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
$30.00 $19.99
The Dave Phinney story is one of the most impressive stories in all of wine. His plight is very uncommon. Most winemakers don’t build multiple multi-million dollar brands. But Dave Phinney has defied logic at every stop along the way and he’s the type of guy you should never bet against.
Dave’s first gig in wine came in 1997 as a harvest intern at Robert Mondavi. Fully infatuated with the industry from his year there, he decided to take a wildly unconventional route by immediately starting his own project the very next year, using only two tons of Zinfandel that he sourced and launched Orin Swift Cellars. The rest as they say is history.
Deciding he’d focus more on non-Cabernet varietals, Phinney’s blends immediately took off, and he started to develop a following. Two of his brands, ‘The Prisoner’ and Saldo would become MASSIVE with the former earning Wine Spectator Top 100 honors 3 years in a row and Dave would eventually sell the two to the owners of Quintessa for a rumored $40 million to pursue a new project that the wine world eagerly anticipated: Department 66.
It started when Dave got a tip from a French couple he was friends with that said they had found a truly remarkable place to grow wine in the South of France right near the Spanish border. Dave didn’t hesitate a second and immediately traveled the next day, arriving in the darkness of night.
When he woke up and looked out the window he saw one of the oldest, most insane vineyards he ever laid eyes on atop the steep slopes of the Pyrénées-Orientales mountain range. He agreed to buy 40 acres of the incredible old-grenache vineyard right on the spot.
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Winemaker Kian Tavakoli (Opus One, Clos du Val) continues to excel even while others struggle. In 2017, he still managed to deliver a beautiful and opulent Napa Valley Cabernet that’s both dark and juicy. The wine hails from both Coombsville and Rutherford, giving it distinct characteristics and a lot of drive. Deep ruby to the rim with excellent concentration, notes of Bing cherries, raspberry pie and hints of vanilla. On the palate, big wonderfully jammy fruit with young but impressive tannins and great length. The finish leaves notes of black cherry, and baked blueberry pie. Fantastic Napa value.
Winemaker Patrick Brunet’s tiny Domaine Robert estate consists of 50-60 year old vines, deeply rooted in the granitic soils of Fleurie. What I love about him is that every vintage brings something new but it consistently stays excellent. For his 2022 cuvee, Patrick produced a concentrated, structured Beaujolais that’s roaring out of the gates but with the bones to improve in the bottle over the next decade. This is always a fantastic bottle to have around.
95 Points, Jeb Dunnuck – 95 Points, Lisa Perotti-Brown
The oft 100-point winemaker, Jayson Woodbridge had this to say when tasting his 2021 ‘Stargazing’ Sonoma Pinot: “The wine is vibrant and complex with subtle dark fruits and berries, grandmother’s cherry pie, minerals, and a slight touch of rain-soaked earth, intertwined with a balance and very pleasing easy-going luxury. Should have been priced higher but what the hell.” I have no doubt this clerical error will be addressed in the vintages moving forward. But for now, this is a cult Pinot for under $100/bottle.
2016 happens to be one of the highest rated ever (98pts, Wine Spectator) so it was no surprise that this year’s made the cut. The 2016 Riserva which was just released, is an intense version steeped in complex layers of flavor. It’s compact and well built with a touch of leather that compliments dark cherries, fresh licorice and a hint of cocoa all framed on a mineral backbone.
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