Import from Rhone Valley

We visited Mont Olivet exactly one year ago and pulled the trigger on everything we tasted, right there on the spot. We made the right call too, because the press that followed involved high marks from the right people....

Among our favorite locales for value, a sexed-up Côtes du Rhône from a ripe vintage is always a solid bet for a house wine. Blackberry and blue fruit flavors get a little pepper dusting to remind you of its bloodlines.

Wine Spectator reviews, "This is a bit of a brute now, with roasted fig, espresso, mocha and ganache notes leading the way, but there's a terrific core of blackberry, plum and black currant fruit in reserve and a gorgeous graphite-filled finish that can easily wait for everything to assimilate fully....

As Robert Parker once wrote succinctly, "Clos du Mont-Olivet is one of the great estates of Châteauneuf-du-Pape." On our last visit to the domaine, we were shocked...

Coming off the best back-to-back CdP vintages in 10 years, this is 2009 juice with a 2008 price tag....

The "Les Quartz" is marked by refined elegance, which Robert Parker details as exhibiting "crushed raspberry and kirsch notes as well as a chalky stone-like...

The Bernard family has been making wine since the French revolution, so you know they've got the chops for producing great Rhone blends....

For pure French sex appeal, "Cuvée G." is an Agent Provacateur model stretched out on a yacht in St. Tropez. Dense and richly extracted...

Perhaps the most approachable of Caillou's lineup, this supple offering was described by Robert Parker as having "a dense ruby/purple color, super ripe fruit and a...

Wine Spectator reviews, "This has stunning black tea, warm ganache and roasted alder aromas giving way to a very lush yet defined core of braised fig, blackberry cobbler and pastis-soaked plum fruit. The long, dark finish is muscular, but polished and caressing."

There’s just all manner of Rhône goodness here with flavors of purple berries, smoked meat and white pepper. There isn’t a slab of meat coming off your grill that this can’t handle.

Smoky, spicy, and seductive, this purple beast grabs your palate and doesn't let go. Blueberry liqueur, chocolate dipped bacon, and pipe tobacco expand on the palate...

This beauty will lay down for a generation and still have plenty of what Robert Parker details as “aromas of creme de cassis, black truffles, cold steel, and crushed rocks....

Perhaps the most approachable of Caillou's lineup, this supple offering was described by Robert Parker as having "a dense ruby/purple color, super ripe fruit and a...

If you’ll pardon the frankness, our tasting note from the cellar ended thusly: 'This is beep ridiculous.' Set this down next to anything...

The king of Rhône reigns supreme! The wines of the “Roasted Slope” deliver sappy fruit, a decadent mouthfeel and the sort of power and density that hedonistic wine lovers crave. Vibrating with blue and black fruits...

We challenge anyone who doesn't like Syrah with a bottle of this. Wine Spectator writes "rich, with a velvety-textured core of plum, fig and boysenberry fruit...