About the Icons
A Quarterly Sparkling Wine Club Selection
Octave Haton founded this 4th generation, family-owned Champagne House in 1920, in the Marne Valley—in the town of Damery—7 km from Epernay. His son René succeeded him and grew the estate with the purchase of additional vineyards. Today, the Haton family finds itself among the 30 largest producers of Champagne. They source fruit from approximately 80 crus. Including eight from their own estates—which consists of 20 hectares of sustainably farmed vineyards—and purchase an additional 75 hectares worth of fruit from select sites all over Champagne, including Grands Cru and Premiers Cru vineyards.

About the Icons
Known for being one of the finest wine producers in the country, Weinguit Eins Leitz has made it his life’s work to bring the magic of Germany’s vineyards to the rest of the world. Eins Zwei Zero Blanc de Blancs is an alcohol-free white blend from the town of Rüdesheim. With gentler acidity than the Eins Zwei Zero Riesling, it’s a delicate blend with clean, fresh flavors. Classic flavors make it suitable for any variety of mild food pairings. No matter the season, we love it alongside a classic roast chicken and lots of vegetables. Suitable for mild golden hours and sweater weather alike, the Blanc de Blancs is eager to please. 

About the Icons
Pale with wine-like aromas of orange citrus, rhubarb, and tarragon. A pleasant minerality and notes of lime, citrus, and red apple are carried by residual sugar. The sugar does the work of maintaining flavor, but is offset by a cleansing acidity for balance. It ends with a crisp, off-dry, and semi-long finish.

Niepoort Dry White is made in the traditional style with long skin maceration. The final blend of mutiple varieties includes different wines aged in oak casks with an average of 3.5 years. Dry White is not bone dry, but is certainly drier in style than typical ruby and tawny Ports. It is lovely served chilled as an aperitif or as a long drink with tonic water, ice and a twist of lemon, especially in the Douro's hottest days of summer.

About the Icons
As all of our staff and many of our customers are aware, we curate very carefully what lands on our shelves, and this is particularly true of the "natural wine" category, as quality varies dramatically. This Pet-Nat is refreshing and delicious. 100% Trajadura, one of the varieties grown in Vinho Verde.

About the Icons
This small grower-producer Champagne has a pale golden hue with a light, frothy mousse. The nose shows red apple skin, butter poached pear, a touch of spice and hint of black walnut. The palate shows stony minerality, more baked yellow apple, quince, persimmon, a touch of wet stone and hints of oat bread. The medium finish is bursting with mouthwatering acidity and a lovely rounded mouthfeel.

About the Icons
A Quarterly Sparkling Wine Club Selection
This 100% Pinot Meunier Extra Brut is a stunning example of the lesser-known Champagne varietal. The grapes were hand-harvested and directly pressed. The must was fermented on indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled, stainless-steel tanks. Blended with 50% reserve wine, it was aged for three years in bottle with a dosage of 3g/L. This Champagne has a pale rose, gold hue and persistent perlage. The nose shows inviting aromas of red apple and lemon. The palate shows flavors of ripe apple, lemon flesh, apricot pit and a hint of brioche. Fresh, crisp and lively, with mouthwatering acidity and remarkable texture all the way through.

About the Icons
_{A Quarterly Sparkling Wine Club Selection}
Golden hue with a slight blush. Fresh aromas of both red and yellow apple skin, chalk and blanched almonds. The flavors burst from the glass: Rainier cherry, Meyer lemon, quince paste, and a touch of hazelnut mingled with chalky minerality. The palate is expansive with a delicate mousse and a long, graceful finish.

About the Icons
We always have a couple bottles of bubbly in our fridges at home, and Prosecco makes frequest appearances. An Extra Dry is actually slightly less dry than a Brut, the confusing terminology aside, and in fact most Prosecci sold in the USA have historically been in this style. With their immediate charm and forward, succulent fruit, they are crowd pleasers and accessible on their own, but also make a great platform for an Aperol Spritz os similar aperitif.
 

   About the Icons
Smith Woodhouse is a specialist producer of premium quality Ports. The uniformity of this quality is underpinned by Smith Woodhouse’s own Madalena vineyard from where the wines are largely sourced. This small Quinta (vineyard property) has the highest “A” quality rating and is located in the Rio Torto district, acknowledged as one of the finest Port growing areas. Over the coming years, the recently acquired Quinta do Vale Coelho, further upriver in the Douro Superior, producing full and elegant wines, will gradually form an important component of Smith Woodhouse’s Ports.

About the Icons
This non-alcoholic sparkling rosé is 100% pinot noir. The grapes macerate for 6 hours prior to pressing. The CO2 really balances out the residual sugar, making it appear drier than it is. Because of that, it's even more wine-like! This refreshing sparkler exudes cool, red fruits and lean minerality.

This 2016 'Cru' is a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 6% Merlot, 3% Malbec and 2% Cabernet Franc, and was aged for 17 months in 50% new French oak barrels. As with the 2013 vintage, the finished wine is a fine example of the excellent 2016 vintage which Keith Emerson, Director of Winemaking for Vineyard 29, Aida and Cru, exclaims was "in a word, ideal."

About the Icons
Anthill's Pinot Noirs are among the more elegant and restrained in style from California --

Napa Valley Cabernet doesn't get much better than when made by the so very capable hands of the folks at Pride Mountain Vineyards. And, as far as vintages go, 2015 doesn't get much better either.

About the Icons
Hourglass is two vineyards, a winery and a compilation of estate wines: a vision unfolding...  Jeff Smith founded Hourglass in 1997 from his family’s 4-acre parcel located just north of St. Helena, where Napa Valley forms its narrowest point, the “pinch” of the Hourglass. The storied Cabernet Sauvignon produced from this vineyard started the journey that continues to unfold today. The magic of this vineyard property would soon prove itself, as it debuted in a blind tasting alongside the recognized California Cabernet giants of the day and held its own in that rare company.The Blueline Estate was acquired in 2006. This vineyard property was formed by the “blueline” streams that drain the canyons sweeping up into the mountains above the property, creating the riverbed soils that underpin the character of the wines from Blueline Estate. Here, Hourglass farms the five classic Bordeaux varieties, and produces small quantities of deeply concentrated, yet vibrantly alive wines.

A blend of Trousseau, Gamay, and the elusive Cabernet Pfeffer, this cuvée from the outskirts of Sebastapol is lighter-bodied, aromatic and fruit-forward. Partial carbonic maceration, and whole cluster fermentation add fruit and spice notes to this dry red. Pair with roasted root vegetables and strong cheeses.

Our prized winning bid from the 2019 Sonoma Barrel Auction: "6 Incredible vineyards. 6 exceptional winemakers. This exclusive "Women of the West" 10-case lot shines a spotlight on the West Sonoma Coast's extreme maritime climate, and celebrates the first ever female collaboration of winemakers & vintners from the region.

About the Icons
Very moderate use of oak barrels gives this wine a freshness that is quite appealing in California Chardonnay, giving the fruit an opportunity to take center stage.

Producer notes ~ "Camp Wines were created by the Hobo Wine Co. in 2011 to showcase the quality and value of Sonoma County wine. We work with top growers and vineyard managers in very high quality and responsibly farmed, though lesser known, vineyards throughout Sonoma County to produce delicious, approachable, and affordable wines.

Located in the village of Morey St Denis, Domaine Taupenot-Merme was created in 1963 from the marriage of Jean Taupenot and Denise Merme. It is now run by the brother and sister team of Romain and Virginie Taupenot.

About the Icons
The Boxler family has been involved in wine in the small village of Niedermorschwihr, Alsace since the year 1673. Jean Boxler runs the small 13.5 hectare domaine with his wife and parents where they all live and work in the original house and winery from 1619.

About the Icons

Massimo Piccin founded Podere Sapaio in Bolgheri near the coast of Tuscany in 1999, and today, the estate covers 62 acres under vine which are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot.

What makes fine wine? Great vineyard sites and great winemaking. And Gaja is legendary in this regard . . .

About the Icons
Bernard de Nonancourt, who is responsible for elevating Laurent-Perrier into one of the premier Champagne brands with global reach and stature, first introduced a non-vintage rosé in 1968, at a time when no one else dared to do anything but a vintage dated rosé. He called it “Cuvée Rosé” and put it in the unique shorter, rounder bottle shape that was used for Champagne in the 17th century.