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
$25.00 $21.00
If you’re looking for one of the biggest and best names in Spain, there is one producer that has been at the top of the list for over a century. That would be the folks over at CVNE.
As Vinous definitely put it, “[CVNE] is amongst the region’s top producers up and down the range. Their entry level bottlings offer insane values and unrivaled class and precision in Spanish winemaking.”
The Compañía Vinícola del Norte del España (Northern Spain Wine Company, in English) has been nothing short of a force since forever, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down.
Recently, they expanded their already treasured holdings in a big way when they purchased Antonio Banderas’ Villalba winery from Ribera del Duero. With the acquisition, they started a new project they called ‘Bela’ to separate it from their Rioja projects. The name is an homage to the great-grandmother of the current CVNE generation, Sofia Real de Asua.
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92 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
The bread-and-butter wine here is the 2021 Bela, produced with Tempranillo from the village of Villalba de Duero (mentioned on the label), from sandy and clay rich soils on limestone mother rock that delivers powerful but not overripe wines with a short-ish élevage to achieve a fine-boned and fresh wine. The grapes were picked between October 1st and 25th, mostly Tempranillo but some 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot too, and it matured in French oak barrels for nine months. The wine has 14.3% alcohol, a pH of 3.57 and close to five grams of acidity, textbook parameters from the zone and textbook profile of classical Ribera; it’s ripe without excess, with very integrated oak and a velvety palate with silky tannins. It reminds me of the historical wines from the early 1990s, Valribeño and so on, with some rusticity but very honest and characterful. With time in the glass, it develops a precise note of licorice intermixed with berry fruit and some spices and herbs. They feel this is the wine they wanted to produce from the beginning; they consider it their best vintage to date irrespective of the style of the year, with 2019 more powerful, 2020 more elegant and this 2021 something in between.
#79 Wine of the Year, Wine Spectator (2023 Top 100)
An elegant red, with fine tannins enmeshed with flavors of pureed raspberry and black plum reduction, soft fig, thyme and lavender accents, while a minerally underpinning echoes on the finish.
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100 Pts, International Wine Report – 98 Pts, Parker’s Wine Advocate – 98 Pts, James Suckling
“The 2020 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is truly sensational. It begins with striking aromas of fresh blackberries, blueberries and dark plums that are laced with fresh spring florals, mocha, sweet exotic spices, graphite and gravel nuances all taking shape. The palate is full-bodied and displays a remarkable combination of power and elegance throughout. This is beautifully structured and extremely expressive, as it possesses outstanding depth and concentration all they way through the long, finessed finish. Year after year, the Columbia Valley Cabernet is one of the most impressive wines, and there is no exception here, as it combines all the wonderful qualities of the 2020 vintage from Quilceda Creek into one expression. This is fantastic already and readers will be in for a real treat, as this simply marvelous wine will continue to deliver the goods for years to come.”
The 2021 Napa Valley East side Cuvee is an instant classic. From the first whiff to the moment it hits the lips, its clear that this is a fabulously concentrated, serious wine: black in color, and featuring aromas of cassis, cedar and chocolate-tinged purple fruit. The mouthfeel is plush and voluptuous with a firm, solid finish that speaks to its potential for considerable aging.
93 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate – 93 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
“Vignon’s 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape delivers even more than I hoped for based on a previous sample. Hints of garrigue, roses, cherries and raspberries appear on the nose, while the palate is full-bodied, silky and long, with an intense, almost briny finish. The assemblage is 50% Grenache, 10% each Mourvèdre and Syrah, plus smaller proportions of seven other permitted varieties, while the élevage includes foudres, demi-muids, concrete and wooden tanks, plus terracotta amphorae.”
90 Points, James Suckling
Damien has crafted a delicious Médoc, full of character with dense black currant and cherry fruit, cedar, tobacco and wonderful complexity. It’s silky complexion is what pushes it over the edge (and, of course, the price!) It doesn’t hurt that it comes from a 95-point Left Bank vintage that the Wine Advocate declared, “outstanding.”
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