Orders are available for pick-up at Restaurant Nicholas at 160 Route 35 South Red Bank, NJ 07701 during the following times:
Monday: 9:30-3:30; Tuesday – Friday: 9:15am – 9:00pm; Saturday: 11:00am – 9:00pm; Sunday: Closed
$24.00 $19.75
When your dad is Nicolas Catena, the grandfather of Argentinian wine and the most respected man in the industry, it’s easy to get a leg up and easily establish your own brand. Just slap the family name on the label.
But Ernesto Catena didn’t want people to buy his wine just because his last name was Catena– he wanted them to buy a wine they thought was truly great – even beautiful. So he started his winery as a clandestine project and kept almost every detail secret from prying eyes.
Sure, he was still trained by the best winemaker in the country, with all the family secrets passed down and with extra care and love given to his sons in their tours of the vineyards. But Ernesto is an artist– so it was important that he do his own thing, and above all else to do it for its own sake, its own inherent beauty.
Alma Negra or “black soul” was started like all great artistic endeavors – by throwing out all the rules. Ernesto found inspiration in the farming traditions of the Mayans and Incas with pre-Colombian structures, and leveraged organic and biodynamic practices. He wouldn’t give the usual metrics not required by law. No wood treatment. No brix at harvest. No varietal breakdown.
He simply labeled the wines Misterioso and each vintage he created one cuvee of each color of his wines: red, white, brut rose, and, of course, orange. Each was blended the old fashion way– without measurements or numbers but rather with all the senses.
Out of stock
94 Points, James Suckling
This shows a compressed palate of blackberries and licorice with
hints of currants. Full-bodied. Svelte. So delicious to drink now,
but will improve with age. Cabernet franc, bonarda and malbec.
Enjoy now or hold in your cellar.
The second year of this elegant, silky smooth Willamette Valley Pinot Noir crafted by Bertrand de Villane of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti fame. Again it comes from the gorgeous Winter’s Hill Estate about 700 feet above sea level in the Dundee Hills. All indications are that the 2019 is going to be one of the best for Pinot Noir since 1991. A flawless summer that benefited from very little rain mixed with cool, breezy summer nights. With a round, supple mouthfeel and a sturdy backbone this will age gracefully for a decade plus. Bertrand’s wines just have a signature stamp that is unmistakably his. This is phenomenal.
90 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Xavier Vignon’s brand spanking new CDR 100% is a thing of beauty. It’s already got a blessing from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate who described this wine as, “Full-bodied, concentrated and supple”. This is a gorgeous and intricate blend that features all of the Southern Rhone appellations. This year, the blend was 40% Grenache, 25% Mourvedre, 15% Syrah, 7% Cinsault, 7% Marselan, 6% Terret Noir. Nobody can do it like the mad scientist, Xavier Vignon.
If you’ve never had one of José Manuel Martínez’s wines, you’re in for an absolute treat. Jose’s estate, Couselo is located in the northern tip of Portugal in Rias Baixas. It’s a coastal wine, sourced from old and savvy Albariño vines. It’s a terrific wine that mixes wonderful stony minerality with a creamy, long finish that makes it both fantastic with anything from the sea but also just as good with a pre-meal apertif. There’s no better under $25 Labor Day white.
98 Pts, Jeb Dunnuck – 96 Pts, Vinous – 95 Pts, Decanter – 95 Pts, Wine Spectator
“The 2016 Poggio al Granchio Brunello di Montalcino is aromatically expressive of perfectly ripe cherry, sweet herbs, dried flowers, and stony earth. There is generous purity of fruit on the palate, with mineral-rich earth, and it had the most balanced and harmonious structure in the lineup on this tasting, with present but fine-grained tannin. I love this wine for its darker mineral edge in counterpoint with crunchy and ripe fruit. It is a super-pleasurable wine right out of the gate and will continue to be so over the next 20 or more years”
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