Please find our featured sales items this week. Lots of options ranging from South African Cabernet and Chardonnay for $7.99, 2012B arone Fine Pinot Grigio for $9.99, 5 times distilled imported vodka $19.99 per 1/75 Liter bottle, American Bourbon $10.99, 96 Point Parker wines, and many more. Great gift ideas for the Holidays.

SVEDKA Vodka has been making its mark since it was first imported in 1998. It’s now the 2nd largest imported vodka and the #7 spirit brand in the United States*. And its popularity keeps growing.

Imported to the US from Sweden – a country that has been perfecting vodka for centuries – SVEDKA Vodka is proudly named after its country of origin. SVEDKA is a mix of the word ‘Svenska’ (meaning ‘Swedish’) and ‘Vodka’ (derived from the Slavic word ‘voda’). As these two words are combined, SVEDKA is a name as catchy as it is clever – fitting for a brand renowned for its character, quality, and value.



WHERE SVEDKA COMES FROM

SVEDKA’s crisp, distinctive taste profile begins on the shores of Lake Vänern, the largest lake in Sweden, in the small town of Lidköping (population: 25,000). Sweden ranks as one of the cleanest countries in the world**, so it is not surprising that their local ingredients are among the finest as well. Every 750ml bottle of SVEDKA Vodka begins with four pounds of Sweden’s hearty, flavorful winter wheat, all harvested from the pastoral farmlands surrounding the distillery in Lidköping. Another key component to SVEDKA’s quality is the crystalline water from one of the world’s cleanest sources, Sweden’s ice-cold underground springs.



HOW SVEDKA IS MADE

Continuous distillation — a method first introduced in the 11th century — creates ideal conditions for producing top-quality vodka. The “continuous” aspect of the distillation process insures that ingredients are constantly moving so the winter wheat, yeast and water never stalls or pools. At the final stage in this distillation process, SVEDKA is run through high-performance purification columns, five separate times to remove impurities. The end result is outstanding quality SVEDKA Vodka.

Heaven Hill launched two new bourbons late last year for members of both parties. For the Democrats, you have Blue State Bourbon. And for the GOP, there is Red State Bourbon. The blue bottle has a donkey on it. And the red one, naturally, has an elephant.  lue State Bourbon opens with a caramel nose. The whiskey has a new penny color. The flavor starts with a sweet note, but the rich barrel finish takes over. There is a toffee and bit of spice in the finish.

Red State Bourbon has a slightly sweet nose with more wood showing through. The whiskey is also a bright copper color. The flavor on this one starts off mellow and there is plenty of oak.
 

Creating CAMUS XO Elegance requires years of meticulous work. The process starts with the careful selection of different styles of hugely rich eaux-de-vie from all six of the Cognac crus (Borderies, Petite Champagne, Bons Bois, Grande Champagne, Fins Bois, Bois à Terroirs).

The presence of the Borderies cru among these eaux-de-vie gives the Cognac a rounder flavor and greater aromatic length. Long aging in cool, damp cellars ensures that each barrel gains a perfect level of maturity. A meticulous blending process finally reveals the Cognac’s personality in all its glory: a myriad of complex, harmonious aromas.

Straw-yellow. Pear drop and spice aromas complicated by a leesy nuance. A touch sweet but has the apple and soft citrus fruit intensity and bracing acidity to support it. Not particularly complex but delivers terrific fruit and verve for ten bucks.

Sad but true…If this South African Cabernet came from California it would be twice as expensive. South Africa has managed to steal some of Australia's thunder with bargain buys like this gem from the Excelsior Estate's De Wet family. A deliciously fruit-forward style of Cabernet, the Excelsior offers copious plum and licorice notes on a soft, full-bodied frame. Try it solo or have a glass with your sausage pizza, roast chicken or grilled portobello burger.

Made from 100% single-vineyard Trebbiano di Lugana harvested from the San Benedetto parcel, on the south shore of Lake Garda. The grapes are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel and refined in tanks for six month before the wine is released on the market. Pale lemon-green in color, San Benedetto Lugana offers delicately appealing notes of peach, citrus, banana and herbs, which are beautifully accompanied by a crisp acidity and supple body on the palate.

This dry white wine has a straw yellow color. Its clean, intense aroma and bone-dry taste (with an appealing flavor of Golden Delicious apples) make Santa Margherita’s Pinot Grigio a wine of great personality and versatility.
 

A grand example of why Argentina's Malbec has become so popular. Rich textured and concentrated, with layers of jammy black berry fruit, spice and mocha, with tannins enveloped within the long, broad finish. A hearty wine for hearty fare.
 

90 Points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Firm, yet with more back-end substance, the 2010 Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Raphael offers up loads of dark berry fruits, licorice, toasted spice and smoke to go with a medium to full-bodied, concentrated palate. Give it another 2-3 years of bottle age and enjoy through 2022. 

This ridge-top vineyard looks to the coast in one direction and the Russian River Valley in the other. The Vineyard sits on layers of sandstone, granular sediments and some petrified wood and has been the source of the Kistler Vineyard Pinot Noir since 2006. A concentrated wine, with impressive energy to its red and black fruit flavors and subtle earth tones." We have been trying to acquire Kistler Pinot Noir since we purchased the store and this is our first allocation.  Only 2 cases so order quickly before they sell out.

96 Points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
The transparent ruby-colored 2010 Pinot Noir Mills Vineyard has considerable structure and depth hiding under all of its texture and richness. Offering up notions of sweet cherries, strawberry, underbrush, crushed flowers and chalky minerality, it has a massive mid-palate, incredible purity and a seamless, elegant overall profile. It, too, will have 10-12 years or more of prime drinking. Drink now-2025.

96 Points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve is built from completely different sources. Sixty-six percent came from the St. Helena Home Ranch, 18% from the Chabot Vineyard, and the rest from Beringer’s estates in St. Helena, Rutherford and Coombsville. It is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that came in at 14.6% natural alcohol with a pH of 3.8. Perhaps the greatest Beringer Private Reserve since the 2007, 2005, 2002 and 2001, the 2010 offers up notes of lead pencil shavings, creme de cassis, subtle smoke, wet rocks and background oak. Full-bodied, rich and impressive, it can be drunk now or cellared for two decades.