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
$39.00 $21.50
One of the highlights of this great estate is their ability to make wines that are bright and fresh as well as their ability to make big, structured wines that take time in the bottle but have decades ahead. It’s truly rare to have both. Their ‘Barolos’ are easily amongst the top in all of Piedmont, but it’s the super fresh and elegant younger wines that sometimes steal the show.
The 2021 ‘Bricco dei Merli’ is excellent, far beyond what most can get out of Barolo bottlings double and triple today’s price. It’s aged in large, non-toasted Slovonian oak barrels that allow the wine to keep its authenticity, its aromas, and all its notes. It totally sings with high-toned cherry fruit, plum, and even some violet with a fresh minerally taste that is both well-balanced and as silky smooth as one could ever want.
Unsurprisingly, given the pedigree of the property, the winemaking talent, and the fact that you’re getting old-vine Barbera from on top of the hill of a famous vineyard, this one has a big score attached to it. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, the most well-respected publication in the wine world, handed down a 93-point review in which they waxed poetic about this wine.
They called out the “beautifully fruity, almost juicy personality.” As if that weren’t enough, they went on to declare that “This Barbera does not show any of the excesses that can sometimes characterize Barbera when made in less capable hands.” That’s about as strong as a 93-pont review as you’re going to find.
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93 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
The 2021 Barbera d’Alba Bricco dei Merli shows a beautifully fruity, almost juicy personality that paints an authentic portrait of this grape. The Congo winemaking team has worked out its approach to elegant wines. This Barbera does not show any of the excesses, like sourness or too much acidity, that can sometimes characterize Barbera when made in less capable hands.
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.”
Anne Sery describes her Trousse Chemise Cabernets as an ode to the Left Bank and her winemaking roots. It’s a beautiful and fresh Cabernet with aromas that leap from the glass with of black raspberry, violets, and creme de liquor notes. The mouth gives generous amounts of juicy black fruits at the core with hints of baking spice and a smooth, savory finish. This is a terrific partner for just about anything from hard cheese, to poultry, summer salads, you name it!
At J Vineyards, Nicole is nothing short of a magician, making 30 different skus or more each vintage between her Pinots, Chardonnays, and Sparkling wines. For the vineyard’s flagship Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, up to 100 individual small lots are combined to make this great wine. Somehow, the blend is effortless–a quintessential RRV Pinot that has those soaring aromatics, bright red fruits, clove, and nutmeg spice with perfect balance.
The secret to Philippe’s tightly wound, complex Pinot Noir is a combo of ancient vines, natural farming techniques, and low yields. The wines are built to age, with incredible tension and length. And the secret to me securing his other-wordly 2017 old-vine Gevry-Chambertin can be chalked up to a great relationship and over a decade supporting superior Burgundian winemaking. The wine is scary good. The nose is wild, filled with spiced dark raspberries, red flowers, and baking spices. The palate is elegant and racy, with a dynamic tension that runs right through its minute-long finish. This is a high-toned, wound-up Pinot, that is starting to hit its prime and is really turning out to be a ‘must-have’ for true Burgundy lovers.