CELLAR SELECTIONS

Recognized internationally as one of Campania’s top wineries, the De Conciliis estate is positioned in the heart of Cilento, the area comprising the central and southern portions of the province of Salerno. Blessed with one of Italy’s most desirable climates, the family grows its Aglianico on high-altitude vineyards facing south-west towards the Mediterranean. The wine is aged for a year in barriques, a year in tonneaux, six months in steel and a further six in the bottle before its release. The result is a full-bodied, modern expression of southern Italy’s signature grape. Bruno De Conciliis and his family are huge jazz fans, and are quick to make connections between the art of music and winemaking: “Jazz music is our way of making wine,” they say. “We improvise the melodies of the grapes and make a unique performance of every harvest.” Indeed, Naima is a direct reference to the John Coltrane composition of the same name, written for his then wife, Juanita Naima Grubb. The track can be found on the sax legend’s groundbreaking 1959 album Giant Steps (Atlantic). “Naima” and Naima: is there no greater combo?
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The chalky, clayey Rabaja vineyard in the commune of Barbaresco faces southwest. The harvest, from 35-year-old vines, took place in mid-October.
Winemaker Mario Andrion macerated the fruit in stainless steel for 25 days, submerging the cap towards the end. After 26 months in large oak casks, the
wine spends 8 months in steel tanks. Bottled without filtration, it is cellared 2 years before release. Learn More

Mario Andrion represents a new generation of Langhe winemakers who resist the rigid traditional/modern categorization that has dogged Barolo and Barbaresco for decades. Like many of his contemporaries, he is willing to use advances in viticulture and vinification to produce wines that vibrantly express varietal character and reflect the top quality of the estate's vineyard sites while requiring minimal technical intervention. Castello di Verduno's classic Barbaresco is from one of the zone's most famous and coveted vineyards, Rabaja, and is known for it's longevity and it's distinct earthiness. Low-yields and minimalist intervention in the cellar create a traditional-style Barbaresco with impressive aging potential and classic tar and rose petal flavors. Learn More

91 points Wine Spectator: "Gorgeous aromas of strawberry, raspberry and flowers. Full-bodied, with soft tannins and a long, velvety finish. Beautiful and rich. Balanced. Best after 2008." (12/06) 90 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "The 2001 Barbaresco Riserva Pora is perhaps the least refined of these wines. It is a deeply expressive, masculine Barbaresco that presents a wilder, more animalistic expression of Nebbiolo, with underlying notes of macerated cherries, licorice, tar and earthiness and a bold personality defined by its somewhat unpolished tannins. It is a little rough around the edges, but beautiful in its rusticity. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2016." Learn More

The grapes for Castello di Verduno’s Faset are sourced from a small, estate-owned (just-under one hectare) growing site in the famed Faset cru of Barbaresco, known for its sometimes “masculine” expression in the otherwise “feminine” Barbaresco appellation. As with all of Castello di Verduno’s wines, the winemaker carries out 100% traditional vinification for this powerful wine: extended maceration and natural fermentation is followed by aging in traditional large oak barrels. Learn More

The chalky, clayey Rabaja vineyard in the commune of Barbaresco faces southwest. The harvest, from 35-year-old vines, took place in mid-October.
Winemaker Mario Andrion macerated the fruit in stainless steel for 25 days, submerging the cap towards the end. After 26 months in large oak casks, the
wine spends 8 months in steel tanks. Bottled without filtration, it is cellared 2 years before release. Learn More

Clos Du Val’s flagship estate wine, the 2006 Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon is deep garnet in color with vibrant aromas of ripe black fruit and a hint of dried herbs, mocha coffee and toast. The wine has a rich, powerful entry, and concentrated mid-palate, filling the mouth with intense black fruit and spice. With its velvety-smooth tannins and elegant structure, this Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic expression of Stags Leap District terroir. The finish is long and lingering. Enjoy now or cellar for at least 20+ years. Learn More

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Reclusive and elusive winemaker Edoardo Valentini gave up a career in law to produce some of the most sought-after wines in Italy. Notoriously secretive of his methods, following his death in 2006 his son Francesco has ensured that the family legacy lives on. Valentini’s Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is especially rare in that it is a rosé boasting the finesse of a serious red. And it ages like one too: '98 and '00 vintages of this wine are currently in excellent shape and drinking beautifully. This tart and vibrant wine has all the dry richness and crisp acidity of Valentini’s Trebbiano. Light ruby in color, it has aromas and flavors of berry and spice, floral notes and a long finish. Learn More

Reclusive and elusive winemaker Edoardo Valentini gave up a career in law to produce some of the most sought-after wines in Italy. Notoriously secretive of his methods, following his death in 2006 his son Francesco has ensured that the family legacy lives on. Valentini’s Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is especially rare in that it is a rosé boasting the finesse of a serious red. And it ages like one too: '98 and '00 vintages of this wine are currently in excellent shape and drinking beautifully. This tart and vibrant wine has all the dry richness and crisp acidity of Valentini’s Trebbiano. Light ruby in color, it has aromas and flavors of berry and spice, floral notes and a long finish. Learn More

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Yves Gangloff arrived to Condrieu in the Northen Rhône thirty years ago, buying and renting small patches of vineyard until he was able to release his first wines in the mid 1990s. Now, with the spectacular quality and style of his wines, and the extremely limited production, he’s one of the stars of the Côte Rôtie.

La Barbarine is made from 92% Syrah (the remainder is Viognier) grown on steep hillsides in the southern sector of Côte Rôtie at Tupin, Mollard and Combard, where labor must be carried out by hand. This is the "Côte Blonde" so named after the granite soil, which gives a more elegant, lighter, finessed wine than the schist in the "Côte Brune". The wine is fermented in stainless steel and aged for almost two years in small oak barrels of various age. The resulting wine offers richly perfumed aromas of cassis, pepper, date and coffee. Learn More

The Mastroberardino family's involvement in winemaking can be traced back to the 1700s. Today, three centuries and ten generations later, Mastroberardino has grown to become one of Campania's most established winemaking estates. This Taurasi 1998 Radici Riserva is 100% Aglianico aged for thirty months in French and Slavonian oak barrels.
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"Torbido is produced only in extraordinary years. It is fermented in the classical style with a maceration of 20 – 25 days. We don’t use selected yeasts nor automatic control of temperature. With over pumping or pushing down of the treber head all 3 – 4 hours we achieve a maximum extraction of colour and aroma.

After the fermentation and a short reposal in an inox steel tank the wine is transfered to barrels of 600 litres (French oak, Allier and Tronçais, medium toast). Only part of the barrels is new each year replacing others which don’t fulfil our requirements any more. There it stays 30 – 36 months with some movements to support the natural clarifying process by sedimentation. It is bottled without filtering. After at least two years of riposal in the bottle we start selling it." Learn More

Widely regarded as Abruzzo’s greatest winemaker, Edoardo Valentini produced wine for sale from the 1956 vintage until his death in 2006 at age 72. During that half-century his renown among fans of fine Italian wines grew as bottles of his Montepulciano, Cerasuolo and Trebbiano found their way onto tables and into tastings all over the world. His unique approach to handling vines that were thought inferior by many in the wine community combined with his eccentric personality caused his legend to grow but it was the excellence in bottle that really solidified his reputation as one of Italy’s great craftsmen of natural wines. His Trebbiano unfolds with layers of complex herbal and fruit character. It is truly one of a kind. Learn More

Widely regarded as Abruzzo’s greatest winemaker, Edoardo Valentini produced wine for sale from the 1956 vintage until his death in 2006 at age 72. During that half-century his renown among fans of fine Italian wines grew as bottles of his Montepulciano, Cerasuolo and Trebbiano found their way onto tables and into tastings all over the world. His unique approach to handling vines that were thought inferior by many in the wine community combined with his eccentric personality caused his legend to grow but it was the excellence in bottle that really solidified his reputation as one of Italy’s great craftsmen of natural wines. His Trebbiano unfolds with layers of complex herbal and fruit character. It is truly one of a kind. Learn More

This cru Brunello is made from fruit sourced from the "Schiena d'Asino" (donkey's back), a south-eastern facing, one-hectare site that takes its name from its unusual shape. The vines are on average thirty-five years old and less-densely planted. As a result Mastrojanni's oldest vineyard is also its lowest yielding: the wine isn't released every year and of the 2004 vintage only 4,896 bottles left the winery. The wine is aged in 15-hectoliter Allier oak barrels for three-and-a-half years and in the bottle for between nine months to a year. This tremendous vintage is already drinking superbly, but will happily age for several years to come. Learn More

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Castello dei Rampolla cemented its reputation as a leading producer of SuperTuscans with this silky blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese. Winemaking legend Giacomo Tachis knows well the potential power in the soils of Panzano in the heart of Chianti Classico and wields this knowledge with impressive finesse.
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