Event

Every Thursday from 4:00 until 8:00 pm we open a special bottle of wine and offer to you at a highly discounted price.
The wines are typically 90 points or better and are discounted 20-40%. Sometimes even more! when we can get special pricing from our vendors , we pass the savings along to you!!
Come in on Thursday and sample. If you can't make it, call us and we can put some aside for you!! 
(All purchases must be accompanied by a credit card.)

"The Ripper”

Shiraz  2011

Forget Jack……. this bottle is a real killer!

From the Donnybrook Vineyard (sounds like an Aussie kind of place) and aged in 38% French oak and 62% American oak this gem has the perfect bottle age on it to enjoy now or for the next few years.

The Ripper means - “something excellent”, “fantastic”, “splendid” or, my favorite, “pedal to the metal”.

90 Points! The Wine Advocate

  "This deep garnet-purple colored 100% Shiraz is intensely scented of creme de cassis, blueberry preserves and black cherry compote with an undercurrent of baking spices, vanilla, aniseed and dark chocolate plus a whiff of eucalyptus. Full-bodied, rich and voluptuously fruited in the mouth, it gives tons of black fruit and spice flavors that are framed by a medium level of velvety tannins and bright acidity. It finishes with good persistence. "

 Elsewhere at $24.99

Our Everyday Price $21.99

Special Sale Price Only 

$16.50 a bottle 
 $88.50  for 6 bottles

Click here or call  us 

703-668-WINE (9463)

Our Thoughts on this wine.....

Inky dark red, black with purple hue. A generous blackberry aroma and dark cherry fruit characters mingle with undertones of licorice, mocha, cedar and oak. The oak maturation has enhanced the spice and mocha characters of the wine while some open fermentation has helped enrich the fruitfulness and general complexity. This full bodied Shiraz will complement any red meat dish or white meat with rich sauce.

Michael Hope’s Notes and his Words

“The Ripper” story is an amazing tale. Our West Australian Shiraz fruit is crushed, chilled then trucked across the country for over three days before we start fermentation. This extended cold maceration produces dense color and flavor with a fine tannin structure. The cool hills of Donnybrook give us amazing elegance while retaining the classic spicy Shiraz characters. Truly a Ripper!!

Hope Estate was founded by Michael Hope, who describes himself as ‘just a country boy from Young’. A pharmacist by trade, he built up a prosperous chain of pharmacies in rural NSW and Sydney before deciding to move out of Sydney.

Hope Estate was established in 1994 when Michael gave up his pharmacy career to do something he loved – to make wine. Together with his wife Karen they purchased their first vineyard at Broke in the Hunter consisting of 30 acres of vines on a 250 acre property. The quality of fruit produced from these vineyards was exceptional and the potential of the area was further realised with more vines being planted. Being ideally suited to whites this was then followed up with a second purchase being 200 acres of the famed red basalt soil at Fordwich. This has since been planted with 100 acres of Shiraz and Merlot.

 The winery, adjoining the new Fordwich vineyard, was purchased in 1996 and occupies the site of the former Saxonvale Winery which lay dormant for a number of years. Renamed the Hill of Hope, after years of standing as en empty shell, the winery once again became operational after having been refitted for his first vintage of Hope Estate in 1997.

Taking a giant leap forward Michael acquired the Kyneton based Virgin Hills wine business in Victoria and the 45 acre Donnybrook vineyard in Western Australia in 2000. All wine from these interstate vineyards being bottled, warehoused and distributed from his Hunter headquarters at Broke.

 Since then he’s built one of the Hunter’s most successful family owned wineries. Based in Broke for the last decade, Michael’s wines are perhaps better known overseas than in Australia.

 When a coal mine decided to mine under this Broke winery, Michael knew it was time to fulfil a long term dream and move to the heart of Pokolbin. In 2006 his purchase of the Rothbury Estate property meant this flagship Hunter winery was finally back in family hands. The Hunter Valley winery rose to fame through the efforts of the late wine legends Len Evans and Murray Tyrrell. This 420 acre winery is a Hunter icon and has symbolised the best of the Hunter – world class wines, industry best production facilities, enviable tasting rooms and staff with a deep love and knowledge of wine.