The Red Duo – Premium Wine Gift Box & Wrapped

The Red Duo – Premium Wine Gift Box & Wrapped - A perfect gift for red wine lovers, The Red Duo features two carefully selected premium reds presented in a beautifully wrapped gift box with a personalised card.

Whether it’s for a celebration, thank-you, or special occasion, this elegant duo showcases rich, expressive flavours from renowned wine regions. Thoughtfully curated and ready to impress, it’s a refined gift that speaks volumes.

1 x Rocca delle Macie 1787 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2019 - Tuscany, Italy

Bronze - Vironelli
Bronze - Natalie Mclean (2011 vintage)
Bronze - Heather Wall (2011 vintage)
91/100 - Natalie Mclean (2008 vintage)
90/100 - Natalie Mclean (2006 vintage)

Organic - currently undergoing certification

Natalie Mclean ''Very pleasant and full-bodied with generous dark fleshy fruit, dark spices and smoke. Superb craftsmanship in this DOCG wine. It finishes with smoke and dried herbs. Try it with prime rib tonight''

Vinello "This Italian wine delights with its elegantly dry taste......offers aromas of plums, blackberries and violets, rounded off by other fruity nuances."

Natalie Mclean ''Vintages Wine Panel: The nose suggests raspberry, spice and strawberry with a minty herbal tone. Very well made, dry, round and balanced, this medium bodied wine has medium tannins and acidity, with lovely soft cranberry, spice and floral flavours. Juicy, crisp and with a lovely full finish. Try it tonight. My note: Very pleasant and full-bodied with generous dark fleshy fruit, dark spices and smoke. Superb craftsmanship."

Natalie Mclean "Very pleasant and full-bodied Italian red wine, although somewhat past peak, so drink now. Fruit is fading. Dark spices and smoke. It finishes with smoke and dried herbs. The Sangiovese and Canailo grapes that comprise the blend in this robust red wine are grown in vineyards with the most advantageous orientation on the estate.''

Heather Wall ''This medium-bodied red wine is pale garnet in colour with aromas and flavours peaking now. Blackcurrant leaf, cassis, horse saddle, clove, eucalyptus and earthy. The wine is dry with polished tannins."

Rocca delle Macìe was established in 1973, when film producer Italo Zingarelli – of Ettore Scola’s “We All Loved Each Other So Much” fame, and also the wildly popular series of films featuring comedy duo Bud Spencer and Terence Hill (including “They Call Me Trinity” and “Trinity Is Still My Name”) – decided to realize his lifelong dream by acquiring the “Le Macìe” estate – extending across 93 hectares (230 acres) in all, of which only two were under vine – in order to create a winery in the heart of the Chianti Classico zone.

The company estate now extends to more than 500 hectares (1250 acres) with, in total, more than 200 (500 acres) used as vineyards and 22 (54 acres) as olive groves, subdivided across the company’s six estates: Le Macìe, Sant’Alfonso, Fizzano e le Tavolelle in the Chianti Classico Area, in addition to the Campomaccione and Casa Maria estates in the Morellino di Scansano Area (Maremma).

Tuscany is Italy's third most planted region (behind Sicily and Apulia) but it is eighth in terms of output, reflecting both the poor soil of Tuscany and deliberate efforts to limit yields and increase the quality in the wine. After Piedmont and the Veneto, Tuscany produces the third-highest volume of DOC/DOCG wines. More than 80% of the regions' production is in red wine, with the Sangiovese grape being Tuscany's' most prominent grape. Trebbiano is the leading white variety of the region.

The history of viticulture in Tuscany dates back to the Etruscans in the 8th century BC. From the fall of the Roman Empire and throughout the Middle Ages, monasteries were the main purveyors of wines in the region. As the aristocratic and merchant classes emerged, they inherited the share-cropping system of agriculture known as mezzadria. Many Tuscan landowners would turn their half of the grape harvest into wine that would be sold to merchants in Florence. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Tuscany returned to the rule of the Habsburgs. Chianti, Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Super Tuscan are Tuscany’s best known wines."The history of viticulture in Tuscany dates back to the Etruscans in the 8th century BC. From the fall of the Roman Empire and throughout the Middle Ages, monasteries were the main purveyors of wines in the region. As the aristocratic and merchant classes emerged, they inherited the share-cropping system of agriculture known as mezzadria. Many Tuscan landowners would turn their half of the grape harvest into wine that would be sold to merchants in Florence. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Tuscany returned to the rule of the Habsburgs. Chianti, Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Super Tuscan are Tuscany’s best known wines.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is a red wine with a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita status produced in the vineyards surrounding the town of Montepulciano, Italy. The wine is made primarily from the Sangiovese grape varietal (known locally as Prugnolo gentile) (minimum 70%), blended with Canaiolo Nero (10%–20%) and small amounts of other local varieties such as Mammolo. The wine is aged for 2 years (at least 1 year in oak barrels); three years if it is a riserva. The wine should not be confused with Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, a red wine made from the Montepulciano grape in the Abruzzo region of east-central Italy.

Sangiovese (or Nielluccio in Corsica), a dark-berried vine, is the most widely planted grape variety in Italy. Virtually synonymous with the red wines of Tuscany, and all the romanticism that goes with the territory, Sangiovese is the core constituent in some of the great names in Italian wine. Italy's love affair with Sangiovese – and indeed the world's – is generations old, though recent grapevine research suggests the variety is not as ancient as once thought.

1 x Chateau Marjosse Pierre Lurton Bordeaux Rouge 2018 - Bordeaux, France

92/100 James Suckling
92/100 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate
92/100 Vinous Media
91/100 Jeb Dunnuck
91/100 Decanter
90/92 Anthocyanes - Yohan Castaing
90/100 Jean - Marc Quarin
90/100 CellarTracker
Bronze - Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
Bronze - Jeannie Cho Lee
16/20 Jancis Robinson

80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc with a splash of old Malbec..25% oak ageing in 500l casks.

Owned by one of the world's most famous winemakers, Pierre Lurton - president of two of Bordeaux's best-known chateaux, the Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) owned Château Cheval Blanc and Château d’Yquem.

James Suckling "Beautiful and precise fruit with blueberry and blackberry character. Medium to full body and firm, silky tannins."

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate "Medium-bodied, the palate is filled with fragrant red and black fruit, framed by great freshness and soft, supple tannins, finishing on a floral note..Big old barrels were used for 25% of the crop. Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, it opens with a compelling nose of baking spices, raspberry pie, warm red and black currants, rose hip tea and fragrant earth with a waft of wild sage."

Vinous Media "A must-buy from Pierre Lurton’s home estate....lovely black currant and raspberry aromas, fresh and vibrant in the glass; plum jam and black olive notes emerge with time. The palate is underpinned by fine tannins, good substance and a crisp, cedar-tinged finish that is a pure joy."

Jeb Dunnuck "..terrific balance, and should end up being an outstanding wine....a juicy, lively, medium-bodied effort that has outstanding notes of ripe black cherries, violets, and a touch of minerality."

Decanter "It has good concentration and some savoury notes to the cassis, liquorice and black pepper spice...There was no 2017 produced at this estate because of frost, but it makes a strong return in 2018. "

CellarTracker "Make no mistake, this is one of the best (if not THE best) 2018 out there for your money. Looks, smells and tastes the part, with lovely minerally red fruit. Nice when opened last night, better today, with the tannin and structure to age nicely for a decade or so."

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider "Medium bodied, round, forward, charming and fruity, with a nice drizzle of licorice and cocoa in the finish. The wine will be delicious to enjoy on release for all its sweet, red berry charm. You can drink this value-priced Bordeaux on release."

Château Marjosse is owned by French 'wine royalty', Pierre Lurton - president of two of Bordeaux’s best-known châteaux; the Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) owned, Château Cheval Blanc and Château d’Yquem, Château Marjosse. Pierre Lurton comes from two of the great Bordeaux families. His father Dominique was the youngest son of the paterfamilias François Lurton; his uncle André Lurton who founded the eponymous wine company; his many cousins run châteaux from Pauillac to Pomerol. His mother is from the famous Lafite family.

The influential Club Enologique asserts that Pierre is the most accomplished wine personality of his famous family. Trained as a doctor but swapping his studies for wine making after four years. At 23 he took over Clos Fourtet in St Emilion, one of the fine Lurton properties, and in 1991 he was appointed head of Château Cheval Blanc (it was bought by Bernard Arnault of LVMH in 1998); in 1999 he took on Château d’Yquem, which had just been added to the Arnault portfolio.

Club Enologique describes Pierre Lurton as having the world’s most corporate wine job. "However he divides his time between two of the world’s most exalted wine properties, but comes down to earth in Entre-deux-Mers, the leafy, unpretentious appellation to the east of Bordeaux at Château Marjosse."

The Château Marjosse estate is located in Entre-deux-Mers, on the right bank of Bordeaux. Initially owned by the wine merchant Bernard Chénier, Château Marjosse was acquired by the Deleuze family, who, in 1990, gave some plots to Pierre Lurton to rent. In 1992, Pierre Lurton, who grew up in Château Reynier, neighbour to this magnificent Chartreuse, moved to a second home in Château Marjosse and, over successive years became the owner of the entire vineyard, as well as the Chartreuse in 2013.

Decanter "Since Lurton bought Château Marjosse in 1994, the estate has improved beyond recognition. Pierre's father, Dominique Lurton, also made over a further 30ha so that, under the Château Marjosse label, Lurton now exploits 42ha of vineyard, six hectares of white and 36ha of Bordeaux red – a total of 300,000 bottles a year. Pierre insists his wine is Bordeaux and not Bordeaux Supérieur because ‘my wine is only supérieur in the bottle’. His objectives are ambitious. As the quality of the terroir with clay-limestone soil is similar to some of the better areas in Saint-Emilion, he hopes to prove that wines from this area can rival those from more prestigious regions."

Sommeliers International "At Château Marjosse the land possesses yet another specific feature, known locally as “la Boulbène”, a silty-clayey texture that has developed on ancient alluvions. The fertility of these soils no longer needs to be proved, because, by chance, they are also found in Saint-Emilion, a terroir that is extremely familiar to the man who manages “Cheval Blanc” …. Pierre Lurton. Assisted in this transformation by Consultant-Oenologist Pascal Poussevin, whose recommendations range from vine growing to wine-making, Pierre Lurton’s estate has now reached its cruising speed … Beyond the fabulous adventures he experiences in his role as manager of Châteaux d’Yquem, Cheval Blanc, as well as estates in South Africa, Latin America and in Australia … it is undoubtedly with “the salt of this land here in the Entre-deux-Mers” that his years of quest for perfection will be revealed. It is clear that this region needs winegrowers of such calibre, those who possess a sixth sense and, using techniques that almost resemble intentional alchemy, transform the grapes they touch into wines that exude the unique character of a specific area."

The Entre-deux-Mers region, nicknamed by wine experts as “Little Tuscany”, is unique and jealously protected by its inhabitants. "There are fifteen appellations that constitute the Entre-deux-Mers. The most well-known of them all, reputed for its dry, lively white wines, is certainly the one which bears the name of this region! The Entre-deux-Mers cultivates a certain speciality in producing white wines, due to its basic geological assets, possessing gravelly-limestone soils, upon which Sémillon, Sauvignon, Muscadelle and even Ugni Blanc grape varieties are planted. But the variety of soils and sub-soils associated with such a complex landscape provides a diversity of terroirs … These are favourable for producing red wines, that are regrettably not sufficiently well-known, but highly prized for the complexity of their aromas, their deep, vivid colour, as well as the concentration and elegance of their tannins." Sommeliers International.

Bordeaux, in the southwest of France, needs little introduction as one of the world's most famous, prestigious and prolific wine regions. The majority of Bordeaux wines (nearly 90 percent of production volume) are the dry, medium- and full-bodied red Bordeaux Blends that established its reputation."

Merlot is a red wine grape variety with strong historic ties to Bordeaux and the southwest of France. It is the second most-planted red wine grape variety in the world, after Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot is extremely popular in northern Italy, the United States. Chile has built its reputation mainly on its Merlot-based cuvées. Merlot's flavour profile includes plum and black cherry. Often described as producing smooth, rounded and "easy drinking" wines. Merlot is often used to great effect in blends, and is known in his capacity to make some of the most famous wines in the world.