Description
This kit features six distinguished properties from around the world: From Clonakilla (Australia), Domaine des Marrans (France), Dr. Loosen (Germany), McIntyre Vineyards (Central Coast California), Tapiz (Argentina), to Quinta de Ventozelo (Portugal.)
Master The World, led by Master Sommelier Evan Goldstein, selects benchmark wines from around the world to bring you an amazing, unique experience that you can enjoy out of smaller format bottles. With each winery’s permission, we have rebottled these wines under optimal conditions to present a specific flight of six to you so that you can savor one bottle at a time (in any order) or sit down for a comparative tasting.
For more on the tasting notes on each wine, please see what’s in this kit. This list of wines is provided alphabetically first so that the tasting can still be “single-blind” for you. These tasting notes will also be sent with the kit.
A perfect gift option for the wine lover in your life: Write a personal message in the “notes” section or request gift wrapping for a personalized gifting service.
For more about the six producers, learn about their stories below.
Clonakilla (Australia)
Clonakilla was established in 1971 by John Kirk, a Canberra-based researcher who came to Australia with his family in 1968 to work with the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry. To his surprise, despite the suitability, there was no wine industry in the cool southern table lands of New South Wales around Canberra. So, he bought a 44-acre farm near the village of Murrumbateman, north of Canberra and named the property Clonakilla (‘meadow of the church’) after his Irish grandfather’s farm in County Clare.
Domaine des Marrans (France)
Domaine des Marrans is located in Fleurie, in the heart of the northernmost section of Beaujolais. Founded in 1970, the current proprietor is the young and talented Mathieu Mélinand, who joined the family Domaine in 2008. South facing in orientation, Corcelette is one of the two grand crus of Morgon and is home to 50+ year old vines planted in a combination of granite and schist soils. The wines of Morgon tend to be denser than those of other Crus and often display dark fruit characters and a fleshy, juicy texture that is not common in Beaujolais wines. Morgon wines age so distinctively and consistently that the region’s name is often used as a verb to describe this: “il morgonne” (“it morgons”). Marrans’ style is definitively OG- with semi-carbonic maceration using whole clusters, minimal intervention, and only indigenous yeasts used.
Dr. Loosen (Germany)
The Loosen family has been growing Riesling and producing wine in the Mosel valley for over 200 years. The current owner, Ernst “Erni” Loosen, assumed ownership in 1988, embarking on a quest to greatly improve the quality and international reputation of the estate, the Mosel region, and Riesling in general. The famous “sundial” vineyard, in the village of Wehlen, produces quintessential Mosel Riesling Kabinett: elegant and refined, with a racy texture and boundless allure. This precipitously steep and rocky vineyard, made of classic blue slate, gives the wines a delicate yet crisp acidity that perfectly balances the pure peach and lemon fruit.
McIntyre Vineyards (Central Coast California)
Having planted more than 20% of the entire AVA, farmed nearly a third of its vineyards and vinified hundreds of wines from its grapes, Steve McIntyre is part of the AVA’s DNA. His 80-acre estate vineyard, originally planted in 1973, boasts some of the Highlands’ oldest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines. In his copious free time, Steve and his team farm 12,000 acres in Santa Lucia Highlands, Arroyo Seco, San Bernabe and Hames Valley growing or managing grapes for such notable wineries as Le Mistral, Morgan, Bernardus, Testarossa, and Miura.
Tapiz (Argentina)
Tapiz Winery, located in the San Pablo I.G. in Mendoza’s Uco Valley, has one of the highest vineyards in Mendoza at 4,600 feet altitude. Under the ownership and vision of Patricia Ortiz, Tapiz is a pioneer in the region and her highly rated wine are made by the celebrated winemaking team of Fabian Valenzuela and famed Bordeaux winemaker Jean Claude Berrouet (winemaker of Petrus for 44 vintages). Their wines are a beautiful tapiz (tapestry) of terroir and innovation.
Quinta de Ventozelo (Portugal)
One of the largest and oldest of the Douro estates, Quinta de Ventozelo, located on the left bank of the River Douro in Ervedosa, was once farmed by Cistercian monks who inhabited the region in the Middle Age. The first historical mention of Ventozelo dates from 1288 and it has passed through different hands down the centuries. This initial release of LOCI is a new wine bringing together five varieties from eight different vineyards. LOCI is the plural of locus, which means several places or specific places in Latin.
