Take a look through our past articles pertaining to wine, tastings, and events. These will help you become a well-rounded wine-o!If you like what you see here, sign-up for our newsletter!
What sets good wine apart from great? It's a confluence of factors, but the most important element for me is elegance. Elegance is hard to describe, as it's obviously not a specific flavor or scent. Wines of elegance draw you in, they are beguiling. Nothing epitomizes elegance like the wines of Burgundy, and today's Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Paul Pillot are some of the finest examples. Simply put, they are Burgundian elegance at its' very best.
There is a little domaine in Beaujolais which we love every aspect of and buy all we can from every vintage. the wine itself: an old-school, no-nonsense Gamay that can age for decades or be drunk with abandon in its youth. A rare and special combination found in so few wines. Clos de la Roilette, located in the village of Fleurie, covers nine hectares of one of the best slopes in the Beaujolais Crus.
I couldn't be happier to debut Frerejean Frère today. It's not only a wine I adore, but an exclusive cuvée in partnership with my old sommelier friend, Kyle Ridington. Years of travel, networking and hard work culminate in a special, LIMITED release which Kyle helped shape, down to the final blend. His goal is to provide an exceptional Champagne at a sharp price. A rival to the mass-produced, big-brands. Kyle wants everyone to drink Champagne EVERYDAY! And so do we!
Italy does it again! Yet another new red wine discovery that stopped me in my tracks and amazed me with its singularity. Francesca and her husband Roberto Bruna cultivate their tiny 7.5 hectare estate in a river valley just 15km from the Mediterranean. Production is a mere 3000 cases spread over seven different wines. "Pulin" means "last born" in local dialect, as this wine is aged longer than any other Bruna wines and released later. This is their smallest production wine and therefore extremely limited.
For Burgundy nerds like me, watching the climbing prices for bottles from this storied area has been shocking. One of my greatest joys as a buyer is sourcing and discovering wines for the shop that over-deliver. Wines that possess soul and meaning without breaking the bank. The wines of Céline and Laurent Tripoz are one of my most exciting finds of the year. Their wines are everything I adore about Burgundy, without the sticker shock.
Highly sought- after in markets like Paris and New York, we are lucky to even get a limited allocation. So there is a 'deMoor season', but the season is short!
On the fast track to stardom are Cristiano Garella & Giacomo Colombera, who have become one of the region's most well-known producers. These wines are so elegant, so beautiful, they evoke a feeling of majesty that will stick with you long after the bottle is gone. They carry the intensity, depth and flavor of world-class Barolo, yet delivered in a delicate, elegant way.
Laura works about 4.5 hectares organically in the Val do Bibei-Quiroga, a subzone of Ribeira Sacra on the cool Atlantic Coast of Spain. She describes her farming as “agro-ecology with minimal impact.” A light pink color gives way to a delicate floral nose with tart raspberry and blood orange. The palate is vibrant, fresh and distinctly saline. A one-of-a-kind rosé.
These wines look different, taste different, feel different. To put it simply, the wines of Mathieu Deiss are transcendent. He has made it his mission to redefine the wines of Alsace, France's historic northeastern region, an area with a complicated territorial history.
I asked 3-time James Beard award-winning sommelier / author / winemaker, Raj Parr, if he could spare 30 minutes to catch up and talk wine. Since the shop opened, the wines Raj helps to make at Sandhi, Evening Land, Raj Parr Wines, and Domaine de la Côte have always been represented on our shelves. Check out our 30-minute chat covering a wide-range of topics!
Imagine your dream is to make world-class wine from the planet's most tradition-bound, insular region, but you're a young couple with no inheritance and no historic bloodline. But that's just what Matt Chittick and Camille Thiriet did. Only in its third vintage! Sourced from a 50-year-old, organically farmed vines. This is Pinot at its purest.
This week we've put together the perfect rosé starter pack. Fresh, lively and unapologetically fun, these wines are sure to keep your spirits high and your hearts warm. A rosé deal you won't want to miss! Cheers to Spring and brighter times ahead!
A large part of this revolution is the revival of old-vine Garnacha hailing from Sierra de Gredos, just west of Madrid. A rugged, mountainous region where the soils are rich in granite. Over the past decade, a group of intrepid, young winemakers have dedicated themselves to rediscovering and reinvigorating the old bush-vine Garnacha here.
What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than sipping your way through one of Italy's most fascinating (and under-appreciated) regions. Please join us in welcoming Kellogg Selections as Jeff pours a massive selection of wines from Abruzzo's deFermo winery.
We have decided to highlight a few of Monarch's favorite restaurants in town that allow you to bring your own wine. A boon for wine lovers! These BYO friendly spots give us the opportunity to eat their delicious food and drink exactly what we want along side of it. We've paired a couple of wines we feel compliment each restaurant's cuisine perfectly.
A Morgon made by one of Beaujolais' rising stars. I'm thrilled to offer the only case of Kevin Descombes, Morgon 'Vieilles Vignes' 2016 in South Carolina. True old-vine Gamay grown on steep granitic slopes. Classic Beaujolais winemaking and extended aging in used Burgundy barrels. A rare, late release Morgon.
Few wines so viscerally evoke a sense of terroir like those situated on the steep, seaside slopes of Sicily's famed volcano, Mt. Etna. Today we feature the standard bearer of this fascinating landscape, Giuseppi Benanti. Transparent, precise and crystalline these wines are some of the most beautifully crafted wines coming out of Italy today.
Proprietress Principessa Coralia Pignatelli della Leonessa and her husband first bought the property in 1968. To this day she crafts some of the most traditional, classic and elegant wines anywhere in the world: soulful, distinctive, long-lived, and delicious. Proof that Sangiovese can rise to greatness when grown in the right place.
This week we're highlighting some of our favorite pink bubbles, crafted by a few of our most cherished winemaking lovebirds! From their hearts to yours, this Valentine's Day foursome is PACKED with LOVE.
Join us in welcoming Karen Ulrich, whose company is responsible for importing some of the most exciting natural wines to hit our shores! She'll be pouring, chatting and drinking her way through a line-up of some of her portfolio's stand-outs. Drop-in and hang out anytime between 5:30 - 7p. It's free AND we'll have some discounts and day-of specials too!