Zenato Lugana Pas Dosé 2008
Veneto, Italy
100% Trebbiano di Soave / Turbiana
Retail Price: P 4,500
Valenstine’s Week Price: P 3,825(From February 14-18, 2024 only)
Tasting Notes
Delicate citrus, fruity bouquet of fleshy, ripe pineapple, toasted almonds, and fresh bread. Full and enveloping, with strong minerality. Zero dosage lets the Turbiana shine through to a clean, elegant and refreshing finish.
Food Pairing Suggestions
Starters, fish carpaccio, oysters, shellfish, vongole, fresh cheese, creamed vegetables, cold cuts and salami
Winemaker Info
Zenato focuses on indigenous grape varieties native to the Veneto region, such as Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara for their red wines, and Trebbiano di Lugana for their white wines. By showcasing these local grape varieties, Zenato contributes to the preservation and promotion of Veneto’s winemaking heritage.
Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut 2017
Loire Valley, France
100% Chenin Blanc
Retail Price : P 2,100
Vinous, 90/100
Subtly biscuity, fine bubbles, lightly sparkling with floral notes and a salty sensation. Mouth-watering acidity combines with textural roundness and weight.
Palmer & Co Brut Réserve
Montagne de Reims, Champagne, France
50%-55% Chardonnay, 30%-35% Pinot Noir, 20%-25% Meunier
Retail Price : P 3,200
James Suckling, 92/100
Citrus, pear, and apricot aromas with notes of hazelnut and buttered toast. Fresh and lively, with a creamy and elegant texture, depth and complexity.
Nicolas Maillart Premier Cru Extra Brut Platine
Montagne de Reims, Champagne, France
63% Pinot Noir, 14% Chardonnay, 14% Meunier
Retail Price : P 3,750
Wine Spectator, 91/100
Robert Parker, 90/100
Crisp green orchard fruit, apricot, biscuit, pastry cream, spice, dried white flowers and citrus oil. Medium to full-bodied, the creamy mousse carries the flavors to a graphite-laced finish.
Cruse Tradition Sparkling Wine NV
California, USA
73% Chardonnay, 27% Pinot Noir
Retail Price : P 4,000
Robert Parker, 93/100
Tangy and a tease on the nose, with hints of burnt lemon meringue and freshly baked bread. The light-bodied palate has an alluringly creamy texture, offering a balance of acidity and a long, spirited finish.
Cruse NV Tradition Rose
Napa Vallley & Sonoma Country, California, USA
68% Pinot Noir, 32% Chardonnay
Price: P 3,500
ROBERT PARKER, 96/100
Pale, peachy salmon, with a soft gentle mousse, with inviting aromas of peach cobbler and macerated strawberries, biscuit, spring butter and toast. Medium-bodied and dry, with bright lashings of raspberry coulis. Fine, creamy texture, zippy acidity, and a long finish. Easy and happy drinking.
Cruse NV Tradition
Napa Vallley & Sonoma Country, California, USA
73% Chardonnay, 27% Pinot Noir
Price: P 4,000
ROBERT PARKER, 93/100
DECANTER, 93/100
Deep lemon-gold, with very fine beads. Toasted nuts, fresh-cut hay, wild and spry on the palate with a creamy brininess, bruised red berries, dried herbs, hints off burnt lemon peel and freshly baked bread. Light-bodied with an alluring creamy texture and tangy acidity lacing a long, electric finish.
Aimery Sieur D’Arques Grande Cuvée
1531 Crémant de Limoux Brut Rosé
Limoux, Languedoc-Rousillon, France
WINE ENTHUSIAST, 90 Points
Varietal :
Chardonnay 70%, Chenin Blanc 20%, Pinot Noir 10%
Price: P 1,050
Tasting Notes
Crisp, lively and fresh, meeting the nose with a range of bright red berries such as strawberries, currant and cherry, scented white blossoms, and melon pulp. Well-structured and rich, it shows on the palate with flavors of peaches and red fruits, has fine acidity and a long-lasting creamy perlage through the finish.
Food Pairing Suggestions
Enjoy as an aperitif or to complement creamy desserts, fruit tarts, subtly-spiced seafood and white chocolate.
Winemaker Notes
The name 1531 refers to the discovery of sparkling wine fermentation by monks of the Abbaye St. Hilaire near Limoux in 1531.
Spagnol Col de Sas Conegliano Valdobbiadene
Prosecco Superiore DOCG Extra Dry
Treviso, Veneto, Italy
Varietal : Glera
Price: P 1,300
Tasting Notes
Frank and crisp with fruity tones of peach and citrus, and a whiff of floral aromas. Hint of sweetness gives the wine some heft and staying power, matched with excellent acidity conveyed with apple and pear flavors. Well-balanced and smooth.
Food Pairing Suggestions
Great for starters and with cheese. Fantastic with shellfish and oily or white fish.
Winemaker Notes
The wine is named after the hill where it is produced, Col de Sas, owned by the Spagnol family in the town of Valdobbiadene.
Viña Aquitania Sol de Sol Brut Nature 2019
Malleco Valley, Traiguén, Chile
Ratings
ROBERT PARKER, 92 Points
TIM ATKIN, 92 Points
Varietal : 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir
Price: P 2,500
Tasting Notes
Creamy white, with fine, persistent bubbles. Intermingling scents of biscuits and toast, citrus fruit, and light, whipped butter. The same notes swathe the palate, infused with peach and apple flavors, underscored by the spice signature of barrel fermentation, brioche from lees, and bright acidity. It is complex and expressive through a long, dry and lemony finish.
Food Pairing Suggestions
Try with caviar, poached lobster, cheese.
Winemaker Notes
Viña Aquitania is a Chilean-French collaboration. French roots are from Bordeaux and Champagne. The second generation of the founders have since taken the reins in the winery.
Champagne Delamotte Blanc de Blancs 2014
Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Champagne, France
100% Chardonnay
Ratings
ROBERT PARKER, 94 Points
JAMES SUCKLING, 94 Points
DECANTER, 94 Points
VINOUS, 94 Points
JEB DUNNUCK, 94 Points
Tasting Notes
The pale gold color with glints of emerald illuminate the fine pearl strand of bubbles rising to the surface. On the nose is a spirited attack of citrus zest, autumnal stone fruit, fresh baked bread and wet stones. The palate is swathed in freshness, a mouth-watering minerality, and flavors of supple fruit and brioche. Full-bodied with excellent depth, racy acids and a long, dreamy finish, this Champagne has great persistence and will age very gracefully.
Food Pairing Suggestions
To be enjoyed as an aperitif, perhaps with warm gougères or mature cheese. With more hearty food, this champagne is sensational with shellfish like sea urchin, and will bring out the savory umami flavors of beef agnolotti with parmigiano reggiano or roast fowl in a cream sauce. These combinations reveal the amazing versatility of this vintage.
Winemaker Notes
Founded in 1760, Delamotte is among the 5 oldest Champagne houses in the region and is arguably one of the most refined in style and pedigree. Delamotte production is small at just 25,000 cases annually and remains one of Champagne’s best-kept secrets. The Blanc de Blancs cuvées are the stars of the show, hardly surprising as Delamotte is the sister winery of the equally legendary Salon Champagne, both run by Didier Depond, and whose blends are made by the same Chef de Cave, Michel Fauconnet.
Egly-Ouriet NV Brut Grand Cru
Ambonnay, Champagne, France
75% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay
Ratings
WINE SPECTATOR, 93 Points
ROBERT PARKER, 92 Points
Tasting Notes
Strikingly profound as it is fresh, this brut is leagues apart from comparable bottles. The wine’s complex perfumes show pear, lemon zest, tangerine, praline, crushed almonds over a peach tart, a touch of cherry juice, and freshly baked bread. Fresh ginger, lemon butter, and passion fruit sorbet liven the palate. Full-bodied, complex, with sensational concentration, chiseled acidity and chalky structure provide definition to this Champagne, and soft lands on a long, honeyed finish with a touch of salinity.
Food Pairing Suggestions
Pork, rich fish like tuna and salmon, shellfish, mild and soft cheese
Winemaker Notes
3-étoiles, La Revue du Vin de France, The Best Champagnes 2023. One of the pioneers of the Grower Champagne movement, Egly-Ouriet sets the bar even higher with uncompromising excellence. Their wines are sensorially otherworldly, critics swoon at the tastings.
La Rogerie Champagne Grand Cru Héroïne 2014
Avize, Champagne, France
100% Chardonnay
Disgorgement: July 2022
Tasting Notes
Champagne aficionados are thrilled by a delightfully different tickle to the nose, enticed with a light citrus reception, drawn-in by white-fleshed stone fruit and honey coulis, teased by tingly minerality and zesty acidity, all ebbing off on lingering dulcet waves.
Food Pairing Suggestions
Great paired for brunch with a croque madame. Goes well with pork in a sauce with some acidity, shellfish like fritto misto with lemon and aioli, shrimp cooked Asian-style or scallops with chorizo, and rich fish like sea bass and salmon.
Winemaker Notes
The combined winemaking heritage of the families of François Petit & Justine Boxler dates back to the 1670s. Their base is in Avize, one of only 17 Grand Cru vineyards in all of the Champagne region. When these elements come together in the artful hands of the Petit-Boxlers, true Champagne magic happens.
Jean Vesselle Brut Rosé de Saignée
100% Pinot Noir
Maturation: Minimum of 2 to 3 years
Dosage : between 8 and 9 g sugar / liter
Disgorgement: April 2021
WINE SPECTATOR, 92 Points
ROBERT PARKER, 91 Points
Tasting Notes
The sparkling red equivalent of a Savigny-lès-Beaune, this is how William Kelley of Robert Parker Wine Advocate characterizes this Rosé Saignée, and he loves it. Taking the body and structure of a fine red wine, textured and complex, the aromas are of pomegranate, plums, orange rind, baking spices, wildflowers and light smoke. On the palate, it is full-bodied, vinous, revealing hints of ripe black cherry, dried thyme and graphite. Silky, smooth and fleshy complemented by a pillowy mousse and peppy acidity carrying through to a lightly chalky finish.
Food Pairing Suggestions
Absolutely delightful with Italian charcuterie. Mortadella and strawberries are a surprisingly delicious combination. This champagne can also stand up to substantial red meat dishes and even the richest, funkiest cheeses. Consider pairing with duck with a fruit sauce.
Winemaker Notes
William Kelley loves Jean Vesselle Rosé de Saignée. He also says it will be polarizing, which makes this wine all the more intriguing. Then there’s Jean Vesselle Brut Réserve, Extra Brut, and Grand Cru Brut Prestige, all elegant and powerful, vinified masterfully by Delphine and David Vesselle, exponents of Champagne excellence and tradition.
