December Top 12 Mixed Case
Purchase our Top 12 wines for December! The Top 12 Mixed Case contains a dozen of our favorite winter wines at amazing values. We’ve chosen each wine with the holidays in mind. Read below about each selected wine!
December’s Top 12 Mixed Case includes 5 red, 5 white, 1 sparkling, and 1 dessert wine.
With a bonus 10% discount, the Top 12 Mixed Case retails at $189.00, and is available for in-store pick-up or FedEx 2Day or Overnight shipping (within Massachusetts).
To order, please email wine@thecheeseshopofsalem.com or order online here!
Top row (left to right):
2016 Haut Pasquet Blanc (Bordeaux, France) | Grape: Sauvignon Blanc | Nadine and Bernard Dubourg bring their ‘A game’ when producing this stainless steel fermented Sauvignon Blanc. If you’re ever stressing about white wine to serve to a crowd, Haut Pasquet is always a safe bet. It’s crisp and zippy with notes of green apples and lemon curd!
2017 Laroque Cabernet Franc (Languedoc-Roussillon, France) | Grape: Cabernet Franc | This Cabernet Franc hails from an area in the Languedoc that has been producing grapes since at least the 6th century! After being fermented in stainless steel this red winter warmer is ripe with notes of currants and boysenberries.
NV Quinto do Infantado Tawny Port (Douro, Portugal) | Grapes: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca | Quinta do Infantado has been producing Port since 1979 and is currently operated by a brother and sister team, João and Catherine Roseira, who are devoted to their vineyards. This Tawny was hand harvested and fermented in lagares, which are tall stone tanks. This Tawny is filled with notes of nuttiness and caramel and is a perfect dessert wine to sip in front of a roaring fire.
2016 Muròla Agar (Marche, Italy) | Grape: Ribona | This dry white from the Marche is sleek with notes of citrus, crunchy green apples, and nuttiness. Drink with anything from couscos to white fish for a savory meal!
2017 Savage Grace Gewürztraminer (Columbia Gorge, Washington) | Grape: Gewürztraminer | This gorgeous, mandarin hued wine is bottled after 16 days of grapes kin contact and makes classic Gewurztraminer even nervier and aromatic than usual. This wine child comes from organic winemaker Michael Savage who achieves the combination of Old World winemaking methods with New World terroir. Smell the luscious floral notes, honeycomb, spice, and clementine notes as soon as you pop the cork. Instead of putting citrus in your stocking this year, crack open this Gewürztraminer!
2015 Chateau Massiac Minervois (Languedoc-Roussillon, France) | Grapes: Syrah and Carignan | Winemakers Bernard and France Boudovresque also grow thyme, rosemary, and lavender on their farm, which gives this Syrah and Carignan blend a slight floral quality. Besides that, this wine is filled with silky earthy, plum, and raspberry notes.
Bottom row (left to right):
NV Domaine Gracieux Chevalier Crémant de Bourgogne (Burgundy, France) | Grapes: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir | Look no further for an exciting bubbly! This Crémant (a Champagne method sparkling wine from France but outside of the Champagne region) is a perfect plus 1 for any holiday party. If you want to impress anyone from a colleague to an in-law, try sabering it! For first time wielders, here's a how-to in sabering by Alton Brown! Once you have it open, enjoy the dry, toasty almond notes and light bubbles!
2016 Mac Forbes Chardonnay (Yarra Valley, Australia) | Grape: Chardonnay | Mac Forbes brought his twenty years of winegrowing experience to his own label back home in Australia in 2004. This Chardonnay was handpicked, destemmed, and crushed before being aged for 10 months in a combination of old and new oak barrels. This Chardonnay is perfect to drink on the first unexpected snow-day of the year after working up a sweat after shoveling snow drifts! It has intense notes of buttered toast, lemon, and pear that will warm you right up!
2016 Raventós de Alella, Pansa Blanca (Catalonia, Spain) | Grape: Pansa Blanca | These Pansa Blanca grapes were grown in an organic winery from very old vines and surrounded by woodlands and mountains. This white stunner is structured and bold with stony notes of apples and pears.
2017 Domaine Thillardon, Raisin Libre (Burgundy, France) | Grape: Gamay | The name "Raisin Libre" translates to "free grapes" and is a symbol of the new Beaujoalis and a call to freedom from ‘the shackles of the industrial [Beaujolais] Nouveau.” Paul-Henri and Charles Thillardon make incredible natural wine in Beaujolais' smallest cru Chénas. This is Thillardon's expression of what young, fresh, delicious wine should be. 100% carbonic maceration and indigenous yeast.
2017 Salchetto Chianti Colli Senesi (Tuscany, Italy) | Grapes: Sangiovese, Canaiolo, and Mammolo | Michelle Manelli runs this biodynamic winery in the Siena Province of Tuscany. It’s named for the willow tree (Salco in ancient Tuscan) that winemakers used to rely on to bind their vines. Some of this blend was aged in Tonneaux for four months; this wine has notes of cedar and raspberries and will make everyone at a holiday party raise their glass for a second pour!
2016 Mariluna Tempranillo & Bobal (Valencia, Spain) | Grapes: Tempranillo and Bobal | This organic blend is bopping with freshness and fun! After being aged for 6 months in French and American barrique this Tempranillo and Bobal blend is bursting with raspberry, spice, and cherry notes.