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Varietal

Red Wine

There’s 1,000’s of red grape varieties grown around the world making a diverse range of wines.

Exploring the red wine world will take you from lighter more elegant wines to brash, bold wines.

There are infinite combinations of different colours, aromas, flavours, and, textures making for a lifelong pleasure fest for your senses.

A dozen varieties make up the majority of the red wines produced. Think Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and, Merlot.

Are travels to Italy, Spain, and, France have seen more Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, Sangiovese, Nerello Mascelese, Grenache, Carignan, and, Tempranillo red wines being poured into our glasses.

The wine world is producing better wines than ever before. In regions where laws permit broad experimentation with growing and making red wines is resulting in rapid evolution and refinement of styles.

In countries like Australia, cooler climate reds are really making a name for themselves.

Gobally, there’s been a welcome shift away for cumbersome, overripe, high alcohol, oaky wines, to red wines made with more restraint and freshness.

Our tip, celebrate the different personalities of each!

Filters & Sorting

Passopisciaro Contrada 'C' Chiappemacine Nerello Mascelese 2021
A delicacy and perfume on the nose. Oyster shell and seaweed hint in the wine. The lowest of Passopisciaro’s contrada. Chiappemacine is typically fuller and richer by comparison The 2021 is a demonstration of Passopisciaro’s desire to tame the beast, pulling it back and achieving restraint.The core of fruit on the palate is one of the richer profiles for the 2021 Contrade. Red fruit, strawberry, a savoury layer and an earthiness. Still quite tight with slate and excellent tannins of gri
$176
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Passopisciaro Contrada 'P' Porcaria Nerello Mascelese 2021
Lower elevation builds more generosity into Porcaria. Such wonderful texture! More immediate generosity from Porcaria, a sub-contrada of Feudo di Mezzo. A little savoury, with a full round aroma profile. Rich and round on the palate with excellent acid, zippy and on the borderline of sour, countered by ripe, spiced fruit. Time will undoubtedly see the acid resolve. Excellent red and darker fruit with baking spice and slatey grip of tannin. Herbal and fine. Very good. NOTE: I tasted these 12
$176
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Passopisciaro Contrada 'R' Rampante Nerello Mascelese 2021
The Highest Elevation Contrada owned by Passopisciaro making delicious Ethereal wines! The hardest of the Contrade wines to read straight away. Oyster shell and seaweed aromas remind me of the Passorosso 2021 when just off the boat. Elegant, fine and delicate. Tightly coiled, this is the dark horse with time in bottle it will build generosity and open. A loverly perfume with a savoury hit. Red fruits, a wine often paired with fish. Restrained.  Slatey, fine tannin with a little more grip a
$176
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$162ea in any 6+
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Passopisciaro Contrada 'S' Sciaranuova Nerello Mascelese 2021
Meaning New Lava Flow it's young soils have not broken down to release as much nutrient as the olds flows. Treating the vines mean and keeping them lean! Such an interesting comparison in flavour profile with the Guardiola. Brooding, there’s something inviting and seductive about it.It has an incredible amount to offer. Beautifully balanaced. Earthier more secondary characters with savoury bits. Blossoming in the glass fruit comes through quickly with a lift of rose perfume. Just like the
$176
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$162ea in any 6+
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Passopisciaro Contrada 'G' Guardiola Nerello Mascelese 2021
Guardiola higher elevation puts it on the more elegant side of the scales! Very together on the nose, seamless and complete. Long and fine, exceptional length, layering and balance with great depth of fruit. Perfume dancing over the top of red and darker fruit. Layers of excellent tannin with playful grip. Licks of spice, savoury bits and beyond. Camphor, fine tabacco, slate and liquorice. An absolute ripper! NOTE: I tasted these 12 months after Eric Guido in June 2024.The prestige of
$176
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$162ea in any 6+
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Luigi Pira Barolo 'Margheria' 2020

Luigi Pira Barolo ‘Margheria’ 2020

Nebbiolo | Serralunga d'Alba, Barolo

All south-facing and sitting at 340 metres, vinification is the same as the Barolo ‘Serralunga’. Intense and complex nose with notes of fruit and flowers and hints of leather and fresh hay, while on the palate it’s perfectly knit and very distinctive, red fruited in style with ironstone, choc-cherry, roses and some of the darker notes of cola and porcini, along with textural red plum-skin, grippy, black-tea tannins that underpin, but it’s still generous and very approachable now.
$177
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$163ea in any 6+
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Benoît Moreau Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes Rouge 2022
Chassagne rouge is moving up in the world. Growers like Olivier Lamy, Thierry Pillot and Alex and Benoît Moreau (to mention only those producers we are following closely) show the heights this often-undervalued appellation can achieve through best-practice farming and excellent winemaking. The warmer seasons, too, have been helpful, bringing more approachable tannins when the wines are young. It’s from two small parcels of 50-year-old vines below the village. The 2022 fermented with 10% bunch
$177
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$163ea in any 6+
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Fèlsina Chianti Classio Riserva DOCG ‘Rancia’ 2016

Fèlsina Chianti Classio Riserva DOCG ‘Rancia’ 2016

Sangiovese | Tuscany, Castelnuovo Berardenga UGA

The layering of flavour, tannin in this is excellent! Everyone went nuts on the Fontalloro because of a couple of extra points, wow, this is stunning! Fèlsina have tamed the beast! While this is a powerful wine with incredible depth and length, it is beautifully balanced with excellent grape tannins. It will resolve and build sensuality over the coming years. Dark and incredibly complex there's a vitality to the mouthfeel. If you're going to crack one young give it loads of air in the morning a
$180
$175ea in any 3+
$170ea in any 6+
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Giovanni Sordo Barolo 'Gabutti' 2016
The Bold!

Giovanni Sordo Barolo ‘Gabutti’ 2016

Nebbiolo | Serralunga d'Alba, Barolo

Ooh. Wow. So dense in aromatics that it’s hard to label them! Wait. Simply fabulous and the star of this first tasting. Insanely good, incredibly complete. Benchmark stuff.  Such a fragrance! This is mind boggling. Wonderful flow length+++. The sophistication of tannins here is insane. Here we see an incredibly complete wine. Such sophistication and power. There’s an elegance and lithe nature to this incredibly powerful beauty. The flowers are intoxicating. Again length +++. The sophisticat
$180
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$166ea in any 6+
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Giovanni Sordo Barolo 'Perno' 2016
The Bold!

Giovanni Sordo Barolo ‘Perno’ 2016

Nebbiolo | Piedmont, Barolo

Excellent, immediately took me to the 2010 Riserva. Wonderful density. Every sniff sees another scent wafting out of the glass. Excellent, immediately took me to the 2010 Riserva. Wonderful density. Every sniff sees another scent wafting out of the glass. The tannins show the benefit of a long ripening season. Yes, they have structure, they are damn fine tannins of exceptional depth and length. Hints of tobacco, earth, savoury bits and such a long deep core of fruit. This will develop beautifull
$180
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$166ea in any 6+
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Giovanni Sordo Barolo 'Parussi' 2016
The Bold!

Giovanni Sordo Barolo ‘Parussi’ 2016

Nebbiolo | Piedmont, Barolo

Opulent with again a step up in structure. Broody on the palate, should develop beautifully. Earthy delicious and just so much pleasure to be had. Opulent with again a step up in structure. Broody on the palate, should develop beautifully. As David puts it, it’s chubby. Immediate generosity on the nose. So much aroma and flavour. Mid-palate fruit weight here is insane. Rich and chocolatey with savoury dark fruit, hints of that faded flowers and tobacco. Earthy delicious and just so much pleasu
$180
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Giovanni Sordo Barolo 'Rocche di Castiglione' 2016
The Super Stars!
Again a controlled, blockbuster, with layers of dried and fading flowers, tobacco, cranberry and cherry liqueur. Huge, almost sweet palate. Long, but tight and relatively unevolved still, of course. Will be superb again. Such a complete wine yet tightly coiled and the moment, everything in it’s place and place for everything. Incredible tannin profile this year. Such lovely ripe nutty tannins of serious depth. The core of fruit is exceptional and long. Mouth filling, I so want to see a bottle
$180
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$166ea in any 6+
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