OCTOBER WINE CLUB
REDS | WHITES | PLUS REDS | PLUS WHITES
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***WINE CLUB REDS***
1. Ravaut Bourgogne rouge 2022
GRAPE 100% Pinot Noir
TYPE organic, regional level Red Burgundy
YEAR 2022; hot and dry
NOTES Vincent Ravaut will be certified EU organic as of this vintage. They’ve dialed back oak, and, crucially, have abandoned “pigeage” (punching down) to extract their wines. Once necessary to pull color and flavor from grapes in vintages on the margin, Pinot Noir now arrives at harvest with enough concentration to ferment more gently. The resulting wines are smoother, beautifully balanced, and simply delicious young. No wine has improved more than their humble Bourgogne Côte d’Or rouge. In 2022 the nose is dark and plummy with juicy notes of wild cherries and earth. The Ravauts elected not to filter this wine this year, and the result is a juicy and effortlessly enjoyable glass of old-world Pinot Noir.
FOOD grilled salmon; mushroom crêpes
PRICE: $29 ($23.20/bot with club discount)
2. Bonnefond Syrah 2020
GRAPE 100% Syrah
TYPE regional Northern Rhône Syrah
YEAR 2020; hot and dry
NOTES Christophe Bonnefond’s Syrah is one of the only wines in our portfolio with a “Vin de Pays” appellation, the broadest category in France. It’s always carried Bonnefond’s signature elegance and tension, most famously found in their terrific Côte Rôties. This 2022 Syrah is downright delicious – bursting with cool blueberry and raspberry fruit, the tannins are juicy and soft. At only 13.5% alcohol it’s not a bit flat or heavy – a gorgeous vibrant texture underlies the dark fruit and savory spice, making it as hard to put down as a bag of potato chips. Serve with takeout pizza on a weeknight.
FOOD beef skewers; ratatouille
PRICE: $25 ($20/bot with club discount)
3. Belland Santenay 1er “Beauregard” 2022
GRAPE 100% Pinot Noir
TYPE red Burgundy from the Côte de Beaune
YEAR 2022; hot and dry
NOTES “Beautiful and bountiful,” writes Jasper Morris of the 2022 red Burgundies; “very good wines and plenty of them.” William Kelley calls them “succulent, suave and charming,” “offering excellence in both colors and in a wide variety of styles.” Roger Belland’s Santenay 1er cru “Beauregard” is delicious in this vintage. After a few minutes in the glass, its sunny ripe fruit begins to emerge. In the mouth it is particularly pleasant, fresh enough but not brisk, and round but not too mouth-filling. The combination gives it an elegant feel, with ripe tannins providing support at the back end.
FOOD roasted duck breast, coq au vin
PRICE: $54 ($43.20/bot with club discount)
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***WINE CLUB WHITES***
1. Boyer-Martenot Aligoté 2021
GRAPE 100% Aligoté
TYPE white Burgundy from the Côte d’Or, Burgundy’s other grape
YEAR 2021; cool and rainy
NOTES Vincent Boyer is among the small group of vignerons who watched the region warming and recognized its potential to elevate the quality of Aligoté, Chardonnay’s poor relation. Les Aligoteurs, as they are known, have brought Aligoté light years beyond its skinny, acidic past. Vincent raises his Aligoté in older versions of the same barrels he uses for his famous wines from Meursault and Puligny, which gives the wine a roundness and weight that we wouldn’t have thought possible from this modest grape. Burghound praised the 2021’s “exceptionally fresh aromas includ[ing] those of lemon rind, green apple and spice,” and its “very fine persistence on the clean and agreeably dry finish.”
FOOD salty cheeses, brebis, délice
PRICE: $29 ($23.20/bot with club discount)
2. Fontainerie Vouvray Sec 2022
GRAPE 100% Chenin Blanc
TYPE unoaked white from the Central Loire
YEAR 2022; hot and dry
NOTES Located in Vouvray in the central Loire Valley, Fontainerie is a small 6-hectare estate producing delicious wines of pure Chenin Blanc. The winemaker is Catherine Dhoye-Deruet – she’s run the place since the 1990s, and it’s been in her family since the early 1700s. This cuvée is just what we want from Vouvray – pure, classic, refreshing Chenin blanc, raised in steel (no oak) and fermented fully dry. The nose is floral and fresh, with notes of apple blossom, ripe pear, saffron, and chalk. The mouth is clean and crisp, with smooth fruit and a clean finish. Simple, delightful summertime Chenin blanc.
FOOD roast pork with apples
PRICE: $25 ($20.00/bot with club discount)
3. Morey Bourgogne blanc 2023
GRAPE 100% Chardonnay
TYPE Côte d’Or regional white Burgundy
YEAR 2023; warm, dry, abundant
NOTES Morey’s white Burgundies are quietly extraordinary. They’re concentrated but perfectly channeled, long but refined – immaculate fruit and stones join the merest whisper of oak. This cuvée shows all the meticulous concentration of Morey’s wines, but without the site-specific terroir shining through. It’s not about the chiseled stoniness of Puligny, or the shimmering golden energy of Chassagne; this is about winemaker style. And what a style it is. The nose shows lime zest and white flowers, the mouth shows yellow plum and earth. Burghound called this “lovely,” and we think you will too.
FOOD grilled halibut
PRICE: $48 ($38.40/bot with club discount)
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***WINE CLUB PLUS: REDS***
1. Murmure du Larcis Ducasse St-Emilion Grand Cru 2018
GRAPE Merlot–Cabernet blend
TYPE Right Bank Bordeaux
YEAR 2018; hot and sunny
NOTES One of our favorite recent “second wine” discoveries is the Murmure du Larcis Ducasse, a St-Emilion Grand Cru. Château Larcis Ducasse is a well-known estate whose flagship label “flirts with perfection” in good vintages (Jeb Dunnuck). James Suckling gave the 2018 Murmure a 95, just two points behind the flagship label that year, finding it “elegant… juicy, and fleshy texture… savory… such balance.” This wine stole the show at our tasting in January, and we’re delighted it’s finally arrived. Among a crowded field of other St-Emilions, this showed a beautiful floral nose with violets and plum, and lush, very fresh fruit. The mouth is sturdy and rich, and every tannin is coated in gorgeous ripe fruit.
FOOD roast beef
PRICE: $52 ($41.60/bot with club discount)
2. Jean-Noël Gagnard Santenay 1er cru “Tavannes” 2020
GRAPE 100% Pinot Noir
TYPE red Burgundy from the Côte de Beaune
YEAR 2020; warm and dry, small yields
NOTES A century ago Chassagne-Montrachet was best known for its reds, and indeed the clay- and iron-rich soils are very well suited to Pinot Noir. Caroline Lestimé, winemaker at Domaine Jean-Noël Gagnard, has made wine in Chassagne for 40 years and is a master of its terroir. Her whites are extraordinary and legendary, but her reds are quietly brilliant as well. The Santenay 1er cru “Tavannes” lies just over the Chassagne border and produces dark, brooding, delicious reds that sport Caroline’s signature polish and class. Jasper Morris awarded 94 points, finding “Lovely fresh purple, fine and classy… good grip at the back, and fine length.”
FOOD duck confit and lentils
PRICE: $85 ($68.00/bot with club discount)
3. Bonnefond Côte Rôtie “Colline de Couzou” 2022
GRAPE 100% Syrah
TYPE Northern Rhône Syrah
YEAR 2022; warm and dry
NOTES Vinous’s Nicholas Greinacher puts it well: “Seldom does Syrah produce wines of such elegance and detail as it does in Côte-Rôtie… Usually medium-bodied at most and often red-fruited and hauntingly floral, these wines can dazzle with refinement and finesse.” For more than 20 years we have watched winemaker Christophe Bonnefond’s style evolve to emphasize these special characteristics. Bonnefond’s Côte Rôtie “Colline de Couzou” is particularly impressive for its balance. There is plenty of freshness, but it supports beautifully ripe fruit with a fine mouthfeel, papery tannins, and a silky finish. A mineral line joins in, adding slightly earthy notes like black olives; and the nose adds spice, black pepper, and floral overtones of violets.
FOOD lamb shish kebabs
PRICE: $65 ($52.00/bot with club discount)
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***WINE CLUB PLUS: WHITES***
1. Vessigaud Pouilly-Fuissé VV 2023
GRAPE 100% Chardonnay
TYPE old-vine white Burgundy from the Maconnais
YEAR 2023; hot and dry, and abundant
NOTES Vessigaud is Demeter certified (the highest Biodynamic level), and the results in the glass are obvious: vibrant wines full of tension and bursting with life. The Pouilly-Fuissé “Vieilles Vignes” 2023 is the principal cuvée of the domaine, made from 20 small parcels scattered across the Fuissé part of the appellation. The vines range from 40 to 70 years old, face all four points of the compass, and grow in a variety of marl, clay, and limestone soils. Élevage for this cuvée is 80% in larger, older oak barrels, and 20% in concrete vats, all for 18 months. The result is a wine of excellent balance and complexity. A series of very hot days at the end of the 2023 growing season concentrated the grapes, both in freshness and ripeness, making this a big, well-balanced Pouilly-Fuissé.
FOOD roasted chicken
PRICE: $42 ($33.60/bot with club discount)
2. Forces Telluriques Viré-Clessé “Amphora” 2022
GRAPE 100% Chardonnay
TYPE unoaked Maconnais white Burgundy
YEAR 2022; hot and dry
NOTES This domaine was farming organically and biodynamically, using only indigenous yeasts, for many years before we discovered it. The vines are very old and treated like family members. Today they average more than sixty years, the oldest are centenarian. This cuvée is raised in amphora, which allows micro-oxygenation similar to small oak barrels but without the addition of oak flavors. The result is a more fully developed wine, rounded yet maintaining the freshness of its 13% alcohol level. Morris was even more enthusiastic about this one, giving it his 5/5 star award, and writing: “love the balance of this…pears not peaches, with excellent length.”
FOOD miso-glazed black cod
PRICE: $62 ($49.60/bot with club discount)
3. Lestimé Chassagne-Montrachet “Chaumes” 2022
GRAPE 100% Chardonnay
TYPE organic Côte d’Or White Burgundy
YEAR 2022; hot and dry
NOTES Caroline Lestimé has led the domaine named for her father Jean-Noël Gagnard for nearly three decades. “The style is classic, even charmingly old-fashioned,” writes William Kelley. Caroline also runs a négociant business making wine from purchased grapes under the Lestimé label. The 2022 vintage was the hottest on record, and the whites all show a fleshy, sunny character. But in the hands of careful winemakers, acidity, fruit, and oak balance beautifully into a terrifically successful wine. The nose shows the signature Gagnard richness and opulence, with notes of lemon pulp, hazelnut, vanilla, and white flowers. The palate is a real mouthful – punchy and rich with great zip and a long, elegant finish for a village-level wine.
FOOD fish in beurre blanc
PRICE: $99 ($79.20/bot with club discount)