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
$17.00 $14.95
While the phenomenal Sangiovese producer Zerbina, is still small and family-run, I’m afraid I won’t be able to consider it as off the radar for much longer. After all, almost every bottle goes direct to the most elite restaurants in the country, their Gambero Rosso is a perennial ‘Tre Bicchieri’ award winner (some sort of record number of times in a row), and the press has caught on finally. I fear that the minuscule amount of her wine that does make it stateside will be cut and prices are bound to catch up.
The transformation of a very good winery to one of the best in all of Italy is overwhelmingly the work of the uber-talented owner/winemaker Cristina Geminani. After studying in Bordeaux – under Denis Dubourdieu, she returned and transformed not just the vineyard practices at Zerbina but arguably throughout the wider Italian Sangiovese landscape.
The Gambero Rosso described it as follows: “Sometimes the impact of a winery is so positive that it enriches a whole area with its quality, consistency and continuity. This is true of Fattoria Zerbina…”
Robert Parker, himself, said “I occasionally wonder what I should write about the wines of Cristina Geminani, the owner-winemaker of this estate, one of the most talented women in Italian wine…and about the quality of the wines there is little to discuss – this is the leading estate in Emilia-Romagna, has been so for fifteen years, and it cannot be ignored.”
Out of stock
98 Points, James Suckling #36 Top US Wine of the Year – 97 Points, Decanter
In 2015, the last of four consecutive drought years and one of Napa’s great vintages over the past few decades, it’sno surprise that one of Napa’s all-time great wineries turned in a flawless bottling from the legendary Martha’s Vineyard. Decanter absolutely gushed, giving it 97 points and declaring, “no Cabernet has the aromatic profile of Martha’s. They would even go so far to say, “There isn’t a more definitive Cabernet Sauvignon in the world, at any price.” James Suckling would go a step further in the points department giving the wine a 98, but if Wine Enthusiast had got their hands on it, this would be a 100-point wine yet again. Just 30 bottles of Napa winemaking history up for grabs today.
From two New Jersey natives comes something special from Napa Valley. First the Faustini’s bought grapes from the historic Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard for their first test batch. Next they brought in Opus One & Clos du Val alum Kian Tavakoli to head up the winemaking. Throw in an outrageously good 2016 vintage in Napa and what you have is the recipe for a knockout wine that is starting to come into its own and will be great for the next 10-20 years!
Lydia’s 2020 HCN is drop dead gorgeous– old-school Red Burgundy with fine aromatics, crunchy, juicy fruit and a sharp vibrancy that makes it just sing with food. Made from super old vines and a low yield with no new oak in the aging process, the wine is a joy to drink– a bowl full of berries on the nose, high-toned, racy fruit that has been touched by a limestone mineral component in the mid-palate with the structure and length that has become the hallmark of Cornu-Camus wines. It’s drinking fantastically now and should be all the way thru 2030.
The Tonelli family are royalty in this region, with four generations of grape growers leading the way and even establishing the local D.O.C. Their 2020 Ponente is 100% Sangiovese and is an absolutely incredible wine for the price. Less than $20/bottle for fleshed out, high-toned, zipped up Sangiovese? Count me in. It screams for pizza or summer salads, squash or a charcuterie plate. It’s about to be one of your new favorites.
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