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
$50.00 $40.00
This wine is liquid gold. Well, better than gold according to the 2021 Decanter Wine Awards who showered this wine with a ‘Best in Show’ designation, a 97-point review and the highest spot for any Pinot in the world.
How did this small family winery manage quite a feat? Call it a perfect storm. A special 2018 vintage in California with hot, dry weather and a perfectly even harvest. Santa Lucia Highlands especially enjoyed an ideal summer with lots of sunshine and breeze and temperatures remaining cool. Then, you have winemaker Paul Clifton at the helm, whose work in SLH with Bernardus helped put the winery and the region on the map, and he’s been running the show in the Highlands every since.
With the St. Lucienne wines, Hahn Family showcases their premium single-vineyard wines. Four of them every year. But I’ll save you the time and energy– in 2018, the Smith Vineyard, the oldest estate at the highest elevation performed the best, with the resulting Pinot perfectly ripe, yet high-toned, well balanced and vibrant– a key to delicious Pinot Noir.
The rave 93-point review that this wine received from Josh Raynolds of the Vinous, or the 94-point Wine Enthusiast review would’ve been plenty of accolades for this wine to fly out the door. But given last week’s “Best in Show, 97-Point Showstopping review, today’s price simply doesn’t match today’s lightning in the bottle.
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97 (Best in Show), Decanter Wine Awards
This year’s exceptional Pinot Noir quartet is completed by this striking wine from the Santa Lucia Highlands — a long and scenically beautiful fillet of land lying on the landward side of the Santa Lucia Mountain Range next to the chill waters of Monterey Bay, and alternately fog-chilled and breeze-freshened during summer. The Pinot is dark and sweet-scented, with discreet spice and refined black cherry; there’s a peony allure to give it lift, too. It’s vivid and mouth-filling yet structured, poised and fresh, too: a Pinot that proves that the natural wealth which derives from California’s light and soils can work superbly in delivering Pinot of both nuance and sensual charm.
94 Points, Wine Enthusiast
Rich, opulent aromas of black-cherry cordial and caramel are thick but delicious on the nose of this bottling. Sandy tannins frame the creamy cherry and blackberry flavors, which are lifted by star anise and licorice accents and lead into an oaky finish.
93 Points, Josh Raynolds – Vinous
Vivid red. Vibrant red and blue fruit, candied rose and baking spice qualities on the incisive nose, which picks up a hint of smokiness with air. Juicy and penetrating on the palate, offering gently sweet raspberry and boysenberry flavors and allspice and cola topnotes. Shows excellent clarity and spicy thrust on the clinging finish, which is framed by smooth, harmonious tannins.
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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.”
In the 2020 vintage in Gevrey-Chambertin, yields were super low and temperatures were hotter than most Burgundian winemakers are accustomed. Many picked too late when the sugars were high and the fruit really ripe, but that was not the play. Still, Ann remained as cool in those hot temps as she did so many years ago in Napa, concentrating more on acid levels than sugars and picking at just the right time. This wine is absolutely singing – it’s an age-worthy beauty that should be even better in 4-7 years.
WS #4 2019 Wine of the Year, 96 Points, Wine Spectator
2016 was an incredibly special year in Napa Valley. It was essentially the 5th straight vintage of near perfect-conditions and a lot of the big boys produced some of their biggest, most elegant Cabernets to date. Groth’s was still one of the standouts in any group, a deeply concentrated, weighty Cab with sappy, juicy fruit and a carefully intertwined tannic structure. Absolutely gorgeous.
Winemaker Pascal Sirat consistently puts out some of the best value Bordeaux in the region but he may have outdone himself in what was a stellar 2019 vintage throughout the region. Just south of Pomerol, the vines at Panchille borrow deep in the soil. The resulting wines are ripe but fresh, with an aromatic complexity and stony finish usually reserved for wine twice the price. Daniel Boulud tells me it’s been the hottest bottle of wine at Bar Boulud for over a month, so I figured I’d better hurry up and secure my allocation! Don’t miss it.
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