We asked the head of our wine curation panel, Don Lahey, to come up with the top 7 wines they’d pick from our inventory to get them through the quarantine (One for each day of the week!). Here’s what we got back:

1. Fore Family Vineyards Carneros Napa Pinot Noir 2017
2. Casas del Bosque Casablanca Valley Gran Reserva Chardonnay 2017
3. Dominio Basconcillos Viña Magna Tempranillo Ribera del Duero Crianza 2016
4. Black Pearl Oro Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2018
5. Château Beauregard-Ducasse Albert Duran Graves 2016
6. Il Palazzino Grosso Sanese Chianti Classico Riserva 2012
7. Beckmen Vineyards Purisima Mountain Vineyard Ballard Canyon Syrah 2017

Put together your own quarantine dream assortment, and save 15% automatically when you order 12 total bottles! And, save an additional 10% on all wine, beer, and cigar store orders over $100 with the code below.

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In November, The International Wine of the Month Club’s Premier Series offers four unique, highly acclaimed wines. To begin this month’s odyssey is the 2018 Château Pizay Morgon, a wine that personifies the endearing side of cru Beaujolais, which is nothing like the oceans of “Nouveau” that inundate the market each fall. From the very first sniff of the 2018 Château de Pizay Morgon, the accolades heralding the superior quality of the 2018 vintage in Beaujolais are confirmed. 92 points from Decanter adds further affirmation. Beautiful cherry and freshly picked strawberry fruit scents leap from the glass. Add a bright crimson and purple robe and savory silky smooth flavors and it’s hard to think of the 2018 Château de Pizay Morgon as anything but hedonism in a glass. In the mouth, raspberry and strawberry fruit with hints of cinnamon, crushed minerals, and a delightfully seductive vinosity seduce the palate. Although wonderful to drink now, this top notch Morgon still has several years of development ahead of it, as the wines of Morgon are traditionally some of the longest-lived Beaujolais.

Next in line is Domaine Houchart’s 2018 Côtes de Provence Blanc, a wine that embodies the best of Provence. In this rare white wine made from traditional Provençal grapes, one can almost taste the Provençal sun, feel the cool breeze wafting from the Mediterranean Sea, and smell the scented fragrance of Provence’s magical landscape. Light, fresh, but full of flavor and pinpoint precision, the 2018 Domaine Houchart Côtes de Provence Blanc offers an intoxicating aroma of citrus, mango and white peach. In the mouth, the wine’s crisp orange peel and spice flavors appear on a sea of delicate acidity, making the wine’s delightful finish both round and refreshing. With Domaine Houchart’s simple but delicious blend of Clairette and Rolle, there is no smoke or mirrors, oak, or butter tones, just one fresh, unique white wine.

This month’s adventure continues with Ernesto Catena’s certified biodynamic 2015 Tikal Natural from organic grapes. This is a masterful blend of Malbec (60%) and Syrah (40%) from this premier estate. Born in an excellent vintage and the offspring of a vineyard in Mendoza’s renowned Vista Flores region, the 2015 Tikal adds further evidence of Argentina’s ability to craft natural tasting world-class red wines that do not require bank loans to enjoy. A more natural, plush, and thoroughly satisfying red wine will be hard to find as the 2015 Tikal Natural captures the essence of biodynamic farming. It offers a deep rich color, fresh cherry and wild raspberry aromas, and a delicious array of fruit, spice, mocha and vanilla flavors to tantalize the palate. Bold-flavored, yet smooth and immensely satisfying, the 2015 Tikal Natural will spoil your palate for anything less natural and sensuous.

The last leg of this month’s odyssey is the 2018 Château de Pizay Beaujolais Blanc. Purity and precision pervade Château de Pizay’s vibrant 2018 Beaujolais Blanc. This recent release from Château de Pizay sports an eye-catching, sunny straw-colored robe, but this wine has more than visual appeal going for it. Fresh draughts of spring, apple blossoms, and melon waft from the glass. In the mouth, this Mâcon style Chardonnay offers delicate floral and fruit flavors infused with a gentle palate-pleasing minerality. Although imbued with the soft lovely fruit of a first rate Mâcon-Villages, the 2018 Château de Pizay retains the pinpoint precision of Beaujolais from the appellation’s granite soil, adding vibrancy to the wine’s smooth palate-cleansing finish.

The International Wine of the Month Club’s Collectors Series is proud to offer three exciting and highly allocated wines in November from three countries. We begin with the 2017 Fore Family Carneros Napa Pinot Noir. Few California producers fashion a Pinot as bold and beautiful as the 2017 Fore Family Carneros Napa Pinot Noir, yet still retain the elegance and complexity for which the finest Pinot Noirs are renowned. The 2017 Fore Family Carneros Napa Pinot Noir does that and more, offering up savory scents of Morello cherries, woodland blackberries and a cornucopia of enticing spices from the minute it is poured. Faithful to the Fore style, the wine’s beckoning aromatics follow through on the palate, carried on a bed of silky tannins that continue to caress the palate long after the wine has been swallowed. Unfolding slowly with each sip, the wine’s hauntingly beautiful fruit, exotic spice, and fresh forest floor tones are an absolute delight. And given Fore Family’s track record for crafting Pinot Noirs that continue to improve in bottle and drink well for up to a decade or more, you can bet the 2017 Fore Family Carneros Napa Pinot Noir will be even more enticing tomorrow than it is today.

This month’s highly allocated Collectors Series white wine is Delamotte’s Brut N.V. Champagne from the celebrated Champagne house that fashions Champagne’s legendary Salon-Le-Mesnil. Elegance, finesse, and delicacy are the hallmarks of all Delamotte champagnes, and Delamotte’s Brut N.V. provides the ideal introduction into Delamotte’s prestigious house style. Lithe in the glass and sporting a fine delicate mousse, Delamotte’s Brut immediately strikes the right chord. Enticing aromas of orchard fruits mingled with soft scents of hazelnuts and pain grillé greet the nose. In the mouth, the wine truly turns on its charm with crisp clean mineral driven flavors that complement the wine’s delicate fruit and delightfully toasty elements. Refreshing and beautifully balanced, it is hard to imagine a finer, more sophisticated Brut champagne than Delamotte’s Brut N.V.

To round out this month’s Collectors Series is the 2015 Casa Silva S38 Los Lingues Single Block Cabernet Sauvignon, the estate’s rarest and most highly allocated wine: Wow! this newly released wine makes quite a statement. Always pushing the envelope, the 2015 S38 Cabernet Sauvignon is unquestionably the finest Cabernet to date from Casa Silva. This illustrious winery has imbued their 2015 S38 Cabernet Sauvignon with a gorgeous deep ruby/ purple color, an intense bouquet, and a wealth of flavors in the form of ripe blackberries, tobacco, mint, and chocolate tones. Long in the mouth and saturated with flavor, the 2015 S38 is a tour de force from Casa Silva. No wonder it garnered 93 points from Descorchados, South America’s most prestigious wine review. Enjoy!

In August, The International Wine of the Month Club’s Premier Series is proud to offer four exceptional wines from around the world, including an exclusive offering of Artesana’s 2017 Cabernet Franc Merlot Reserva. This newly released wine marks another milestone for this boutique winery. In the hands of two highly skilled women from Uruguay, Analía Lazaneo and Valentina Gatti, this unique offering combines two of Bordeaux’s most prestigious varietals to create a bold flavored wine that is both complex and polished. The 2017 Artesana Cabernet Franc Merlot Reserva comes endowed with a deep purple complexion, yet, it is what captures the nose and fills the mouth that deserves the greatest laud. An impressive array of savory scents and flavors in the form of crushed blackberry, cassis, and mulberry infused with hints of dark chocolate, unsmoked tobacco, and an intriguing herbaceous note grace the nose and mouth. Underlying the fruit and savory aspects of this wine is a solid core of ripe tannins that provide real energy and lift in addition to the promise of a long, flavor-filled life.

Our next Premier Series feature is the strikingly beautiful and downright eye-catching 2018 Château Sainte Eulalie Printemps d’Eulalie, a wine that sets a high bar for rosé. Redolent with the scents of ripe strawberries, raspberries, melons, and herbs, one is immediately enchanted. Better still, the 2018 Printemps d’Eulalie offers juicy flavors and a real mouthful of wine to satisfy the palate, without sacrificing delicacy or freshness. A true crowd pleaser from start to finish, the 2018 Château Sainte Eulalie Printemps d’Eulalie captures the savory scents of spring and evokes the allure of southern France. Drink this flavorful rosé early and often. But have no fear; there is plenty of stuffing in this wine to carry it through until well into next year and beyond.

Next in August’s world tour of wine is the 2017 Rayen Monastrell from the heartland of Spain – a wine that lives up to Monastrell’s reputation for yielding deeply colored, bold flavored wines. Purple with a bluish tinge, this scion from the sun-splashed land of Castilla makes a statement even before one’s nose or mouth can greet the glass. Forceful and tannic, but not hard-edged, this youthful Monastrell from Castilla La Mancha delivers plenty of savory berry and black fruit scents and flavors along with hints of clove, vanilla, and other spices. Although not overly complex, Rayen’s 2017 Monastrell is nonetheless unctuous, mouth filling, and satisfying.

Completing this month’s Premier Series portfolio is the 2017 Domaine de la Racauderie Gautier Vouvray Sec, a truly exceptional Vouvray that exemplifies the role fine weather plays in determining the quality in France’s Loire Valley. The 2017 Domaine de la Racauderie Gautier Vouvray Sec sports a cheerful sun-kissed robe and sensual aromatics in the form of orchard fruit blossoms, ripe pear, dried honey, and Vouvray’s distinctive minerality born of the region’s limestone-rich tufa soil. In the mouth, this wine bursts with flavor and mouthwatering acidity at the same time that it highlights a core of textured fruit that hints of pear and quince. This Vouvray’s finish is long and vivacious, suggesting that it has many more excellent years ahead of it. Enjoy!

The International Wine of the Month Club’s Collectors Series is delighted to reveal three special offerings in August. Beginning this month’s tour is the 2016 Josep Grau Vespres Montsant from an outstanding vintage. Born of old vines of Garnacha (80% Grenache) and Samsó (20% Carignan), many of which are 100 years of age, the 2016 Vespres sports an opaque purple robe, an enticing, sensual aroma, and a boatload of flavors that flow joyfully from the glass. Fragrant with an alluring bouquet of freshly picked raspberries, woodland blackberries, and wild violets infused with touches of exotic spices and a hint of wood smoke, the bouquet of the 2016 Josep Grau Vespres is nothing short of alluring. The wine’s palate appeal is equally gratifying as layers of ripe fruit unfold in the mouth, bolstered by firm, juicy tannins that provide energy and freshness. Add a pleasant minerality and just the right amount of oak from 10 months in barrel and the 2016 Josep Grau Vespres positively sings from the glass.

Our next August Collectors Series offering is the 2018 Domaine Moreux Les Bouffants Sancerre, a wine that emanates from a small, steep hillside parcel rich in limestone and rock next to Les Damnés, the “Grand Cru” of Chavignol. The exceptional 2018 vintage, which many in Sancerre are already calling legendary, has yielded a classic energetic Sancerre. The 2018 Les Bouffants exhibits Sancerre’s telltale pale yellow color, striking aromatics, and ripe fruit flavors infused with the appellation’s mouthwatering minerality. In short, 2018 has allowed the Moreux brothers to fully work their magic, crafting a Sancerre that is resplendent with citrus and passion fruit flavors infused with melon, fig, and a juicy, mineral-rich acidity. Balanced, flavorful, and delightfully dry, Domaine Moreux’s laser-like 2018 Les Bouffants Sancerre is the wine of choice when only the finest Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre will do.

Rounding out this month’s Collectors Series is the 2013 Pasanau Finca La Planeta Priorat. Albert Pasanau has fashioned an exceptional and complex Priorat in the estate’s 2013 Finca La Planeta. Emanating from Priorat’s highest vineyard, this special offering exhibits a deep, nearly impenetrable color from the preeminence of Cabernet Sauvignon. Add Finca La Planeta’s beautiful and distinctive bouquet of black fruits and graphite and a resemblance to classified Bordeaux, and the great Château Lafite springs to mind. And much like a young Château Lafite, the 2013 Finca La Planeta is initially reticent upon emerging from the bottle, but not for very long. The wine’s deep berry flavors, graphite, thyme and hints of cedar quickly come to fore. Full-bodied, intense, and endowed with an iron core, the 2013 Finca La Planeta retains a combination of Bordeaux hauteur and Spanish warmth, a wine that is both sleek and immensely flavorful.

Enjoy!

International Wine of the Month Club’s Premier Series is pleased to offer four exceptional wines in July from all corners of the globe. Beginning this month’s odyssey is the delicious 2015 Atze’s Corner Grenache Syrah Mourvèdre from Australia’s Barossa. The 2015 Atze’s Corner GSM displays a beautiful deep ruby and violet colored robe that pleases the eye, and a sensuous bouquet that heralds the wine’s juicy palate-pleasing flavors. Savory scents and flavors of black currant and mulberry infused with hints of cocoa, spring flowers and touches of toasted oak delight the nose and mouth. Soft and succulent on the palate, the 2015 Atze’s Corner GSM gives very little hint of the latent power that lies behind the wine’s sumptuous fruit and polished tannins, until after the wine has so elegantly slipped down the thirsty throat. Smooth and seemingly lighter in alcohol than one might think, Atze’s GSM is a joy to drink, but make no mistake; it’s no lightweight.

Our next Premier Series feature is the 2017 Vigne Sannite Falanghina del Sannio, a wine that embodies the allure and beauty of Campania’s Amalfi Coast. It blends the full tropical flavors of Falanghina with the salty freshness of the nearby Tyrrhenian Sea. To whet the appetite, fresh scents of green apple, lime, and sea spray splashed with a dash of quince spring from the glass to tantalize the nose before magically re-emerging in the wine’s fresh, invigorating mid-palate. Crisp and zesty from start to finish, Vigne Sannite’s 2017 Falanghina makes a convincing case for the ancient Falanghina variety, one of Italy’s oldest and most revered grapes.

Next in this month’s exciting quartet is the 2012 Valle Secreto First Edition Carmenère from Chile’s Cachapoal Valley (aka Rapel Valley). This is a wine that has matured beautifully in bottle, gaining both weight and depth with age. In true Valle Secreto fashion, the 2012 First Edition Carmenère sports an intense red color with purple notes, which foreshadow the wine’s charming, extroverted personality. Amplifying berry aromas bound from the glass, redolent with the scents of woodland blackberry and currant with an infusion of bergamot and wild herbs. To complement its seductive aroma, the 2012 Valle Secreto First Edition Carmenère follows up with an explosion of flavor in the mouth that is rich and rewarding without a tannic bite. Mouth-filling flavors of black berry fruit, dark chocolate and racy spice tones all come together in the mouth, supported by smooth, fine grained tannins and a light patina of oak. Warm, supple, and full of flavor, this wine drinks beautifully from the moment it is poured.

Rounding out July’s Premier Series portfolio is the 2018 Le Provençal Côtes de Provence Rosé from the Mâitres Vignerons de la Vidaubanaise. The 2018 Le Provençal conjures images of the sun-drenched Provençal countryside along with the region’s rarified air and illuminated landscapes, all of which shimmer beside the sparkling Mediterranean Sea. Le Provençal is bottled in the traditional “flute à corset,” the distinctive bottle of the Provence region, that recalls charming flower-bedecked villages, colorful outdoor cafés, and fun in the sun. Delicate in color, much like the lightest of pink roses, the 2018 Le Provençal Rosé enchants the eye as well as the nose and palate. Delicate scents of cherry blossoms and woodland strawberries haunt the nose and seep surreptitiously into the wine’s spritely flavor profile. This is a dry, scented, savory rosé whose delicacy and evanescence render it unabashedly attractive. No oak, no hard angles, no smoke or mirrors, the Maitres Vignerons’ 2018 Le Provençal Rosé is just plain seductive and… so refreshing.

The International Wine of the Month Club’s Collectors Series is proud to offer three exceptional wines in July from the United States and France to celebrate our nation’s founding, beginning with Talty’s 2013 Dry Creek Valley Estate Zinfandel. Talty’s style of Zinfandel embodies elements of Old and New World winemaking, resulting in a wine that exhibits both dense fruit and a tannic backbone along with all of the brambly elements that Dry Creek Valley happily imparts to its finest Zinfandels. Rich in color and pleasantly aromatic with savory scents of berry and bramble, the 2013 Talty Dry Creek Valley Estate Zinfandel immediately establishes itself as serious Zinfandel. No blowsy raisined or half-baked fruit in this wine. On the palate, Talty’s flagship wine offers deep down fruit flavors infused with bramble, spice, and plenty of structured chewy tannins to satisfy the most ardent Zinfandel aficionado as well those whose tastes gravitate to the Cabernets of Napa. The 2013 Talty Dry Creek Valley Estate Zinfandel personifies Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel – a wine whose bold flavors personify its distinctive New World home at the same time that they recall Zinfandel’s Old World origins.

Our next July Collectors Series offering is the elegant, pure, and complex 2018 Château Margüi Côteaux Varois en Provence Rosé, the ultimate Provençal rosé. This gorgeous rosé offers a captivating salmon-pink color to dazzle the eye, while a pretty set of aromatics entices the nose with citrus, white peach, and faint touches of lavender and wild herbs. In the mouth, the wine’s clean, crisp fruit, juicy acidity, and pinpoint minerality provide complexity and balance that superbly complement the floral aspects of the wine. The 2018 Château Margüi Côteaux Varois en Provence offers great near-term drinking pleasure; however, the best in this wine has yet to come. Unlike most rosé wines whose lifespan ends with the fading warmth of summer, this pearl from Château Margüi is a wine for all seasons, as it is flavorful and complex enough to flesh out in bottle and drink beautifully for several more years.

Completing this month’s Collectors Series is Dustin Pfaff’s exceptional 2015 Bernier Vineyard Petite Sirah. This is a wine that demonstrates how downright dazzling head-pruned and dry-farmed Petite Sirah from Dry Creek Valley can be, especially when grown by Paul Bernier. Emanating from one of the very finest Petite Sirah vineyards in Sonoma County and superbly crafted by Dustin Pfaff at Talty, this exquisite blend of 90% Petite Sirah and 10% Zinfandel is knock-out gorgeous. Only the third release of this wine from a vineyard planted in the 1970s, the 2015 D. Pfaff Bernier Vineyard Petite Sirah combines super rich flavor with smooth, ripe tannins. Intense blackberry and blueberry fruit, hints of vanilla from ageing in American oak, and a wealth of enticing earth and spice tones greet the nose and palate in this bold, beautiful red. To say this is no ordinary Petite Sirah is an understatement as Dustin Pfaff’s 2015 Bernier Vineyard Petite Sirah truly ranks among the finest California can produce. Not only is it delicious and eminently drinkable now, it is capable of ageing gracefully for up to 10 years or more. Enjoy!