Have a birthday coming up? Is someone graduating soon? Did you meet up with that friend you haven't seen in years? Or do you want to make it a special evening by opening an exclusive wine?
An evening quickly becomes special with bubbles, and especially with a bottle Champagne Royale Reserve Brut van Philipponnat! A Champagne house with 498 years of history. From that you can conclude that they have experience in making quality wines!
White wine
One of the most beautiful Chardonnays from South Africa has to be The White Lady van Warwick. It is a beautiful elegant full style Chardonnay that is more reminiscent of Burgundy than a New World Chardonnay. Made from a combination of grapes from cool slopes and warm slopes, and made entirely from wild yeasts. This is a wonderful example of the winemaker's exceptional skills! (Make sure you take it out of the fridge at least 45 minutes in advance)
Of the town of the Château de Gaure is a full-bodied wine with a complexity that far exceeds its price level. A white Limoux with an unexpected depth. Powerful and mineral at the same time. Have you tried many Chardonnays and are you looking for a new experience? Then this combination of Chardonnay, Mauzac and Chenin Blanc is a wonderful surprise!
Red wine
A nice project by the Opus One winemaker (min. €300-400 per bottle) in collaboration with Warwick in South Africa is the Seriously Old Dirt. A classic Bordeaux blend made in South Africa that has the New World characteristics of evident fruit, but also the depth that one would expect from a well-made Bordeaux. For €30 a beautiful glass of wine!
Then we have the classic Italian trio of heavyweights ready to make every night special. First we have the full and sultry Amarone which is made from grapes that are dried for 30% before being made into wine. De Amarone Marne 180 van Tedeschi is the classic example of quality from the region. They have been making wine for almost 400 years and own one of the first Valpolicella vineyards.
Of Brunello di Montalcino from Castello Banfi must of course not be missing from Italy. Elegance, juiciness, fruit, and the classic spiciness of 100% Sangiovese. This is a wine that will never bore you and will always give you something new to discover.
Then we end with the king of Italian wines, the Barolo. The Barolo "Serralunga d'Alba" by Fontanafredda is a classic example of how a Barolo should be. Light in color, rose petals and elegance on the nose, but the weightiness, tannins and high acidity you expect. This is a wine that needs to be eaten. Or decanter the wine at the time of cooking and then drink it as the last wine, only after dinner to end the evening.
Finally, we have a unique find, and certainly the 2017 vintage. The Malbec Argentino from winemaker Catena Zapata from Argentina is an unparalleled wine. Made from, among other things, 90-year-old vines that date back to before the phylloxera epidemic. The year 2017 was the transition from The boy Unpleasant The girl with high temperatures towards the end of the season. This has resulted in a low yield of grapes with a high concentration. Together with a beautiful label, this is a wine that can wait at least 10 years for that special evening, but opening it now will make the evening completely unforgettable!
