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
$18.00 $15.75
The best part about Spanish wines is that in some ways you get your pick of the litter. With Italian and French wines, and even domestically, you’re competing with tons of people for the best product. But, while the wine world still familiarizes itself with Spanish wines beyond Rioja, we can cherry pick the very best deals. Like today…
‘La Xara’ from the Ponce family is a sensationally good $15/bottle of wine. I mean at that price, it’s whatever is slightly above sensational. The Ponce family are kings in Central Spain with 55 hectares spanning a number of different villages.
Parker’s Wine Advocate recently called them ‘one of the leading producers in Central Spain’ when they tasted through the latest releases and after trying a few of their wines, I can see why they receive such strong accolades. These guys are not messing around.
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93 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
The 2021 La Xara is the latest bottled vintage of their pure Garnacha from a vineyard that benefited from the extra rain from the year and ripened slowly to perfection. They think they achieved more Garnacha typicity here but keeping the freshness and fluidity. It’s only 12.5% alcohol and has a mellow 3.6 pH and five grams of acidity. The full clusters fermented in 4,500-liter oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in 600-liter barrel and 10,000-liter oak vats with the fine lees for seven months. This is austere and serious, with a reticent nose, contained ripeness and a sharp and mineral palate more in the style of a Garnacha from Gredos.
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”
90 Points, Wine Enthusiast – 90 Points, Decanter
Arguably their best quality to price wine is the Chianti Classico. It’s a bold and incredibly expressive Sangiovese that blends together a number of different parcels from around the estate. It’s got a beautiful silky smooth center with bright red fruits and even a tad of rusticity. A wine like this was just made to be enjoyed at the dinner table. With already a 90-point review from both Decanter and Wine Enthusiast, I’m assuming Antonio Galloni and company will come in with similar high praise, but I couldn’t wait around.
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.
96 Points, Vinous
This is a gorgeous Estate Cabernet blend- richly aromatic with currents, plums, hint of violets and savory notes of cedar. At this young age it is showing all the depth of flavor and textural richness that are hallmarks of Diamond Mountain and Dyer Vineyard. It’s a classic vintage, hitting all the notes that you have come to expect from Dyer and Diamond Mountain. The grapes are grown in our 2.3 acre Diamond Mountain Vineyard in the Napa Valley.
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