La Ronciere Selva Oscura Sparkling Extra Brut is made from 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay.
Selva Oscura was born to further complement La Ronciere’s cold-climate wine program. Only early, thin-skinned varieties such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir can ripen in the cold, rainy Araucanía Province. Grape maturity often comes with great difficulty, but the resulting wines reach the bottle with intense freshness and vibrant aromas. Planted in volcanic soils and surrounded by ancient forests, this is a place where vines have developed under adversity and grown to deliver unique wines, with inspiring character and personality.
Review:
Morande Black Series Chardonnay is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Malleco represents the exploration of one of the most extreme valleys in Chile for wine production. A new wine frontier, an ideal terroir to produce high-end Chardonnay in Chile, with a different style from other outstanding origins such as Limarí –which offers wines with marked minerality– or Aconcagua Costa –which delivers sharp acidity and great power. The Traiguen area in the Malleco valley produces wines of great tension and fruity austerity, as well as complexity, balance and finesse. A very typical style of Chardonnay marked by elegance, verticality on the palate and subtlety on the nose and mouth.
The wine offers a bright pale yellow color, intense and elegant aromas of citrus fruits and green apples as well as hints of nuts, such as hazelnuts and roasted chestnuts. A tense and fresh acidity on the palate, and a vertical structure in the mouth. Very fine and complex, its long persistence highlights the austere character of its fruit and a delicate minerality.
Shellfish and fish of intense flavor, such as smoked salmon, swordfish, giant perch, and white meats, poultry.
Review:
"Fresh and pure on the nose with green fruits and lots of star fruit, a hint of flint and a slight creamy edge. Subtle and bright with a tense mid-palate that creates a creamy but fresh mouthfeel. Medium- to full-bodied and long. Drink now."
- James Suckling (February 2023), 94 pts
Wine Gift Set Includes:
Review:
"The brioche and cooked-apple and cream character really comes through here. Full-bodied and round with fine bubbles. Flavorful and intense. Vivid, bread-dough finish. This is four years on lees. 55% Chardonnay and the rest Pinot."
- James Suckling 93 Points
Johann Michel Cornas is 100% Syrah
This Cornas is a blend from 2 different vineyard sites:
- 60% of the final blend is from vineyards located on a hillside (20 year old vines on the "coteau"), planted on sandy soils, decomposed granite and some rocks, giving the structure, spiciness and licorice flavors to the blend.
- the other 40% of the final blend comes from the bottom of the slope (45 years old vines on the "pied de coteau"), planted on sandy soils, bringing acidity and balance to the wine.
Expressive, deep, rich, silky and juicy. Well structured and round, it displays red fruit, leather, black cherry, liquorice and black berry aromas.
Review:
"Ripe black and blue fruits, violets, sappy herbs, and iron notes all emerge from the 2022 Cornas, a pretty, pure, medium to full-bodied Cornas offering fine, ripe tannins, a balanced, layered mouthfeel, and a great finish. The 2022 was completely destemmed and spent 12 months in oak."
- Jeb Dunnuck (Importer Highlight: Fran Kysela ; July 2024), 93 pts