Instant Gratification Collection

We’ve curated the Instant Gratification Collection with red wines that are ready to pop open and enjoy now. 90% of wine purchased is enjoyed within the month. These are crowd-pleasing, versatile wines that are a pleasure to drink! Pour yourself a glass after work or bring a bottle the next time you visit a restaurant. You won’t find these wines on retail shelves!

Instant Gratification Collection (wine so darn good, you’ll want to enjoy immediately) includes 1 bottle each of the following wines:

Ramsay Cabernet Sauvignon California Bing cherries and red currant in the nose with numerous subtle undertones. These are carried forward to the palate with bright, mouth-filling fruit with just the perfect support from structured tannin. 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 % Petite Sirah. Aged 12 months in French oak, 20% new.

Domaine du Météore Faugeres PerséidesThis combines mineral notes of ink and hearth, combined with cocoa beans, Sichuan pepper and a hint of menthol. Rich with a freshness to the finish, this is a perfect illustration of schist terroir. The de-stemmed and partially crushed grapes macerate in the fermenting must. The aromas of the Grenache are extracted by delicate delestage. The aromas of the Syrah and Mourvèdre are released by pumping over and manually spraying the skins. The Grenache grapes are aged in stainless steel vats for 18 months, while the Syrah and Mourvèdre grapes are aged in 500L oak barrels for the same period. The wine is blended just before bottling. 70% Organic Grenache, 20% Organic Syrah, 10% Organic Mourvèdre.

Casa Ferreirinha Vinha Grande Douro DOC Ruby color of good intensity. Intense and complex aroma, with notes of red fruits, black fruits, spices, pepper and slight curry, balsamic, cedar and tobacco box, with discreet and well-integrated wood. In the mouth it has good volume, balanced acidity, good quality tannins that are well present, ripe black fruit, with a long and very elegant finish.

Omen Rogue Valley Pinot Noir Oregon WE90 The wine’s aromatics are a powerful, earthy combination of cranberries, crushed marigold flowers and oregano. Pronounced acidity, a crisp texture and lighter body are the wine’s selling points, along with bowls of bright red cherry and raspberry flavors, and traces of coffee and bacon.

Domaine Gassier Costieres de Nimes Nostre Pais Red JD91-93 Surprisingly, the 2018 Costières de Nîmes Nostre Païs had not been bottled at the time of this tasting. Nevertheless, it continues to show beautifully, with a perfumed, medium to full-bodied, finesse-driven, elegant style that I would happily drink today. Giving up lots of both red and black fruits, garrigue, candied violets, and ground pepper, it has both richness and elegance and certainly competes with any number of base Châteauneuf du Papes that sell for quite a bit more.

Marietta Cellars ‘Angeli Cuvee’ Zinfandel Alexander ValleyWA96 Grapes for the 2021 Angeli Zinfandel are picked in three passes. Proprietor Scot Bilbro notes that Zinfandel’s naturally varying levels of ripeness can lead to raisiny flavors if all the grapes are picked at a higher brix. “If you bring Zinfandel in over 25 brix, that means the juice inside is at 25, but the skins have a lot more sugar, and the level will go up to 28 or more,” he explains. “So, we pick at 23, 24 and just shy of 25. You can enable the wine to show off layers with those different picks.” This strategy led to a gorgeous Angeli in 2021 that is incredibly expressive and perfumed. Blueberry, boysenberry and blackberry give way to wafts of graphite, gobs of violet and even touches of tangerine. The medium to full-bodied palate explodes with concentrated fruit and expansive layers of floral perfume and spice. It has a powdery frame, bursts of mouthwatering acidity and a very long, nuanced finish.