $14 special, 36+ bottles in stock now
Wine Enthusiast “Beef and smoke aromas and brown sugar and spice flavors give this full-bodied wine more of an oaky than a fruity personality. It has a good firm structure of light tannins and firm acidity, so it’s appetizing and fresh on the palate. -Jim Gordon”

This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!

Prima Materia Zinfandel, Kelsey Bench NV 750ml $24 special, 7 bottles in stock now
Distributor note “Pietro Buttitta is high up in Lake County at around 1500 feet elevation.  Hovering over the Kelsey Bench AVA he is tending his family’s plot of vines and is doing the work of a true vigneron.  The entire production, around 1500 cases a year, comes entirely from the estate.  This is becoming increasingly rare with American wines and allows Pietro to farm in a fastidiously organic fashion and moreover grow exactly what he would like.  And what he grows is why this story is so compelling. (Friulano, Vermantino, Nebbiolo, Sagrantino, Aglianico, Refosco for starters!).”

Les Lunes Wine Cosmic Blend, California 2021 750ml $24 special, 5 bottles in stock now 
Distributor note “45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Zinfandel, 17% Chardonnay, 13% Merlot. The Cosmic blend is a chillable red wine, like our Astral blend, but made with primarily Bordeaux varieties. Normally these Cabernet Sauvignon wines
are structured and rich, but this wine is defined by its juicy fruit character on the palate with tons of aromas of blue fruit and mountain berries.”

This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!

Rotation Wines Red Blend, Lodi 2018 750ml $9.90 special, 2 bottles in stock now
VinopolNote: A lighter-bodied Bordeaux-style blend

This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!

 

Domaine des Closiers Saumur-Champigny ‘Les Coudraies’, Loire 2020 750ml $49 special, 36 bottles
John Gilman 95 points “The Saumur-Champigny “les Coudraies” is one of the estate’s single vineyard wines, made from a selection of the best parcels in this hillside vineyard. The wine is aged in mostly older casks for one year prior to bottling. The 2020 les Coudraies comes in at fourteen percent octane and offers up a simply gorgeous bouquet of red and black cherries, cigar wrapper, a touch of tree bark, a complex base of soil tones, juniper berry, a touch of cedar and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and very elegant in profile, with a rock solid core of fruit, firm, buried tannins, excellent focus and grip and a long, complex and very, very promising finish. This is a great bottle of Saumur-Champigny in the making!”
Wine Advocate 93 points “Vinified in stainless steel tanks and then aged in barrels, the 2020 Saumur Champigny Les Coudraies comes from the low-yielding limestone slopes of Parnay that were cropped at 40 hectoliters per hectare that year. Vinified in stainless steel tanks and then aged in barrels, the Coudraies offers a deep and concentrated, spicy and fruity bouquet of dark fruits such as sour cherries and blackcurrant along with mint and dark chocolate. Full-bodied, round and intense on the palate, this is a substantial, dense and generous but structured Cabernet with very intense and juicy fruit, good mineral freshness, spicy tannins and a long and intense, very promising finish that is still a little astringent.”
Vinous 92 points “While light in body, the 2020 Les Coudraies is a seductive style that enters with a certain amount of juicy fat and then pow! It reveals itself fully in its salty, taut and firm with a limestone-derived freshness and chalky texture. You can expect excellent purity of fruit, transparency and a certain delicacy as it floats through the mouth which is surprising when you find out the alcohol is 14%. It’s really rather good if you like your wines precise and taut and considering it’s only the second vintage from this former business consultant. It’s one to watch.”

Domaine des Closiers Saumur-Champigny ‘Les Closiers’, Loire 2020 750ml $33 special, 21 bottles
John Gilman 92 points “Anatole de la Brosse purchased this estate in 2018 and has Nady Foucault as one of his consultants! Monsieur de la Brosse’s first vintage at Domaine des Closiers was the following year of 2019. Monsieur de la Brosse’s les Closiers bottling is his entry level wine, aged in tank for six to eight months prior to bottling and crafted to be more immediately accessible than his other two red wine cuvées, les Coudraies and les Trezelliêres. The combination of the extremely high quality of the wines here and Nady Foucault’s participation on a consulting basis have quickly given the estate the moniker of the “next Clos Rougeard”. The 2020 les Closiers bottling comes in at an even thirteen percent octane in this warm summer and offers up a beautifully refined nose of red and black cherries, tobacco leaf, chalky soil tones, cigar ash and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and seamlessly balanced, with a good core, fine transparency and grip and a long, moderately tannic and complex finish. This is a lovely bottle that is approachable out of the blocks, but really deserves at least a few years’ worth of bottle age to allow its secondary layers of complexity to emerge. 92+”
Wine Advocate 92 points “The 2020 Saumur Champigny Les Closiers comes from Cabernet Franc plots cultivated on the limestone hillsides of Parnay. Vinified and matured in stainless steel vats, the Closiers reveals an intense but pure and refreshing bouquet of perfectly ripe red and dark fruits such as elderberries, blackcurrant, blueberries and blackberries as well as mulberries. Generous and gentle on the palate, this is a fruit-intense, very charming and juicy, wonderfully floral and delicate red with perfect ripeness but the lightness and finesse of a Saumur Champigny. The finish is pure and fleshy and reveals fine and stimulating tannins. It’s impossible not to love this 2020 that was macerated for a month and then aged in vats for approximately 10 months. Nothing added here apart from small quantities of sulfur dioxide.”

 

We’re lucky to have secured six bottles of the highly sought after 2019 Highest Beauty Cabernet Sauvignon produced by To Kalon Vineyard Co. in Oakville, California, the heart of Napa Valley. We expect them to arrive this Friday December 23, 2022. Secure a bottle now before they’re sold out!
 
To Kalon Vineyard Co. Highest Beauty Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville 2019 $199 special, only 6 bottles available
James Suckling 98 points “Black olives, blackberries and blackcurrants, as well as asphalt, lead pencil, crushed stone and oyster shell. Full-bodied with chewy and juicy tannins that are spread across the palate. Fuller and more flavorful than the 2018. Plush and dry, velvety texture. This needs at least five years to open. Try after 2027.”
Wine Spectator 97 points “Boasting tiers of cassis, plum, mulberry and black cherry fruit stacked on one another, this towering example relies on purity and focus as much as power, thanks to racy yet deeply embedded acidity as well as enticing violet and iron notes that fill in throughout. Rather than just lingering, the fruit ripples with underlying energy on the lengthy finish. Outright gorgeous. Best from 2024 through 2040. 550 cases made.”