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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
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
$45.00 $33.00
Today’s wine is a discovery wine, but it’s also becoming something of a cult wine for those in the know. If you don’t know Vilafonte or winemaker Chris de Vries, you’re certainly excused. Before a few weeks ago, I wasn’t familiar with him either. But now that his wines are firmly on my radar, I’m telling you they need to be on yours too. Today’s wine is a great place to start.
The Cape Town born de Vries is a star in the making. This year, with him at the helm, the small private Stellenbosch winery earned the two top awards at the annual International Wine and Spirits Competition, securing both the 2021 Red Wine Producer of the Year award as well as the 2021 Outstanding Wine Producer of the Year. Their star is officially rising at a meteoric rate.
Though their “Series” wines are the big ticket, high priced skus, Master of Wine and Decanter Wine Awards Judge, Greg Sherwood says it’s the Seriously Old Dirt series that is responsible for Vilafonte’s newfound cult status. “The success and popularity of the Seriously Old Dirt label by Vilafonte has undoubtedly been one of the most significant success stories within the South African wine industry over the past 5 years.” He would take his praise one step further though calling it an “incredibly exciting brand that has been crafted with expertise and vision and constructed around the basic principles of accessible structure, youthful intensity and an underlying feel and character of uncompromising quality from premium Stellenbosch and Paarl terroirs”.
Using mainly clippings from their big brothers the Series M and Series C, the Seriously Old Dirt Cabernet blend is 86% Cabernet, and rounded out with plump, juicy Bordeaux varietals that add a lot of richness, depth and a whole lot of flare.
Out of stock
94 Points (Wines of the Year) Decanter World Wine Awards, 2021
Exciting flavours of sweet mulberry, black plum, cinnamon and cedar. Super fresh and elegant, concentrated yet light on its feet.
93 Points, James Suckling
Aromas of redcurrants and dark earth follow through to a full body with plenty of dark-cherry and berry flavors and a long, flavorful finish. Creamy and round tannins, yet tight and focused. Bark and berry aftertaste. Drink or hold.
92+ Points, Greg Sherwood, MW
This wine casts an attractive plummy purple-black colour and offers up vibrant notes of candied Parma violets, crème de cassis, sun raisined black cherries and hints of blueberry confit with an overlay of graphite and cedar spice. There is a lovely youthful maritime salinity and black liquorice nuance that melts into notes of iodine and Chinese five spice. The palate is medium bodied, fresh and supple but slowly unfurls to reveal a solid frame of creamy mineral tannins, ample Cabernet Sauvignon extract and a long, pleasingly drying grippy structure that is bolstered by salty cassis, taut black orchard fruits, stewed black cherries and hints of complexing bay leaf herbal spice. The 2019 vintage yielded wines with freshness, structural classicism, mineral tension and harmony and this superb new release from Vilafonte speaks honestly of the vintage and continues to fly the flag for premium second wines that offer exceptional quality, value for money and age-ability. Drink this on release with some lovely slow roasted lamb or age for 2 to 3+ years to allow it to open its shoulders further. A great wine for the savvy fine wine drinker.
100 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“Paolo di Marchi’s leaving present to Tuscany is this delightful 2019 Isole e Olena Cepparello. Cepparello is a blend of Sangiovese from different vineyards, selected by Di Marchi on the basis of “the best exposure, elevation, soil, genetics and age. I feel this adds complexity.” The first vintage was in 1980 when 100% Sangiovese was not permitted under the Chianti Classico rules. Those rules have since changed but the wine remains an IGT Toscana. It has a supremely enticing nose with cream and exotic spice, reminding me of Arabian spice markets. With the 2019 there is an added precision to the aromas, less heavy oak, and no greenness on the palate. It is concentrated with a rich velvety texture but without any heaviness and with a gentle unforced quality. The tannins are fine and very well integrated, in fact finer and better integrated than even the excellent 2016 vintage. It is of course very young now but it’s almost too delicious not to drink! Supremely graceful, it just gets better and better.” – Lisa Perotti-Brown
Made by Bo and Heidi Barrett’s rising superstar daughter, Chelsea, this Right Bank ode is a gorgeous Bordeaux blend that leads with dark fruits like black cherry and plum with clove, hints of vanilla and hint of nutmeg. It’s a very round, plush mouthfeel with smooth, silky tannins that expertly support the wine along with a rich, dark-fruited finish that steals the show.
Once again dialing up fruit from 1000-1500ft in elevation in the Dundee Hills, Chad’s 2021 is juicy, laser focused and roaring out of the gates. Chad tells me that similar wines (very similar wines) off this vineyard are raising their prices up to $55/bottle from $45 this year due to 2020’s lost year. But where most people are raising prices to recoup last year’s losses, the CHAD Pinot Noir price is somehow lower. A true gift from our favorite winemaker.
100 Points (Bordeaux of the Vintage), Decanter
99 Points, James Suckling – 98 Points (Cellar Selection), Wine Enthusiast – 98 Points, Vinous
Here it is – the perfect 100-point Troplong Mondot. It was one of only 5 wines(!) in the 2020 vintage to receive a perfect score from Decanter – joining the likes of Mouton Rothschild, Petrus, Chateau LC Haut-Brion and Trotanoy as the only 100-pointers. They weren’t alone in their lavish praise for this incredible bottling. Galloni called it “wonderfully exuberant right out the gate” and with “tremendous breadth and power” in his 98-point review. Wine Enthusiast also gave it a 98 with a ‘Cellar Selection’ designate and called the wine, “powerful and dense”.
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