Translation missing: en.André Clouet Champagne Tasting 7th December 3pm-6pm + Sherry + Tenuta San Guido: André Clouet Champagne Tasting 7th December 3pm-6pm + Sherry + Tenuta San Guido
André Clouet Tasting
Saturday 7th
3pm-6pm
Come down to the store this Saturday for a tasting of the 2 bottles of Champagne that we are running the excellent Christmas promotion on.
André Clouet is an excellent grower Champagne producer based in the Grand Cru village of Bouzy, specialising in Pinot Noir dominant expressions. These are the wines that we'll be pouring on Saturday:
André Clouet Silver Brut Nature
André Clouet Grande Reserve
The 'Silver' is a 100% pure expression of Bouzy Pinot Noir without dosage and is blend of 65% base wine that spends 36 months on lees and 35% reserve wines that are 2-5 years old that have been stored in tank. The estate refers to this one as "fresh powder" due to it's powdery fine bubbles and glacial texture. The 'Grande Reserve' is also 100% Pinot Noir but sees a small dosage of 4.8-5.6g/L just to add some more succulence to the body and consists of a similar blend to the previous wine but with a 70/30 split instead.
We used to sell these wines for $97/bottle, now we are selling them for a ridiculous $78.20/bottle (no further discounts). This is the perfect chance to try these yourself and then stock up for Christmas before it's too late. Don't miss out on these!Sherry
Summer is finally upon us which means so is Sherry season. Sherry is the wonderful fortified wine from southern Spain that comes in a range of styles - aged biologically or oxidatively from the labyrinths of solera systems. Sherry is always the most difficult topic to completely wrap your head around in the wine world due to the number of different styles and how they're made so we'll just keep it short and simple here.
All Sherry is made from either Palomino, Mosacatel of Pedro Ximenez (PX) grapes, spends some amount of time being transferred through different butts (barrels) of a solera system and is fortified with a neutral grape spirit. We will only highlight the fresher styles of Sherry here for the sake of summer drinking. Fino is the driest and youngest of all Sherries (3-5 years old). The newly pressed wine is fortified up to 15% where a layer of protective yeast forms within the 3/4 filled barrels. This layer of yeast not only protects the wine from becoming oxidized, it also eats all the sugar in the wine, hence the bone dryness. Manzanilla is the same but can only come from Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Amontillado starts off as a Fino or Manzanilla for 3-5 years and is then fortified up to 18% and receives further oxidative ageing in barrel before bottling, whereas Oloroso is wine from the second pressing that is fortified up to 18% and oxidatively aged.
These sexy Sherries are the perfect accompaniment to some salty seafood and cheese this summer. Pick some of these up before we sell out!Tenuta San Guido
Tenuta San Guido is the life's work of one of the most influential people in the history of Italian wine - Mario Incisa della Rochetta, the man behind the revolutionary Sassicaia. Mario recognised the similarities between this historic vineyard in Tuscany's Bolgheri called Castiglioncello di Bolgheri and the soils of Grave on Bordeaux's left bank. Mario split from Italian wine tradition and planted to french varieties, primarily from Bordeaux and ended up producing one of the most important wines of the 20th century.
The estate is a remarkable site with unique terroir that made everything possible for producing some of the greatest wines in the world. The soil, partially clayey, located at an altitude between 60 and 400 metres above sea level, with a west/south-west exposure, show different and composite morphological characteristics, with a strong presence of limestone in areas rich in alberese, gabbro and stone. The climate has its own peculiarities: the embrace of hills stretching from Bibbona to Castagneto protects the vineyards and olive groves from north-easterly winds, while in summer, this corridor is cooled by sea breezes. The energy and light from the sun are reflected into the sea, irradiating the hills which holds back the sea breeze and generates refreshing moisture - this microclimate characterises Tenuta San Guido. The estate is also home to many other great things such as a stud farm responsible for producing a rare racing breed of horse known as Dormello-Olgiata as well as a wildlife refuge of waterbirds and marshes.
We have already sold our limited bottles of Sassicaia, although we still have plenty of their "entry-level" offering as well as their second wine. The '22 'Le Difese' is a blend of both Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese from a stoney vineyard with some limestone and clay with west/southwest aspect at 100-300m above sea level. This wine is smooth, fresh and much easier to drink on release than its more expensive counterparts. We have a few bottles of the '22 'Bolgheri Guidalberto' which is more similar in style to the Sassicaia being a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot aged in 225L barriques with use of 40% new wood, 40% second passage wood and 20% third and fourth passages wood, in equal proportion. This is slightly more approachable than Sassicaia as well which usually needs much more time before it is ready to drink. This is a great chance to try some of the more affordable wines from one of Italy's greatest estates. Don't miss out!