Wine Club
A gift for yourself, A Special Someone, Or Both…
Each month, these selections are sure to bring a smile to both the aficionado and novice.
Why? Because nobody is more qualified than the Wise Buyers at Hi-Time Wine Cellars who have been scouring the globe to seek out wine treasures for more than 50 years.
No long-term commitment: Simply choose the program and let us know when you want to stop and we'll take care of the rest. We'll send an announcement to the gift recipient along with background information and tantalizing tasting notes on each wine.
Gold Selection Plan 1 - 29.95
2 Bottles of Red Wine (tax & shipping not included)
Cora 2022 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Grape Varietal: 100% Montepulciano
Origin: Abruzzo, Italy
There are many reasons to love wines from Abruzzo made from the Montepulciano grape. The best examples of these wines are filled with ripe fruit flavors, buoyed by excellent structure, attractively priced and they make for perfect food companions. Cora is the poster child for why we love this grape, this region and the resultant wines: it's simply amazing juice!
Cora is actually an exciting proprietary label made for David Bowler Wine, a family-owned distributor and importer out of New York. The fruit is sourced from vineyards in the Abruzzo region in Southern Italy (though it's kind of a central region, being almost halfway up the "boot"). The goal was to bring a wine to market that was "...fresh, fun and uncomplicated, yet [will] satisfy our exacting standards!" We believe they achieved their goal quite admirably!
The nose on Cora is filled with mixed red fruits (berries and plums), wildflowers, a touch of rosebush, light herbs and sea salt. The palate, with a lush mouthfeel, reiterates the bright fruits and red berries and are kept light and lively with excellent body-- well-placed but moderate tannins and acidity. The mid-palate and finish add hints of minerality and light earth-- but the fruit's the star of the show here! This is the ideal example as to why we love Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wines. So much outstanding juice for a great price!
Pair with pizzas, pastas, grilled meats or poultry and vegetables. Heck, we'd throw charcuterie, hard cheeses and game in there, as well. Talk about versatility! Perfect for Spring or Summer barbecues!
Tour Seran 2019 Medoc Bordeaux
Grape Varietal: 65% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 10% Petit Verdot
Origin: Medoc, Bordeaux, France
We are thrilled to have a fantastic, classically styled Bordeaux as our Wine of the Month Two for May! We tasted this and felt this was in the perfect drinking window. The purity of fruit and perfect balance from the 2019 vintage comes through loud and clear, especially with a few years of age softening the tannins on the palate.
Decanter Magazine gave this wine 95 Points noting its, "Lovely subtle nose with lots of fresh black fruit" and "fresh palate with refined tannins." We love this kind of Bordeaux which clearly communicates what makes wines from this famous region so compelling. Blackberries, currants and subtle earthiness deliver!
Chateau Tour Seran is designated as Cru Bourgeois. This offers a great way for consumers to discover affordable, but high-quality versions of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blends. This appellation offers textbook Bordeaux character and value and is produced in one of the eight Médoc appellations: Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Listrac, Moulis, Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac, and Saint-Estèphe.
Chateau Tour Seran is a 15-hectare single plot vineyard in the Medoc whose origin can be traced back to the 17th century. The estate used to belong to the Marquis of Ségur also known as "Prince of Vines", a Bordeaux winemaker with flair who also owned some of the most famous Bordeaux chateaux including Chateau Lafite, Chateau Latour, Chateau Mouton and Chateau Calon-Ségur.
Chateau Tour Seran is blessed with exceptional terroir and located on top of a hill above the Garonne river. The soil is mainly stony and well drained with the vineyards oriented towards the sun ensuring optimal ripeness.
In more recent times, Parisian Jean Guyon fell in love with the area and bought several properties from the left bank of Bordeaux. This includes Chateau Tour Seran which is a sparkling jewel in his portfolio. His improvements in the vineyard and cellar certainly have shown results!
DECANTER 95 POINTS - "Lovely subtle nose with lots of fresh black fruit and complex notes of black pepper, leather and baking spices. Fresh palate with refined tannins."
Gold Selection Plan 2 - 29.95
1 Bottle of Red Wine and 1 bottle of White Wine (tax & shipping not included)
Cora 2022 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Grape Varietal: 100% Montepulciano
Origin: Abruzzo, Italy
There are many reasons to love wines from Abruzzo made from the Montepulciano grape. The best examples of these wines are filled with ripe fruit flavors, buoyed by excellent structure, attractively priced and they make for perfect food companions. Cora is the poster child for why we love this grape, this region and the resultant wines: it's simply amazing juice!
Cora is actually an exciting proprietary label made for David Bowler Wine, a family-owned distributor and importer out of New York. The fruit is sourced from vineyards in the Abruzzo region in Southern Italy (though it's kind of a central region, being almost halfway up the "boot"). The goal was to bring a wine to market that was "...fresh, fun and uncomplicated, yet [will] satisfy our exacting standards!" We believe they achieved their goal quite admirably!
The nose on Cora is filled with mixed red fruits (berries and plums), wildflowers, a touch of rosebush, light herbs and sea salt. The palate, with a lush mouthfeel, reiterates the bright fruits and red berries and are kept light and lively with excellent body-- well-placed but moderate tannins and acidity. The mid-palate and finish add hints of minerality and light earth-- but the fruit's the star of the show here! This is the ideal example as to why we love Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wines. So much outstanding juice for a great price!
Pair with pizzas, pastas, grilled meats or poultry and vegetables. Heck, we'd throw charcuterie, hard cheeses and game in there, as well. Talk about versatility! Perfect for Spring or Summer barbecues!
Tracy & Cie 2023 Sauvignon Blanc IGP Loire
Grape Varietal: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Origin: Loire, France
The first nose announces freshness and reveals floral and citrus hints. The attack is lively, with a concentrated, beautifully textured palate. After aeration, it opens with greedy notes of exotic fruit, then lime underlines the pleasant freshness of this Sauvignon. The finish is clean and delicately mineral.
Wine Tip
A classic crunchy, fresh and vibrant Sauvignon Blanc for the warm months of summer, it will be perfect by itself or with a lovely salad. Chateau Tracy is a famous winery that produces Pouilly Fume and Menetou Salon.
Platinum Selection 1 - 49.95
Jouves & Croisille 2020 Cahors Cot a Cot
Grape Varietal: 100% Cahors
Origin: South West of France, Cahors
Organically Farmed
Jouves & Croisille is the brain child of long time friends Fabien Jouves, Germain Croissille and his brother Simon. Fabien and the Croisille brothers both share the same philosophies when it comes to farming, vinification and the future of the cahors appellation. The Croisille and Jouves family both farm about 30 hectares using organic and biodynamic practices. Wanting to make something together for quite some time now - outside of their family estates – they’ve chosen to collaborate and create a new project using friends grapes who farm the same way. Fabien Jouves' first vintage was in 2006, Germains not far behind in 2007.
The vinification process is non-interventionist and occurs naturally with spontaneous yeast. Various vessels are used to age the wines: concrete tanks, barrels or large foudres depending on the wine’s personality. When it comes to the style of winemaking - Even though Cahors is physically closer to the Bordeaux appellation - they choose to look towards burgundy or northern rhone for inspiration. Similar to Burgundy, they focus on showcasing the various differences in soil composition and even choose to use burgundy bottles rather than bordeaux.
As the new faces of cahors - they feel it is their responsibility to show the world the true expression of cahors and the real beauty of malbec, pure and unadulterated.
Pelissero 2021 Barbera d'Alba "Piani",
Grape Varietal: 100% Barbera
Origin: Piedmont, Italy
VINOUS 93 POINTS - "The 2021 Barbera d'Alba Piani is a knock-out. Creamy and ample, with striking depth, the 2021 has a ton to offer. Succulent red/purplish fruit, cedar, spice, new leather and a kiss of sweet French oak all build in this effortless, engaging Barbera."
WINE ENTHUSIAST MAGAZINE - "Dark as night in color, the wine offers aromas of plums macerated in baking spice, along with earthy undertones and oak spice. The lush palate is rounded with licorice and cinnamon, finishing with fine oak tannins and lifted acidity. It provides a spicy experience."
Pelissero's Barbera comes from the Barbaresco district of Treiso. Aged for 8-9 months in a mix of barrique and large older oak casks.
WINERY NOTES - "The olfactory sensations are very delicate including blackberry and plum in the beginning and typically vinous in the end. On the whole the olfactory fragrance provides a pleasant and teasing feeling. Saltiness and acidity are in the foreground of this wine that does not hide its poliphenolic power."
Platinum Selection 2 - 49.95
1 Bottle of Red Wine and 1 Bottle of White Wine (tax & shipping not included)
Jouves & Croisille 2020 Cahors Cot a Cot
Grape Varietal: 100% Cahors
Origin: South West of France, Cahors
Organically Farmed
Jouves & Croisille is the brain child of long time friends Fabien Jouves, Germain Croissille and his brother Simon. Fabien and the Croisille brothers both share the same philosophies when it comes to farming, vinification and the future of the cahors appellation. The Croisille and Jouves family both farm about 30 hectares using organic and biodynamic practices. Wanting to make something together for quite some time now - outside of their family estates – they’ve chosen to collaborate and create a new project using friends grapes who farm the same way. Fabien Jouves' first vintage was in 2006, Germains not far behind in 2007.
The vinification process is non-interventionist and occurs naturally with spontaneous yeast. Various vessels are used to age the wines: concrete tanks, barrels or large foudres depending on the wine’s personality. When it comes to the style of winemaking - Even though Cahors is physically closer to the Bordeaux appellation - they choose to look towards burgundy or northern rhone for inspiration. Similar to Burgundy, they focus on showcasing the various differences in soil composition and even choose to use burgundy bottles rather than bordeaux.
As the new faces of cahors - they feel it is their responsibility to show the world the true expression of cahors and the real beauty of malbec, pure and unadulterated.
Domaine des huards 2022 Cheverny Pure
Grape Varietal: 85% Sauvignon Blanc, 15 % Chardonnay
Origin: Cheverny, Loire, France
Biodynamic and Organic
Old vines, average around 75 years old. Elegant and refined bouquet. Plentiful on the palate, vigorous, mineral with Mirabelle plum notes, citrusy, refreshing. Excellent balance between strength and delicacy. Huge drinkablility
To be served along lightly grilled scallops, asparagus, fish, chicken or veal in a cream sauce.
Cheverny is a lovely alternative to Sancerre, it is grown next the City of Blois that had a very important historical part in the 15th century, being the birth place of the King Louis XII and the chateau of Chambord that was the Hunting lodge of Francis 1st of France.
All White Selection - No more than $49.95
2 Bottles of White Wine (tax & shipping not included)
El Paraguas 2020 Atlantico Blanco
Grape Varietal: 87% Treixadura, 10% Godello, 3% Albarino
Origin: Ribeiro, Spain
This is a white that shows off winemaking prowess through its clarity of flavors and balance of textures. It's medium-bodied, with a moderately firm core surrounded by a voluminous wash of lively, fresh flavors of ripe citrus, stone fruits, fresh herbs, along with an edge of stony, saline minerality. This is Ribeiro!
Inland from Rias Baixas and its famous Albarinos, the northwestern Spanish wine region of Ribeiro is surrounded by mountains, and is the start of a transitional zone: it experiences mostly cold Atlantic winds, but just starts to get the warm continental & Mediterranean influences that dominate most other Spanish wine regions.
"They veer on the side of picking early and working with a mix of high elevation sites. They also work to respect nature by not using herbicides or pesticides, and doing everything by hand (or horse, in the case of plowing)." - THE SOURCE IMPORTS
Fermented with indigenous cultured yeasts at cool temperatures. Moderate amounts of SO2 are added to protect the precision of the fruit. The wine is lightly fined (with bentonite clay) and filtered.
Aged in a mixture of 600-liter French oak barrels and stainless steel for 3-4 months on the lees then bottled after 6-9 months. Battonage (lees stirring) is employed depending on the year.
Domaine des huards 2022 Cheverny Pure
Grape Varietal: 85% Sauvignon Blanc, 15 % Chardonnay
Origin: Cheverny, Loire, France
Biodynamic and Organic
Old vines, average around 75 years old. Elegant and refined bouquet. Plentiful on the palate, vigorous, mineral with Mirabelle plum notes, citrusy, refreshing. Excellent balance between strength and delicacy. Huge drinkablility
To be served along lightly grilled scallops, asparagus, fish, chicken or veal in a cream sauce.
Cheverny is a lovely alternative to Sancerre, it is grown next the City of Blois that had a very important historical part in the 15th century, being the birth place of the King Louis XII and the chateau of Chambord that was the Hunting lodge of Francis 1st of France.
Champagne Selection - No more than $49.95
1 Bottle of Champagne (tax & shipping not included)
Voirin-Jumel Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru
Grape Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Origin: Cramant
Dosage: Brut
WINE ENTHUSIAST 90 POINTS - "Based in the Grand Cru village of Cramant, this producer has access to some fine vineyards which go into its nonvintage cuvée. It is textured, tight, fruity and with fine acidity to cut through the apple and lemon fruitiness. Drink now." — Roger Voss
A great example of Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs from Cramant at a very good price. Green apple, hint of bruised apple, a touch a candied lemon, stony, racy and a hint of textural creaminess that linger.