By clicking Enter you verify that you are 21 years of age or older.
or Exit
About the Wine
The Talinay Vineyard is located in the Limarí Valley, very close to the Pacific Ocean. The combination of the sea breeze, the very cool temperature and the calcareous soil composed of limestone allows for paradisiacal conditions for the vine and resulting in lovely wines!
Tabalí has a strong focus in quality. The Winery is a small-scale, exclusive, family winery focused on detail. It is built in such a way that the fruit and wine are transported by gravity. The winery aims to avoid any unnecessary pumping and relies on nature to do the work where possible.
Felipe Müller, Tabalí’s winemaker since 2006, was born and raised in Santiago, Chile’s capital. Today, at the age of 41, he is considered one of the country´s most influential and important winemakers.
In 2001 he joined Viña De Martino as the second winemaker, in charge of viticulture as well as the vinification for red and white wines. In this winery, he worked with winemaker Marcelo Retamal, and formed a bold and renowned "Wine Dupla". Together they discovered new wines, studied various valleys and regions of Chile and vinificated around 350 vineyards throughout the country.
Felipe harvested two famous Chateaux Grand Cru Classé in Saint Emilion, France: Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere and Chateau La Mondotte.
Felipe Müller was named ‘Best Winemaker of the Year’ in the sixteenth version of “Guía de Vinos de Chile 2010”, Chile’s oldest and most prestigious wine industry publication. This distinction was an important recognition for the enthusiasm, passion and dedication he puts in crafting wines. “Wine is my passion and an important part of my life. I feel capable of leveraging the knowledge I’ve built throughout these many years", says Felipe.
In the year 2011, Felipe was appointed Manager Director, keeping his position as Chief Winemaker. From then Felipe was not only responsible for the quality of the wines but also for the global strategy of the company.
In January 2014 Felipe Müller was chosen ‘Best Young Winemaker’ (next to Aurelio Montes who was chosen Best Senior Winemaker).
2019 Tabali Talinay Chardonnay is barrel fermented followed by a 10-month barrel aging. The French oak barrels comes from very exclusive forests as Jupille, Fontainbleau, Bertrange, Troncais and Allier.
Tasting Notes: 100% Chardonnay. Pale-yellow color. Fresh aromas of ripe white fruits, hints of herbs. Crispy acidity, balanced and vibrant on the palate, firm tannins and a great minerality, long and elegant finish. Pair this wine with salmon, tuna, chicken, pork and semi-hard cheeses.
~ 96 Tim Atkin
The 2019 Talinay Chardonnay comes from the Talinay vineyard with pure limestone soils, looking for the finesse and elegance of the variety. It is pure and varietal with a vertical palate and an almost-salty finish. It's made with the oldest Chardonnay planted in Talinay in 2006 on cool slopes rich in limestone and with a notable exposure to the wind. The full clusters were pressed and the juice let to decant for 18 hours, and then it fermented in used barriques with native yeasts. It matured in barrel for 10 months. This sets the style for the whites from the year—very good freshness, purity and varietal character. This has very integrated oak and a vibrant and sharp palate with a salty finish, saltier than ever. It has the precision of Talinay, especially for the whites, combining structure with freshness and consistency year after year. 12,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2019.~ 94 Robert Parker
I tasted this wine when it was recently bottled, and it was already showing off its pedigree. Made with grapes from the Talinay vineyard on the Limarí coast, this Chardonnay is planted on granite soils with seams of limestone. Pressed with whole bunches to adjust the palate, it is a greenish-yellow wine with a nose of green apple, fennel, yeast and honey, along with a hint of yellow corn. All together, it is surprisingly understated, underlined by the cedar wood. Light in the mouth with a terse texture and significant acidity, this is an interesting Chilean exercise in balancing tension and volume. ~ 92 Vinous
Aromas of ripe peaches and baked pear pastry lead to a palate that has a gently salty edge with bright, tangy fruit and smooth, pastry-like resolve. Drink or hold. ~ 91 James Suckling
About the Wine
The Mâconnais, Burgundy's southernmost region, is the gateway to the enchanting land of the world's finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Just last year one of the Mâconnais most prestigious sub-regions, Pouilly-Fuisse, had 22 individual vineyards receive official recognition as 1er cru or 'first-class' terroirs. But over the years, the vineyards have largely remained the same as this region continues to get overlooked for Bugundy's more premier appellations. In 2000, a wine aficionado, Sophie Cinier, with almost no winemaking experience took over her Grandmother's Mâconnais vineyards. Her grandparents had been involved in wine production since their vines were first planted in 1941. Since she took over, Sophie has become a White Burgundy wizard crafting some of the most impressive whites from this unheralded southern part of Burgundy.
There is a stunning range of different styles from her minuscule Domaine. Sophie maintains 9 1/2 acres of vineyards, a small amount even by Burgundy standards. Unlike large parts of the Mâconnais where machine harvesting is the norm, Sophie’s vineyards are entirely hand-harvested. Sophie is currently transitioning the vineyards to be fully organic. In a world where quality white burgundy seems so out of reach, Sophie Cinier, with her cape blowing in the wind, brings hope that you can find quality white burgundy at an affordable price.
Cinier's wines are unoaked, barrel-fermented, with little to no oak aging. There are no lees stirring, and with a touch of the fashionable reductive aromas so much in vogue. Her wines are rich with great purity and tension. Sophie creates one of the finest expressions of Chardonnay from the Mâconnais, ripe, full-flavored wines with exciting and bracing acidity.
Tasting Notes: 100% Chardonnay. Aromas of white flowers, lemon curd, fresh nuts, crushed stones. Plush, fruity, refined. Perfect alongside grilled chicken, soft-rind French cheeses, and sushi.
Reviews
NYR
The fruit in the Martellotto Chardonnay is from the Spear Vineyard, located a few miles west of the winery in Buellton, off Highway 246 in the Sta. Rita Hills. This area is famous for the best the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes and we are pleased to be sourcing such high quality fruit. Spear Vineyard is farmed organically and located very near Seasmoke, which charges $100-200/btl of their wines!
Baked apples and pears in the nose follow through on the palate. The wine 2018 is 30% new French oak with the balance in older barrels. The wine was bottled in August 2019 after 11 months in oak with limited sulfur additions. The wine was barrel fermented and has a lovely natural acidity and a light zip in the mouth from the sandy loam vineyard that was covered by the Pacific Ocean millennia ago. A broad mouthfeel and yummy vivacity combine with layers of vanilla, toasted hazelnuts, and nutmeg singing into the finish. If you love Chablis and dry, nuanced Chardonnay with layers of depth and a crunchy deliciousness, then you will love this wine.
Consider this with any food that is prepared with butter.
This is a chard lover's chard.
The old world informs Greg Martellotto's motivation to make wines that speak of a unique vineyard in California. Greg loves wines that have a vibrant acidity combined with bright fruit and that intangible, hard to pinpoint X factor. Mass produced wines that are squeaky clean and uniform are less interesting. Starting with healthful and sustainably farmed grapes, Greg combines creative fermentation techniques with an artistic blending prior to bottling to produce wines that are distinctive and delicious. Greg’s intention is to make remarkable wines of consequence, consistency, value, and varietal expression. Several of the wines are sourced from organic vineyards and produced with native yeast fermentations. Martellotto wines are allocated, bottle numbered, vineyard designate wines and a pleasure to share.
About the Wine Name
The fanciful name "Melodeon" has two meanings. Melodeon is the name given to the type of foot-pumped organs used in the 19th century. If you can imagine an old west saloon with gunslingers and whisky, there is likely melodeon organ music in the background. Later, the melodeon is referred to a more common accordion that is played while draped over the musician's thigh. You may not know in 1990 San Francisco declared the piano accordion the official instrument of the city. The first such instrument in American was (allegedly) produced there in 1908. As such, the music of the time, playing in the saloons of the Barbary Coast was referred to as "melodeon". The other tie in here, is that the winemaker dances tango. Tango music is famous for the unique sound of the bandoneon, also a type of accordion. There is something smooth, genuine, and lyrical about tango and melodeon music in this wine.
Reviews
Golden-apple, lemon-extract and toasted marshmallow aromas immediately reveal that this is a California Chardonnay, but one held in balance. The palate is clean and crisp with lemon and Asian pear flesh flavors, woven by a firm grip and strong acidity. ~91 pts, WE (2017 vintage)
About the Wine
Bodega Polo is a new BHW Direct Import from a winery with a long history and vineyards located in the Beverly Hills of Uco Valley in La Consulta. After fully renovating and upgrading an existing winery property in 2011, the family has relaunched with incredible hand-drawn labels that tell the story of their Heritage and Work on the land amongst the vines.
This is a crystalline wine that is pure in fruit flavor. Stainless tank fermented and aged means no oak or vanilla here. The wine is focused on green apples, ripe pears and a refreshing citrus acidity.
The Polo's say, "Herencia" means Inheriting, which implies staying together through time, honoring our family values. Caring for the land is a responsibility the family takes seriously. Sun, water from the Andes, good people. All this inhabits each and every bottle. Believe it, there’s life in there, there are hidden sensations and there’s joy."
Tasting Notes:
Vines: 20+ year old from 3000+ feet toward the Andes
Aging: Stainless tank. No oak.
