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.
The newly released Fiancetto Howell Mt. Cabernet is a dream – a gorgeous, elegant dark-fruited Cabernet Sauvignon that is it picks up time in the glass, unfurls its full signature of cedar laced cassis nose and mid palate of chocolate-covered cherries and savory spices. Only four palates of this (224 cases) were made off a gorgeous, sprawling high elevation spot 1500 feet above sea level. It’s full and plush and finishes fresh and oh so long. The price is crazy for Howell Mountain Cabernet but that’s what Ry Richards and Fiancetto is all about.
With seemingly infinite access to some of the absolute very best vineyards in the most choice AVAs in the valley, the Wagner’s set out to make Quilt– a Cabernet blend from a patchwork of the top sites in Napa (Oakville, St Helena, Atlas Peak, Coombsville, Calistoga, and Howell Mountain.) The brand new 2021 edition is a beauty – deeply concentrated, rich and a truly show stopping Cabernet. It’s a dark, hedonistic blend that combines elegance with power and pairs the two together effortlessly.
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.”
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.