Author: Thomas Wilcox

Dupré-Goujon is quietly becoming a leading domaine in the Beaujolais. Winemakers Sebastien Dupré and Guillaume Goujon are crafting outstanding wines that elevate the potential of the gamay grape. We get emails from customers with comments like “had no idea Beaujolais could be that good,” and “best Gamay I’ve ever had, by a lot.” We agree, and often find ourselves reaching for these vibrant organic wines.

Part of the Dupré-Goujon recipe is an extended elevage (for their reds) of over two years, first in barrels, and then in tanks. This is unheard-of patience in the Beaujolais, but one that turns out exceptional wines. Next month’s Beaujolais Nouveau release is the 2026 – Dupré-Goujon is just now releasing their 2023s.

Their Côte de Brouilly “Pavé” cuvée is from 60 year old gamay vines, and the intensity from the aged vines is evident. The nose on the 2023 is deep and floral, with beautiful violet perfume; the mouth is at once chiseled and juicy, with a savory profile joining the brairy dark raspberry fruits. The tannins are fine and papery, a perfect structure for the classy fruit. Given the density we wouldn’t hesitate to age this 5 years, but it’s already a treat. Serve with grilled meats or at your next tailgate.

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Dupré-Goujon Côte de Brouilly “Pavé” 2023
bottle price: $38

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The Maconnais continues to be undefeated as a source of bang-for-buck white Burgundy. The wines here have never been better, while the secret is out about its value, the prices have yet to catch up. As evidence, we submit Sebastien Giroux, who farms a tiny 6-hectare estate essentially by himself. His disciplined, organic winemaking results in extraordinary wines – William Kelley describes them as “supple, pure and charming.”

Sebastien refuses to be rushed into bottling any of his wines on a rigid schedule, and when he believes a wine will benefit from more elevage, he waits. Many winemakers are releasing their 2025s these days; Sebastian has just released his 2023 Macon-Fuissé. Giving a $29 wine this amount of elevage is unheard of, but the results speak for themselves.

When the original lines of the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation were drawn last century, the Vers Chanes plot was forest. Today most locals agree the since-cleared land would rank inside the appellation if the lines were redrawn. Lucky for us – today it remains a Macon-Fuissé, an overperforming terroir with a less famous name.

The wine itself is exquisite – unoaked Chardonnay with precise, linear focus amid a fleshy, delicious palate. The nose calls to mind the golden lushness of Pouilly-Fuissé, but without the oak to obscure the gorgeous fruit. The mouth is lithe and precise, with chiseled minerality beneath the apple blossom and apricot notes. Sub-$30 white Burgundy is on its way to becoming a thing of the past. Giroux’s Macon-Fuissé is proof the genre remains.

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Giroux Mâcon-Fuissé “Vers Chanes” 2023
bottle price: $29

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There’s no more exciting corner of Burgundy today than the Beaujolais. Long looked down upon by winemakers further north, the wines made here today are as dynamic and delicious as anything in the Côte d’Or – and at a fraction of the price. Wine writer Stuart Piggott calls Beaujolais “the best value reds in the world,” and it’s easy to see why.

A new wave of exciting winemakers priced out of the land market in the north of Burgundy has landed in the Beaujolais, bringing energy and enthusiasm for the region’s diverse terroirs. Frederic Berne is a leader in this new Beaujolais. He’s passionate about agroforestry, planting trees among the vines to enrich the organic material of the soil and enhancing biodiversity in the vineyard. And his wines are more than proof of concept.

Berne’s just-arrived 2024 Morgon is everything you want in an autumn red: clear and crisp fruit, excellent freshness, earthy undertones. It caught Neal Martin’s eye (a notoriously exacting grader), who found it “nicely focused” with a “simple but clean bouquet of wild strawberry and raspberry.” Serve this with roast chicken, sautéed mushrooms, and crispy potatoes.

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Berne Morgon 2024
bottle price: $32

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There’s not much wine grown in Normandy, the starkly beautiful region along the English Channel in northern France. But along with scallops, oysters, butter, and some magnificent cheeses, Normandy is renowned for its cider. Apples and pears have been grown, pressed and fermented here for more than a thousand years.

Cyprien Lireux is a thirtysomething artisan cidermaker who returned home after business school to work his ancestral land. Having learned the art of cidermaking from his father and grandfather, he purchased several small abandoned orchards nearby and set up shop as a cidrerie. His delicious ciders have just arrived, and they’re the perfect companions to fall.

Norman ciders and American craft ciders differ in several important ways, starting with the apples. Thousands of ancient apple varieties grow across France – most are inedible raw, but perfect for hard cider. Norman ciders are less about sweetness and more about tension and texture: crisp, very dry, and relatively low in alcohol.

Lireux’s house cider is “Soixante.Quarante,” named for the 60/40 proportion of sharp vs. bitter apples. It’s dry, pleasantly herbal and savory in the nose, with great tension in the mouth. There’s a delicate salinity alongside notes of lemon peel and quince with a hint of bitterness. A faint tannin underlies the mouthfeel, and at 6.5% abv it’s lively and easy to enjoy. Serve this with grilled fish, mussels, or roasted chicken.

Lireux Cidre “Soixante.Quarante”
bottle price: $25

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His other cuvée is called “Premises” and is a perry – made from seven different heritage varieties of pear, and even drier than the Soixante.Quarante cider. It’s brighter and prettier, with notes of lime, grapefruit, dried flowers, and a pleasant minerality. It’s more wine-like than the cider, and the match of zesty fruit and brinyness calls to mind a Muscadet. At 4.5% it’s light and refreshing. Pair with sushi, tuna tartare, steamer clams, or fresh goat cheese.

Lireux Poiré “Prémices”
bottle price: $25

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Burgundy is a comparatively small region in size of production, but it covers an enormous range of terroirs. From Chablis in the north to Beaujolais in the south, Burgundy stretches over 150 miles – from just a few unblended grape varietals, the Burgundians produce an extraordinary range of wine.

Today’s wine will be just about the southernmost Burgundy you’ve ever had. This white Beaujolais is 100% chardonnay, and from organically farmed vines at 300m elevation near Brouilly. Winemaker Guillaume Goujon raises this ⅔ in 600L barrels and ⅓ in tank, fermenting with ambient yeasts and giving a year of elevage before bottling.

The resulting wine is sunny and ripe as expected from its latitude, but with low alcohol (13%) and exquisite freshness and detail. It bears the hallmarks of it’s sunny southern hillside – lush fruit and a cheerful, zesty palate – but stays crisp and dry on account of its elevation.

James Suckling’s reviewer effuses: “Not only is this the first great chardonnay from Beaujolais we’ve encountered, but it is also an incredibly joyful expression of the grape, brimming with stone-fruit, lemon-curd and white-flower aromas. The super-elegant, medium-bodied palate has breathtaking purity and precision. Great energy in the very long, chalky finish.”

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Dupré-Goujon Beaujolais blanc “Muriers” 2023
bottle price: $35

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Organic viticulture is the future of winemaking — the majority of our winemakers are organic or in conversion. But at some domaines, it’s also the past. The Domaine du Joncuas in Gigondas turned 100 years old a few years ago, and they’ve practiced organic winemaking, as they put it, “depuis toujours” (“since forever”). Writer Jon Bonné cites them as a benchmark producer for the region, and labels them “essential defenders of grenache’s good name.”

Joncuas wines prove at least one thing about organic winemaking: it works. Sisters Dany and Carole Chastan are third generation vigneronnes practicing old-school winemaking — whole clusters, limited sulfur, all wild yeasts. They use no new oak, and neither fine nor filter. Their wines are juicy and deep and very expressive, with gorgeous fruit.

Their 2019 Gigondas would beat the socks off many a Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Grown from ancient Grenache vines and crafted with technology that their grandfather who founded the domaine would recognize, this is old-school winemaking at its best. Vinous’s Josh Raynolds awarded 92 points, finding “sweet raspberry and bitter cherry…excellent clarity…silky texture…energetic, long, sappy finish.”

As autumn finally arrives, this is rich, cozy, profound wine that’s not to be missed.

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Joncuas Gigondas 2019
bottle price: $42

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We’re a two-generation business, so we have been particularly interested to watch the generations change at our French producers over the years. France pushes its seniors into retirement about five years earlier than does the US, but otherwise it’s much as it is here – smoother or bumpier depending on history and personalities. Michel Gros took the reins at his family’s famous domaine as a very young man after his father Jean suffered a stroke, so he had 45 years to acquire vines and refine his techniques.

The transition to his son Pierre has been smooth, and because Michel is always happiest when he is in the vines, he has not disappeared from the scene. But it’s Pierre steering the ship now, and he’s had too much success to chalk up to beginner’s luck. In easy vintages and hard ones, Pierre has produced stellar wines, maintaining and even elevating his family domaine’s sterling reputation.

The Gros family has lived in Vosne-Romanée for centuries, and so their plots in the town hold special significance. There’s the flagship Vosne premier cru “Clos des Réas” of course, but their other holdings also carry the domaine’s signature polish and grace. Over the years both Michel and his father Jean added parcels at the Vosne village level, and today the Domaine’s Vosne-Romanée offers an excellent example of the village’s signature aromatic profile of spice and violets.

The subsoils range from hard limestone to salmon colored marl like the marl that underlies the family’s 1er cru monopole Clos des Réas. Their combined effect is to produce a soft and elegant wine that suits the family’s 100% destemmed style like a glove. Their 2022 village-level Vosne is a masterpiece – sleek, detailed and ethereal but with excellent density and tremendous length. Burghound found notes of “plum, violet, pomegranate, sandalwood, and Asian-style tea” in the nose of the 2022. He also praised its “subtle minerality” and its “chalky, lingering and well-balanced finale,” concluding: “Lovely.”

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Gros Vosne-Romanée 2022
bottle price: $129

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“It’s going to be a quicker tasting than usual,” Romain Collet chuckled as he welcomed us into his tasting room this spring. As with most addresses in Burgundy, 2024 was not an easy one at the Domaine Collet. The weather gods were particularly tough on Chablis, and Romain lost two cuvées (Forêts and Butteaux) entirely, amid losses everywhere.

But the surviving wine is delicious, and, as usual in Chablis, a terrific value. Romain’s best wine this year was his Chablis 1er Cru “Vaillons” – it’s always been a reader favorite and this vintage makes it easy to see why. Romain raises this left bank cuvée in three different vessels, one third each: stainless steel tank, barrel, and huge foudre. There’s no hint of oak, but the three methods blended together round the wine beautifully into a complex cuvée with a very long finish.

It has a bit more weight than classical Chablis, but avoids being flat or overly tropical. There’s a pleasant stoniness amid the fleshy dry-fruited mouthfeel. Burghound found “citrus and apple” with “voluminous middle weight flavors that flash a subtle bead of minerality.” This is unusually good on its own this year – pair with anything or nothing.

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Collet Chablis 1er Cru “Vaillons” 2024
bottle price: $45

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Everyone knows Sancerre, the popular, easy-to-pronounce, well-priced white Loire wine. But fewer people know its less famous neighbor across the river: Pouilly-Fumé. Same grape, similar soils, slightly harder to pronounce, but even better pricing. Our producer here is Frederic Michot, a friendly, energetic winemaker who crafts refreshing, user-friendly, flat out delicious Sauvignon Blanc.

Michot’s style is straightforward – no oak, old vines producing fresh, dry, low-alcohol wine. It’s rarely the fanciest wine on a table, but it’s often the first bottle empty. Its brisk texture and lovely dry fruit make it pairable with a long list of foods, from cheese (goat is best), to oysters, to chicken, to paté, to nothing at all.

Michot’s 2025 has just arrived and it’s everything you want in an everyday Loire white – dry, refreshing, low alcohol (12.5%), smooth, and inexpensive. Made from 40-70 year old vines in a cool growing season, there’s excellent dry concentration and great length. The nose shows lime, stones and grapefruit; the mouth is clear and crisp, with an easygoing, dry finish. This pairs with everything and nothing.

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Michot Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes 2025
bottle price: $25

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Justine Clerget has shown herself to be a remarkable talent in the last few years, and this tiny gem of domaine in Vougeot is still a largely undiscovered source. Since her return to the domaine a few years ago, she has introduced organic viticulture, refined extraction, and has leaned into stem use. The resulting wines are classy and modern, but with an old school Burgundian soul. They also compare extremely well on price with their neighbors.

Her Bourgogne Rouge 2022 – grown from 40+ year old vines in the communes of Vougeot and Vosne, is the most impressive Bourgogne in our portfolio. It’s punchy, delicious red Burgundy with the signature Clerget elegance. There’s remarkable intensity of fruit – particularly for a wine of its level – with notes of raspberry jam and a touch of earth.

Burghound named it a “top value” Bourgogne, calling it “delicious” and “velvet-textured.” Jasper Morris writes: “the fruit is attractive and quite succulent… all in balance.” This is everything you want in a Bourgogne rouge, and nothing you don’t. Serve with mushroom risotto.

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Clerget Bourgogne Rouge 2022
bottle price: $55

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Antonio Galloni, the founder of Vinous and a renowned critic of Italy’s best wines, calls Poggerino’s wines “some of the purest expressions of the Sangiovese grape in Italy.” Winemaker Piero Lanza is in his third decade at the helm, and his excellent wines continue to improve.

His Chianti Classico is among the most consistent and popular wines we import (don’t tell the French). For a number of years now, Piero has made a new cuvée raised in cement eggs – hence the wordplay in the name Nuovo. Cement eggs have the virtue of self-stirring, as ambient temperature changes affect the wine in the eggs at different rates, promoting a natural circulation without the need for physical stirring. With no oak flavor mixed in, this wine has particularly pure fruit, and as one might expect at Poggerino, it is beautiful.

Galloni awarded 93 points writing “this is such a distinct wine. The purity of the fruit is just striking.” The cement adds structure and depth, meaning this needs an extra few years to melt together – Lanza has just released the 2021, and it’s magnificent. The nose shows dark red fruit with a touch of mint, spice, and licorice. A gem of a cuvée, just entering a perfect drinking window that we expect to remain open for at least another five years.

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Poggerino Chianti Classico Nuovo 2021
bottle price: $42

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Much of the world’s Merlot is undistinguished. Its default expression is a soft, rounded wine lacking tannin, acidity, and character. “Global” merlot is smooth and easy, but neither distinctive nor particularly interesting. But on Bordeaux’s right bank Merlot thrives as an essential component to the region’s most iconic wines. The exact combination of limestone and gravel soils produce a version of the grape with balance, definition, and depth.

We’ve long enjoyed the delicious and well-priced St-Emilion from Chateau Montlisse. Made from 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, it’s a rich, velvety blend with a classic combination of dark fruit and spice, but well supported by a solid backbone and lively freshness. We’ve just restocked the excellent 2019, and it’s as good as ever.

From a magnificent vintage, the 2019 Château Montlisse is everything you want from a sub-$50 Bordeaux: smooth and elegant, with mellow fruit and gorgeous earthy notes, and a solid core of structure and concentration. Look for notes of plums and toast with cassis, dark chocolate and dried violets. Neal Martin in Vinous cited “fine grained tannins and well judged acidity,” concluding, “this is a classy offering from Montlisse.” Pair with a crackling fireplace, a nor’easter, and the return of fall.

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Montlisse St-Emilion Grand Cru 2019
bottle price: $45

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We had to wait several years for an allocation from RH Coutier, but they’ve quickly become a crowd favorite. The Coutiers are an old family in Ambonnay (there since 1619), and today produce small-batch Champagnes exclusively from their own organic Grand Cru vineyards.

Antonio Galloni of Vinous calls the Coutier wines “gorgeous…all showing the natural richness of Ambonnay,” and writing they “have been favorites of mine for years, because of their quality, personality, and exceedingly fair prices.” Ambonnay is known as Pinot Noir country, where extra clay and warm southern exposure lend themselves well to the red grape.

Courtier’s base “Cuvée Tradition” is simply exquisite grower Champagne at a remarkable price. It’s super expressive exploding from the glass with notes of spring flowers, pear, raspberries, herbs and brioche. At 6g dosage and a blend of 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay it’s dry but full of fruit, and the texture is at once lush and crisp. This is accessible, affordable, downright tasty Champagne – full of character, flavor, and life.

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Coutier Champagne “Tradition” NV
bottle price: $54

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Gautier Desvignes is a humble thirtysomething winemaker with a near limitless attention to detail. He landed back at his family’s domaine a decade ago, and has since quietly transformed it into one of the region’s superstars. His 2023s were a tour de force (we bought them twice) – ripe and sleek with perfect extraction and maturity, vibrant textures, and elegant, lifting finishes.

Writing last month for The Wine Advocate, Burgundy reviewer Kenna Wells found Gautier’s wines “inherently charming yet still firmly anchored in terroir….These are, to my mind, among the most convincing examples of the vintage, and the domaine as a whole comes highly recommended.” Neil Martin cites “commendable purity, fine tannins, and clear evidence of thoughtful winemaking.”

Our favorite cuvée of Gautier’s in 2023 was probably the Givry 1er cru “Clos Charlé.” It’s a plot that produces elegant, chiseled wines, with beautiful detail and loads of dark fresh fruit. The tannins are fine grained and seamless, with pretty notes of rose petals and cool berries. It has the weight of a Beaune 1er cru, with a stony freshness amid the perfectly detailed fruit. Wells found it “almost weightless on the palate… Serious in shape, but animated and highly drinkable,” concluding “especially engaging.”

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Desvignes Givry 1er “Clos Charlé” 2023
bottle price: $45

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Sebastien Giroux is exactly the type of winemaker we love to work with. He farms a tiny 6-hectare estate in southern Burgundy’s Maconnais region essentially by himself. Some of his wines come in allocations with single-digit case quantities; his rooms for vinification, bottle stockage, labeling, and tasting, are all… the same room.

Yet his disciplined organic winemaking results in extraordinary wines – William Kelley describes them as “supple, pure and charming.” We’ve just restocked on his terrific Pouilly-Fuissés, but our favorite new find from his lineup this year was the Macon-Fuissé “Pelées,” from the stellar 2024 vintage.

This wine answers the question “what would happen if you combined Chablis and the Maconnais?” Giroux raises it entirely in stainless steel (no oak) and the wine is full of tension and zip. It’s long and has plenty of sunny richness on the mid-palate, but finishes dry and stony. Sebastien himself called it “angular” and we think it’s a perfect descriptor.

Dynamic, vibrant and full of life, this sub-$30 white Burgundy is a remarkable value.

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Giroux Macon-Fuissé “Pelées” 2024
bottle price: $29

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