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
$20.00 $16.00
Doglia’s Barbera has been a quiet staple of Nicholas Wines for years. I don’t often feature it in an email. I don’t have to. So many of you have tasted it at the restaurant or at the old walkaround tastings…and once someone tastes it, they always order it. Again and again and again. For many of you, it’s become your house.
But here’s why I can never sit still. Almost always, eventually, the masses catch up. Last year it was Herve Fabre and his Lifetime Achievement award from the International Wine Cellar. This year, it’s our friend Gianni Doglia winning the Italian Wine Bible’s (Gambero Rosso) highest honor: Winemaker of the Year.
The accolade has never been more deserved. Few farmers in Italy work harder than Gianni does. Back during my Spring visit in 2015, upon my arrival at 9pm at night, I found him pruning his steep Asti Vineyard by flashlight. He naturally farms the tiny estate in the picturesque hamlet of Castagnole Lanze. His Barbera is the product of 50 year old vines, vinified without oak to preserve its incredible fruit.
The soil is special, sandy and laden with limestone, perfect for big, fruity varieties like Barbera. The wine is black in color to the core, bright and wonderfully aromatic, it’s an organic, juicy red wine that is flat-out epic.
Out of stock
The next great Big Red in the long line from the Wagner family of Caymus fame. Like the previous Quilt offerings, this represents Joe Wagner’s pick of the litter of available vineyard sources that puts his inimitable blending abilities into play. In a vintage as easy and as heralded as 2021, the only difficulty the Wagners had was finding things they didn’t like. So explosive and juicy on the palate with a lush mouthfeel and silky smooth tannins. A winner for Napa and Big Red fans alike.
100 Pts, Lisa Perotti-Brown (Wine Independent) – 98 Pts, James Suckling – 98 Pts, Parker’s Wine Advocate
“Deep garnet-purple colored, the nose slowly unfurls to unveil beguiling floral notes of candied violets and rose oil over a core of creme de cassis, blackberry pie, and plum preserves, giving way to notions of licorice, Indian spices, iron ore, and crushed rocks. Full-bodied, the palate is jam-packed with taut, muscular black fruit layers, intertwined with gorgeous floral and exotic spice accents, and framed by firm, finely grained tannins with seamless freshness, finishing long and mineral-laced. Tightly coiled with so much latent energy waiting to explode, this is a spectacular expression of the vintage and Napanook vineyard. Still tightly coiled, give it a good 6-7 years in the cellar before broaching, and allow it a few hours in a decanter if consumed before 2032.”
94 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
This is a historic estate that is one of the best and oldest in the region and arguably the first to bottle their own estate CDP. Their newly released 2020 Chateauneuf du Pape is a total gem – a seamless blend of mainly Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah with a little Cinsault blended in. Wine Spectator called the wine, “silky” and elegant and Jeb Dunnuck took it up a step further when he declared the wine, “a big winner, with the vintage’s purity and elegance front and center” in his rave 94-point review.
96+ Points, Jeb Dunnuck
“Another brilliant wine from this team is the 2019 Hermitage, which spent 26 months in 50% new French oak and 50% in once-used barrels. Its dense purple color is followed by a massive array of ripe blackberry and cassis fruits interwoven with notes of scorched earth, subtle smoke, beef blood, and crushed rock. It’s big, full-bodied, concentrated, and opulent, yet it has ultra-fine tannins and impeccable balance as well. It’s going to take a decade to shed its baby fat (it offers ample pleasure today) but should have 20-30 years of overall longevity.”
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