Paul Hobbs Crossbarn Cabernet Sonoma

Pikorua Sauvignon Blanc

Marlborough continues to be a great source of tangy Sauvignon Blanc, but increasingly it has more complexity than the usual that the country has produced.

Pinot Noir P/N

Put together a bunch of passionate kids (some with backgrounds selling wines for legends such as Eric Solomon and Martine Saunier) deeply immersed in the California biz and you can find some pretty tasty wines. That's what they did and that's what we have here.

Pocapita

Pocapita is a great example of how much the Rioja region has upped its game in the last decade. Like many of their wines of late, this 100% Tempranillo is rich, powerful, intense, heady and every bit a modern version of concentrated Rioja, but one that nevertheless still tastes like Rioja.

Prejuges Chardonnay

Cabardès has not always been a favored site but its intense limestone soils are beginning to consistently offer Burgundy-like nerve. It’s tasty wine, but maybe the best part of the story is that Cabardès is named for the 13th Century Lords of Cabaret – seriously. Picture Joel Grey or Alan Cumming astride white stallions, swords a-glinter in the sunlight, horses prancing. Okay, you just can’t un-see that image, can you? Drink this incredibly tasty number and try to forget we said this.

Prejuges Chardonnay Magnum

Cabardès has not always been a favored site but its intense limestone soils are beginning to consistently offer Burgundy-like nerve. It’s tasty wine, but maybe the best part of the story is that Cabardès is named for the 13th Century Lords of Cabaret – seriously. Picture Joel Grey or Alan Cumming astride white stallions, swords a-glinter in the sunlight, horses prancing. Okay, you just can’t un-see that image, can you? Drink this incredibly tasty number and try to forget we said this.

Raffaello Moscato

Don’t hate Moscato Spumante because it’s dolce (“sweet” in Italian and everything sounds better in Italian). Just picture yourself on a Vespa, driving through Roma, winking at everyone and saying “dolce!” like you’re in a Fellini movie. La Dolce Vita!

Ramona Ruby Grapefruit 4 pk

Most of us have said for years that people should drink what they like, and for years the sommelier community agreed, while mocking anyone who didn’t drink the newest coolest label. Certain sommeliers are more open-minded than others; one of the most famed, Jordan Salcito, is talking about this simply enjoyable combo of Italian Zibbibo (think Muscat) grapes, cane sugar and grapefruit juice. If it all sounds like some sort of wine cooler, well, what’s wrong with that?

Revana Terroir Cab

This is a Thomas Rivers Brown project and so usually you would have to pay extra for that single fact. Well, I guess you’ll have to here but we think we’re making it less painful than the PR might suggest. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 20 months in French oak, 65% new, it’s what you mean when you say big Napa juice. Cuz you say that. We heard you.

Robert Foley The Griffin

I miss Bob Foley. I used to see him a lot because I was obsessed with Pride Mountain Vineyards, producer of one of the world’s great Merlots. Bob started at Heitz Cellars, but more importantly spent 15 years as the founding winemaker for Markham Vineyards (more great Merlot). Then in 1992, Bob began another 15 years as the founding winemaker for Pride Mountain Vineyards. He also created the highly acclaimed Switchback Ridge, Hourglass, Paloma, and School House wines. Now he has his own eponymous winery on Howell Mountain, and I don't get there (too many other places to be) but there he makes Cabernets as well as various blends, like the Griffin, the Foley Family crest in Irish heraldry and a blend of the best in the red wine cellar: Merlot, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Charbono, Petit Verdot, and sometimes others.