Imported Reds

pinotage, fleur du cap
south africa 2004 – $28
pinotage is a cross between pinot noir and cinsault that was created in 1925. cinsault was know as hermitage in south africa, hence the name. pinot is hard to grow but produces great wines, where cinsault is easy to grow but produces mediocre wines. the hope was that the best qualities of each would be realized in the cross, but as any parent knows, this is rarely the case and so for 70 years hardly anyone even played with this grape. but with the fall of apartheid many things changed and they figured out how to work with this unique varietal. the easiest way to describe the grape is a pinot noir on steroids, but that is overly simplistic. depending on who makes it, it can vary incredibly because there is no old world standard. this wine is deep and rich with lots of extraction, some cooked red fruit and a great velvety richness and good tannic structure.

merlot, heron, vin de pays
southern france 2003 – $26

barbera monferrato, marchesi di barolo “maraia”
piedmont, italy 2002 – $32
a wonderful old world, traditional style of barbera with hints of tar, rubber and wonderfully bright fruit with great acid.

barbera d’ asti, villa giada “i suri”
piedmont, italy 2004 – $26

nebbiolo, barolo, cavallotto “vignolo”
piedmont 1997 – $96

nebbiolo, barolo, seghesio “la villa”
piedmont 1999 – $130

montepulciano d’ abruzzo, masciarelli
abruzzi, italy 2002 – $24

montepulciano d’ abruzzo, masciarelli
abruzzi, italy 2002 (1.5 liters!!) - $44
anyone who has spent much time at the bistro probabally knows this wine. it is one of our all time favorites and is super consistent year after year. it is definitely an old world wine with black fruit, old wood and earth. it is what i hope i would find traveling the countryside of italy: tasty, honest and cheap.

corvina/molinara/rondinella, cesari “mara” vino di ripasso
valpolicella, italy 2004 – $48
don’t feel bad if you don’t know these grapes, most people only have heard of the wine they produce: amarone and vino di ripasso. vino di ripasso is the “poor man’s amarone” and this wine is just classic with berries, cassis and hints of mushrooms. soft and velvety with an amazingly long finish. quite simply a fantastic wine.

nero d’ avola, planeta “la segreta”
sicily, italy 2003 - $36

tempranillo, palacios remondo “propiedad h. remondo”
rioja baja 2003 – $58
this is a small, family owned winery in rioja baja, that is being thrust into the international wine scene ever since they brought on the super star from the priorat named alvario palacios. this is super spainish juice, definitely not old school.

tempranillo/mazuelo, conde de valdemar “crianza”
rioja, spain 2002 – $30

tempranillo/mazuelo, conde de valdemar “reserva”
rioja, spain 2000 – $38

tempranillo/mazuelo, conde de valdemar “gran reserva”
rioja, spain 1997 – $54
if you want old world then this is the wine for you. this wine spent 44 months in oak, before it was bottled and has spent the last 6 years coming into its own. there is lots of leather, cedar, mushrooms, dark black fruit and silky tannins. we love this wine!!

tempranillo, valenciso, “reserva”
rioja, spain 2000 – $74

mencia, descendientes de j. palacios “petalos”
villa de corullon, bierzo, spain 2005 – $50

tempranillo, condado de haza
ribera del duero, spain 2003 – $52
this is a modern take on what is happening in spain right now. condado de haza is a project of alejandro fernandez that he began in the 1980’s and has brought to fruition in the ribera del duero. This is not old world spain by a long shot, but is still classic spanish wine, made with the supremely noble tempranillo grape.

garnacha/carinena/cabernet, morlanda “crianca”
priorat, spain 2001 – $82

garnacha/cabernet/merlot, pasanau “la morera de montsant”
priorat, spain 2001 – $50

cabernet/garnacha, pasanau “finca la planeta”
priorat, spain 2002 – $62
the priorat is an amazing region geographically, politically and viticulturally. the vineyards are carved into sheer rock walls, some as steep as 50 degrees. the landscape is wind blown, harsh and primal. the nearest town, gratallops, literally means “where the wolves are howling”. vines suffering in the howling wind. if one was to make wine from these grapes, they would first of all produce very little juice and what juice they did produce would be exceedingly concentrated and very minerally in character. these are very serious wines that demand to be decanted early.

moristel, alquezar
somontano, spain 2004 - $32

grenache blend, domaine les pallieres, gigondas
southern rhone 2003 – $64
this estate had been handed down father to son for over 600 years, until 1998 when they sold the estate. it kind of makes you wonder what was going on in livingston 600 years ago? anyway, the sale of the estate was a good thing, because the family had fallen on hard times and the wines they were producing were lagging. the brunier family and kermit lynch bought the estate and immediately started turning it around. the 2003 has a very evocative nose with masses of sweet smokey grenache fruit and confit.

grenache blend, domaine la bouissiere, gigondas
southern rhone 2003 – $68
super intense color and extraction with bright red fruit of cherries and blueberries with the classic southern rhone floral and herbal hints. 2003 may have been a hot year, but they have come into their own quickly and are drinking great right now!!

grenache blend, domaine le sang des cailloux, vacqueyras
southern rhone 2004 – $66
literally this wine means “blood of the stones” and is one of the most impressive of our southern rhones. super intense minerality, almost like the wine was filtered over stones, with wonderful hints of spice and bright fruit. this wine simply smells of provence.

grenache blend, domaine la milliere “reserve”
cote du rhone 2003 - $36

grenache blend, clos du caillou
cote du rhone 2003 – $42

grenache blend, chateau de mattes sabran “le viala”
les baux de provence, france 2003 – $32

grenache blend, mas de gourgonnier
les baux de provencefrance 2003 – $42
this estate, run by luc and luciene cartier has been farmed organically for decades as is well respected not only for their wine, but their olive oil is considered to be one of the finest in all of france. this wine combines the crystal clear expression of provencial soil with the intensity of a top rhone wine, and they do it all in a super cool, old school squat little bottle.

mourvedre blend, domaine tempier, bandol
southern france 2003 – $70
there is an air of aristocracy about domaine tempier, somehow mixed with the love of a grandmother. this combonation of excellence and comfort is somehow deeply imbedded in my mind about lulu and domaine tempier. maybe it is too many years of reading her wonderful cookbook and hearing stories about her like, how it is forbidden to prune or bottle in the presence of a new moon. always have been organic wines and they are always with more acid and less grenache-grapey fruit than the rhone wines.

mourvedre blend, domaine du gros nore, bandol
southern france 2003 – $58
bandol is all about mourvedre and with good reason. it is one of the few places that gets consistently hot enough for the mourvedre grape gets enough sunlight to rippen properly and lose that gamey character that sometimes people associate with southern french wines. this domaine is owned by alain pascal who is a true farmer, who has never even left provence. this wine scored 91 points on the vintage and was ranked as one of wine spectators top 100 wines of the year.

malbec, budini
mendoza, argentina 2004 - $24
another of our all time favorite bottles. this is an unfined and unfiltered malbec with deep, dark purple extraction and a very fleshy mouthfeel with tons of spicy, black fruit. quite simply an awesome little bottle of wine.

malbec, altos las hormigas
mendoza, argentina 2005 – $28

malbec, dona paula
mendoza, argentina 2005 – $34
this is probably the most refined of our malbecs (in a neck and neck tie with enrique foster’s “reserva” malbec) and drinks like a bottle twice its price. it is very ripe and round and the oak supplies nice firm tannins that give the wine great soft structure and balance.

malbec, enrique foster “ique”
mendoza, argentina 2005 – $28

malbec, enrique foster “reserva”
mendoza, argentina 2003 - $52

bonarda/malbec, tikal “patriota”
mendoza, argentina 2003 – $54

bonarda, colonia las liebres
mendoza, argentina 2005 – $28
originally this grape hails from the piedmont of northern italy, but it has become the most widely planted grape varietal in argentina. there are a lot of questions as to the geneology of this grape; some say it is dolcetto and others say it is charbono from california ( i have seen no less than 10 possibilites). the simple fact about this wine is that it is simply a no-brainer with its wonderful value to price ratio. look for lots of big black fruit, soft tannins, roasted meats and alcohol. this wine is compelety unoaked, unfined and unfiltered

cabernet, de martino “legado reserva”
maipo valley, chile 2004 – $34

shiraz, blackbilly
mclaren vale, australia 2004 – $42

shiraz/viognier, d’ arenberg “the laughing magpie”
mclaren vale, australia 2003 – $74
i cannot speak highly enough of d’arenberg and this wonderful wine. they take their inspiration for blending both the black shiraz with the white viognier (hence the magpie) from the rhone valley but put an aussie spin on it. the viognier adds the perfume of flowers, ginger and herbs to enhance the essential qualities of the shiraz grape, namely big black berry fruit.

rhone blend, fairview “goats do roam in villages”
south africa 2004 – $34