Author: Thomas Wilcox

There are winners and losers from the warming trend in France. Weather hazards aside, the Loire Valley and much of Burgundy have come out more or less ahead. In the south, the extremes have been less friendly. It’s no longer uncommon to find wines at nearly 16% alcohol – Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre soak up whatever sun they’re given, and there’s only so much winemakers can do to counter temperatures over 100F.

All of this makes Nicolas Hanei’s wines from his tiny Domaine Malmont that much more exciting. Grown high in the hills above Séguret in the Southern Rhône, the Malmont grenache and syrah vines struggle though rock-laden nutrient-poor soils, slowing their maturation. The west-facing hillside at 1200 feet of elevation enjoys plentiful breezes throughout the growing season, keeping the grapes cool and healthy.

The resulting wines are almost an anomaly in the modern Rhône Valley: organic, delicious southern red blends with modest alcohol and fresh textures. Phey show the dark, dense rich fruit for which the region is known, but always with vibrant tension and lift. The 2022 is perfect – smooth blackberry-plum fruit with a mineral backbone and beautiful aromatic lift. If you miss the days when you could enjoy a southern Rhône red blend without having to take a nap afterwards, Malmont is the producer for you.

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Malmont Séguret 2022
bottle price: $32

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Many famous chateaux in Bordeaux produce a “second wine,” a bottling of juice from younger vines or less favored corners of the vineyard. The quality of this cuvée varies greatly depending on chateau and vintage, but at its best it can be an early maturing wine with excellent pricing, and a careful consumer can find tremendous value.

One of our favorites recent second wine discoveries is the Murmure du Larcis Ducasse, a St-Emilion Grand Cru. Chateau Larcis Ducasse is a well known estate whose flagship label “flirts with perfection” in good vintages (Jeb Dunnuck). We’ve just acquired some of the second wine from 2018, and it’s a real find. If you’re in need of a serious, mature, sub-$60 Bordeaux, look no further.

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. Drink with steak.

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Murmure du Larcis Ducasse
St-Emilion Grand Cru 2018
bottle price: $52

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Alsace is a gorgeous winegrowing region – bucolic hillsides of vines surround fairytale villages on a sunny, east-facing ridge. Its wines can be similarly charming: expressive and delicate with beautiful fruit and vibrant textures. Our source here, the Domaine Charles Frey, is a family of committed biodynamic vingerons, producing wines of freshness and balance.

Frey’s Pinot Blanc “Eclectic” is one of our favorite summer sippers. It’s expressive and floral in the nose, with ripe orchard fruit, white spices and occasional exotic notes. You’d almost expect it to be sweet from the bouquet, but the mouth is dry and vibrant, with a hint of grapeskin bitterness alongside the melon-apple fruit.

There’s enough body to make it attractive all by itself, as an aperitif alongside a salty snack; but it’s also light enough to be an attractive partner to a dinner salad at the end of a muggy summer afternoon, whether on a roof deck, patio, or at an outdoor picnic. Grab a case of this in preparation for carefree summer enjoyment.

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Frey Pinot Blanc “Eclectic” 2023
bottle price: $22

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The 2022 red Burgundies are shaping up to be an extraordinary vintage. Expectations were high from the start: “beautiful and bountiful… very good wines and plenty of them” wrote Jasper Morris. William Kelley called them on release “succulent, suave and charming.” The last year of tasting them in our homes and at the warehouse has confirmed – this is an all around terrific vintage.

The fruit is modern and ripe, the result of a very hot, very dry growing season. And yet the wines show impeccable balance, with low alcohols and excellent freshness. Roger Belland’s 2022 reds are some of the best he’s made, coinciding with a shift in winemaking style: they’ve dialed back the oak, extended elevage, added whole clusters.

The Santenay 1er cru “Beauregard” 2022 is simply delicious, and just getting started. Tasting just after bottling, Burghound noted “fine richness…suave and succulent flavors…could be enjoyed young but has the stuffing to replay up to a decade of keeping.” Over the past 18 months in the bottle its youthful red fruits have mellowed a tad, and the palate has deepened and softened a beat or two. It’s still youthful and fresh, and we think it’s entering a terrific window.

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Belland Santenay 1er rouge “Beauregard” 2022
bottle price: $54

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Wine writer Lettie Teague once described Sancerre as a wine that delivers “pleasure not profundity.” We think this is an excellent description – sometimes a moment calls for a grand, majestic wine, but other times all you need is something crisp, refreshing, and reliable.

Domaine de la Garenne’s Sancerre is the most popular white wine in our store, and with good reason – it perfectly balances fruit, freshness, minerals and energy, all in an affordable package. It’s Sauvignon Blanc in its purest form. Grown on a combination of flint, clay, and limestone soils, it’s prototypical Sancerre – no oak, crisp minerality, lovely dry fruit. The 2024 is in our May Futures brochure, but in the meantime we’re delighted to have restocked on the 2023.

The 2023 summer was warm and humid, but meticulous growers like Garenne produced a classic vintage – low alcohol, crisp minerality, nicely integrated acidity. The nose has grapefruit and stones, alongside hints of white flowers and chalk. The mouth is easy, crisp, and delicious with dry fruit and a vibrant finish – everything you want in a weeknight Sancerre.

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Garenne Sancerre 2023
bottle price: $29

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Credit for the discovery of sparkling wine is a matter of dispute. The monks of Limoux in the South of France claim 1531 as the date of genesis; the Champenois, with their stories of widows and Benedictine monks, have certainly won the publicity war; and even the Brits, who invented glass thick enough to contain the pressure, stake a claim.

But whomever you credit with its creation or taming, the world has become quite fond of bubbles over the past few centuries. We stock Champagnes from four Grower producers, but our best value bubbles are the crémants from Maison Picamelot. William Kelley, Wine Advocate editor in chief and former Champagne reviewer, writes that “Picamelot produces some of the best sparkling wines in Burgundy,” calling them “elegant,” “excellent,” and “superb.”

Picamelot’s full lineup is back in stock, including today’s suggestion – “Les Terroirs” Brut NV. This cuvée combines three grapes from three corners of Burgundy — Pinot Noir from the Côte de Nuits, Chardonnay from the Côte de Beaune, and Aligoté from the Côte Chalonnaise. After its first fermentation, the wine ages on its lees for over a year, gaining complexity and richness. The result is a delicious wine that’s as honest a representation of Burgundy as any still wine.

In the glass (we suggest skipping the flute), “les Terroirs” is bright and lively, with nice dryness and pleasant, delicate mouthfeel — an extraordinarily versatile food-pairing wine. Pair with a simple summer salad, or add a dash of crème de cassis for a classy aperitif.

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Picamelot Crémant “Terroirs” NV
bottle price: $28

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For years St-Aubin was a white Burgundy collector’s hidden gem. Today it’s no longer hidden – many writers put in on par with Chassagne, Puligny and Meursault – but it’s still a gem. Tucked away down a valley running west from the Côte d’Or, St-Aubin’s vineyards average higher elevation than many towns, a boon in warm climates.

For decades our source here has been the Domaine Gérard Thomas, a traditional, family run white Burgundy source with a small collection of excellent terroirs. Their St-Aubins are wonderful, and extremely well-priced, but the best value is the humble Bourgogne blanc. And in 2023, a vintage with terrific ripeness and beautiful acidity, Thomas’s wines shine.

We’re delighted (at last) to welcome the 2023s into our stock. Thomas’s 2023 Bourgogne Côte d’Or is fresh and delightful – the nose shows meyer lemon and stones, and the mouth is a balance between ripe fruit and mouthwatering freshness. A muted note of wood joins the fruit, and the weight is perfect, with length that tastes more like a village-level wine.

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Thomas Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2023
bottle price: $35

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Chassagne-Montrachet is a town synonymous with opulence and richness. Its wines combine weight without heaviness – everything you want in a top class white Burgundy – but usually comes with a hefty pricetag. Roger Belland’s Santenay 1er cru “Beauregard” blanc is not quite as complex or long-lived as a Chassagne premier cru, but for half the price it does an admirable impression, and we think it’s a steal.

Belland’s Beauregard blanc vines are a few hundred yards from the Chassagne-Montrachet border, and the wine drinks like it’s from much fancier terroir. The 2022 Beauregard blanc is magnificent – real freshness to support the lush fruit, a mix of orchard and citrus. There’s a hint of wood rounding out the concentrated, supple fruit flavors.

Burghound found it “Outstanding,” calling it “opulent yet punchy,” concluding “This is really quite lovely and worth checking out.” Village White Burgundies under $100 have become harder and harder to find of late, (see our recent expansions in the Maconnais). But this $62 white Burgundy is the real deal – particularly in 2022, we think most blind tasters would place it over the border in Chassagne.

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Belland Santenay 1er blanc “Beauregard” 2022
bottle price: $62

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In most corners of France, the 2022 vintage was the hottest and driest on record. While this might not portend positively for the future, some wines have undoubtedly benefited. Particularly on the margins – regional level cuvées and lesser-known appellations – the extra heat has made ordinary wines quite impressive.

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 and well known Côte Rôties, but with less complexity and aging potential. It’s exactly the type of wine you’d expect to shine in a vintage like 2022…

…and you’d be right. The 2022 Syrah is downright delicious – bursting with cool blueberry and raspberry fruit, the tannins are juicy and delicious. 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.

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Bonnefond Syrah 2022
bottle price: $25

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The 2021 vintage was a tough one in Burgundy. A severe spring frost lowered yields dramatically, and the rest of the season was cool and wet. From a vigneron’s perspective, it was a year to forget – tons of work, for a small crop of limited aging potential.

But from a consumer’s perspective, it’s a sneaky good vintage. It sports neither the concentration nor the ripeness of hot dry years like 2020 and 2022, but this means an opportunity for those without patience or a cellar. Now with a few years in the bottle, the vintage has begun to drink superbly.

An excellent example is Pierre Gros’s Nuit-St-Georges “Les Chaliots,” a single vineyard pinot noir from the heart of the Nuits appellation. Gros’s style is finessed and elegant, all destemmed and with a long relaxing elevage – and it beautifully matches the shape of this featherweight vintage.

Trying to convert a dedicated Cali-Cab drinker to red Burgundy? This might be a little dramatic. But for those with a taste for subtlety and understatement, this is simply delicious. Serve outside from a decanter on a spring afternoon.

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Gros Nuits-St-Georges “Chalilots” 2021
bottle price: $85

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It’s easy to forget just how big Bordeaux is. The region produces more than a quarter of the wine made in France – more than Burgundy, Champagne, the Loire and Rhône Valleys, and Alsace combined. The top Bordeaux chateaux get most of the press, but there’s an ocean of wine, much of it quite interesting, in a far more reasonable price category.

A case in point, today’s discovery: Chateau Roquegrave. We stumbled upon this source last spring during our visit to the area, far off the beaten path at the northern end of the Haut-Médoc. Their humble Merlot-Cabernet Sauvignon blend is simply delicious, and has earned Cru Bourgeois status. We tasted several vintages, but the intense, jam-packed 2020 caught our eye.

This is a perfect weeknight red Bordeaux – for burgers from the grill or a hearty steak salad. It’s rich and smooth with deep violet, wild cherries, and plums; there’s fine tannin to keep it in line, well integrated oak, and a clean savory finish. A delicious workhorse Bordeaux that’s unimpressed with itself, but will that impress your guests.

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Roquegrave Haut-Médoc 2020
bottle price: $25

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Sofie Bohrmann summed up the 2022 growing season with one word: “parfait.” After the catastrophic 2021 vintage, in which some of her parcels lost over 90% of their crop, 2022 provided clean, healthy grapes, and plenty of them. It was hot and dry as it always is these days, but rain fell at exactly the right time – a bit of good luck after a season of bad.

We’ve long loved the terroirs of St-Aubin, and are pleased to see them increasingly receiving their due – even if it’s meant they’re scarcer and pricier. We have several producers who farm here, but our favorite is Domaine Bohrmann. Bohrmann’s style is low oak, pure fruit, and exquisitely balanced texture: richness, depth and energy all at once. Raised in only 15% new oak for a year, their St-Aubin 1er cru comes from “En Remilly,” considered one of the town’s top vineyards.

The 2022 is outstanding – lively and generous at the same time. It’s thick and full of a rippling intensity, combining perfectly ripe golden fruit with structure and minerality. There’s precision capable of enhancing your most refined dishes — sole meuniere, for example. The use of oak is perfect: support for the minerals and fruit, but without too much spice or toast.

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Bohrmann St-Aubin 1er “En Remilly” 2022
bottle price: $72

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Stephane Robert of the Domaine du Tunnel is one of the brightest stars in Cornas. He’s humble and quiet in person, but his wines are bold, assertive, and charming. Robert farms an envious collection of old Syrah vines around the tiny appellation, and his wines are well worthy of their hype. Vinous calls Tunnel “among the top producers of Cornas.”

Stephane also produces an excellent cuvée from St-Joseph, a large appellation that stretches from Cornas in the south to Côte Rôtie in the north. This enormous span covers a wide range of terroirs, and makes the character of St-Joseph hard to pin down. Tunnels vines are all in the south, and we think it’s best considered a JV version of his iconic Cornas.

Drawn from 40+ year old vines and clocking in at a cool 13% alcohol, this is vibrant, intense, Syrah with Tunnel’s signature polish and class. There is a pleasant nose of dark fruit supported by exceedingly fine-grained tannins, and also excellent length. Vinous’s reviewer reported that “Vivid red and black cherry, violets and leafy subtleties rise up from the glass….polished and concentrated.”

We opened this over the weekend at the depot and it stole the show. A serious, classy Northern Rhône syrah requiring no patience.

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Tunnel St-Joseph 2022
bottle price: $59

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The Maconnais has long been one of our favorite sources for white Burgundy. This southern sub-region produces wines with an often friendlier character than those of the famous Côte d’Or to the north. Maconnais whites typically have low or no oak, they’re more affordable, and require less cellaring.

One of our original sources here is Nicolas Maillet, an energetic, friendly winemaker bursting with enthusiasm for his craft. Jasper Morris MW calls Maillet “an excellent winemaker;” William Kelley calls his wines “elegantly textural and enveloping…pure and precise” with “immediate charm.” Maillet relies on indigenous yeasts for spontaneous fermentation, and never rushes the process, allowing it to proceed for months if the slow fermentation in his cool cuverie so requires.

The Macon-Verzé 2022 is flat out delicious – plenty of gras and intensity from the hot year, but with Maillet’s signature vibrant freshness. Neal Martin called it “lovely” and praised its “crisp nose of lemon rind and crushed stone.” Jasper Morris writes “Really cheerful classy fruit, crunch at the back. You just want to grab another glass of this.” This is one of the most popular wines in our portfolio, and with springtime here it’s a perfect match.

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Maillet Macon-Verzé 2022
bottle price: $35

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Climate change has made most winemakers’ jobs more difficult, but in some sectors it’s brought more good than harm. One area basking in the abundant sun these days is the Côte Chalonnaise, a sub-region of Burgundy just south of the Côte d’Or. Vignerons here do have to manage drought, powerful storms, and other new challenges, but the struggle for ripeness is largely a thing of the past.

One of the most exciting towns in the Côte Chalonnaise is Givry, where we’ve worked for many years with the terrifically talented Gautier Desvignes. Last year we added another source from the town, Nicolas Ragot. Ragot’s wines are bolder and more modern than Desvignes, with impressive concentration and sleek, delicious mouthfeels.

Ragot’s Givry 1er cru “Grand Berge” is seriously classy red Burgundy at a remarkably friendly price. It shows refined tannins and a dusty, beautiful fruit profile. The nose is more serious than his village level Givry, and the mouth is fleshier and more complex. Look for notes of violets, cassis, and bursting dark red cherries. Tasted blind you’d put this in Nuits-St-Georges.

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Ragot Givry 1er “Grand Berge” 2022
bottle price: $45

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