Author: Thomas Wilcox

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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The Domaine les Goubert is one of our longest and most consistent sources. We’ve known them for nearly 30 years, and their wines have always been favorites of readers and family alike. They’re never the fanciest or the most showy wines on a table, but every one overperforms its billing, and they continue to offer tremendous value.

Florence Cartier continues to steer her family’s domaine with a calm, thoughtful hand, producing traditional southern Rhône cuvées in the best sense of the term. Nearly all of her cuvées are certified organic now, but their style is distinct from some of our low-intervention Rhône sources. These are clean and consistent, comfortingly old-school in character and taste.

Goubert’s Beaumes de Venise rouge is a flat-out delicious wine with a weeknight pricetag. It’s a grenache-syrah-mourvedre blend from a single vineyard plot. The town is best known for its sweet dessert wine from Muscat, but this terroir is well suited to red. The nose is deep and floral with beautiful violet and lavender notes, and hints of plum jam. The mouth is smooth and rich with excellent freshness and a delicate stoniness inlaid among the abundant strawberry and raspberry fruit. The balance is impeccable, and the texture perfectly suited to the fruit. Serve at a tailgate or a backyard barbecue.

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Goubert Beaumes-de-Venise 2023
bottle price: $25

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The test of great winemakers is how they perform in the face of adversity. In sunny, dry vintages like 2023, just about everyone made tasty wine. But success in a challenging year speaks far more; and there’s rarely been a more difficult vintage than 2024. Some winemakers struggled, but others excelled; and Gautier Desvignes proved himself an exceptional talent.

We’ve long been fans of the Desvignes wines, but it was nice to see Vinous’s Neal Martin (a notoriously exacting critic) heap praises on Gautier’s wines – and particularly impressive when his first visit there was to review the 2024s. Gautier is best known for his reds, but he’s also become a real talent in white Givrys – Martin cited “clear evidence of thoughtful winemaking,” and called them “excellent.”

Gautier’s Givry blanc “En Cheneves” is beautiful and very well priced. In 2024 this is dry, linear, and very pretty, with white flowers in the nose and a smooth, fresh, dry mouth. There’s no new oak, and it’s a fresh, lively white Burgundy that might recall a Chablis. Neal Martin found notes of “Cornice pear and a touch of spice,” concluding “makes you dream of a plate of oysters to go with it!”

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Desvignes Givry “En Cheneves” 2024
bottle price: $42

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Hailing from the western end of the Loire, just before it flows into the Atlantic, Muscadet is France’s go-to wine for oysters. Walk up to a seafood counter in St. Malo or Cancale to slurp a dozen, and you’ll likely be invited to wash them down with a pitcher of Muscadet. Simple, saline and refreshing, it’s a delicious pairing of like with like, and when you finish it can be hard not to queue up for another six oysters or so.

The wine comes from a grape called Melon de Bourgogne, and “melon” (honeydew, not cantaloupe) is a pretty good match for the wine’s aroma. The varietal is light on flavor, so winemakers leave their juice on the lees (Sur Lie) for at least two years to impart flavor and savory richness to the profile. The resulting wine is bone dry, saline, and mouthwatering with notes of bitter grapeskin and stones.

Our source for Muscadet is the Domaine Martin-Luneau, whose wine is so popular as to be difficult to keep in stock. Their 2022 Muscadet “Clisson” has just arrived – notes of lime rind, salt air, and melon in the nose join a zippy, refreshing mouth that immediately calls to mind the stark, windswept Breton coast.

Shellfish is the most perfect match, but it’s not the only. The wine is a great pairing for a stir fried seafood, cutting through the fat beautifully. Or try it with grilled shrimp or fin fish — it’s a versatile companion for seafood of all sorts. Or just a crumbly goat cheese.

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Martin-Luneau Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine
Sur Lie “Clisson” 2022
bottle price: $25

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The 2022 red Burgundies continue to prove themselves to be a terrific vintage. From a warm, dry growing seasons, winemakers managed to craft vibrant and beautifully balanced wines, sporting low alcohol and classic Burgundian finesse. They’re modern in their sunny polish, but traditional in their middleweight, elegant textures.

Philippe and Paul Cheron are the father-son team behind Domaine du Couvent, an under-the-radar source with an impressive array of vineyards. In the cellar they use ample stems, and firmly extract their fruit, a style of winemaking that produces wines with real presence that age beautifully.

Many regional-level Bourgogne wines are meant to be drunk young, but Couvent’s continues to improve. Their Bourgogne Côte d’Or transcends the genre in a way few other Bourgognes do – if you told us it was a village Gevrey we’d believe you – humble in appellation, but striking in taste.

This is the most complex and elegant red Bourgogne in our portfolio. The nose is deep and beautiful with intense dark fruit but excellent lift – there’s a stony earthiness behind the plums that’s balanced and enticing. The mouth is clear, long, and nimble, bouncing from wild cherries to anise to black pepper and back to cassis. Burghound praised its “racy, delicious, well detailed flavors.” Now four years on from harvest, it’s firing on all cylinders, and is a remarkable value.

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Couvent Bourgogne rouge 2022
bottle price: $49

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Not everyone has the budget to fill their cellar with Puligny-Montrachet and other stars of the Côte d’Or. Luckily, the wines of the Maconnais have never been better, or offered more value. Thirty years ago Pouilly-Fuissé brought to mind an over-oaked, over-priced buttery Chardonnay; today the best examples can fool seasoned tasters into guessing Chassagne, and cost half as much.

Sebastien Giroux is a first rate organic winemaker based in the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation. He 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. As such, when many producers are sending us their 2025 price lists, we’re just now getting Sebastien’s 2022s. This extra time allows the wines to develop into exquisite, refined, and perfectly balanced white Burgundies that are some of the best buys we know.

Sebastien raises his Pouilly-Fuissé half in vats and half in oak barrels of varying ages. The vines are at 250m altitude, so offer intensity from their age but fineness from their elevation. The nose is gorgeous and deep, with floral intensity and savory spice; there’s a classy reductive character that could easily be in Puligny or Meursault. The mouth continues the theme and adds a dollop of ripe yellow fruit and a burst of saline acidity; a dry core is perfectly coated in concentrated orchard fruit.

It’s a wine of unusual polish at any price – at $38 it’s a steal.

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Giroux Pouilly-Fuissé 2022
bottle price: $38

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Florence Cartier continues to steer her family’s Domaine les Goubert with a deft and steady hand. She’s converted nearly all of her plots to organic and has managed to adapt her winemaking style to the blazing hot provencal summers.

The resulting wines are the best she’s made: clear expressions of rugged southern terroir with impeccable balance and with remarkable pricing. They’re food friendly, crowd-favorites, and ready to drink early. We’ve (finally!) restocked on her flagship Gigondas cuvée, and the world feels in balance.

Goubert’s 2023 Gigondas has all the hallmarks of a classic Rhône red, but with extra depth, detail and class. It’s a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Cinsault, with a splash of Clairette (a white grape) thrown in for aromatics. It is raised fully in tank (no oak) and neither fined nor filtered. The nose is a gorgeous perfume of strawberry jam and earthy garrigue. The mouth is solid and smooth, but with a fresh texture across a juicy, delicious, low-alcohol (13.5%) palate.

Vinous’s reviewer found it “round and harmonious” with “excellent freshness on the juicy finish,” concluding “the 2023 will be approachable right out of the gate.” This drinks like a Châteauneuf-du-Pape but with a pricetag somehow still sub-$40.

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Goubert Gigondas 2023
bottle price: $35

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For many years we have known the Domaine Gautheron as a low-profile address offering consistently excellent wines in a style that is truly Chablisien. The quality remains exceptional, but the secret is out. Jasper Morris MW calls Cyril Gautheron “a superb producer making wines in a crisp cool classically Chablis style.”

The 2024 vintage in particular provides a ringing affirmation of this praise: steely, dry wines full of tension and elegance, and a beautiful showcase for Cyril’s skills and the subtleties of Chablis terroir. We had a hard time choosing favorites in 2024, but his superb Mont de Milieu premier cru was at the top of the list.

Located on the right bank, just a bit upstream from the famous hillside of Grand Crus, Mont de Milieu’s soil has ample clay mixed into the stony ground. Clay is often a harbinger of bigger, more powerful wines, and in this cuvée it provides ample, majestic roundness, cut by classic Chablisien salinity and chiseled stoniness. It’s a mouthful of a wine and one you won’t soon forget. Serve with lobster in butter or shrimp in a creamy curry sauce.

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Gautheron Chablis 1er “Mont de Milieu” 2024
bottle price: $55

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In real estate and winemaking, location is everything – and nowhere is this more true than in Burgundy. A few yards difference in vine location can amount to a few extra zeros on the end of the price. Every wine from Vosne-Romanée – the most famous winemaking town in the world – is at minimum worthy of interest. But Vosne is not a monolith, and each corner of the tiny appellation has its own expression.

Nearly all the slopes in Vosne (and Burgundy for that matter) face some combination of East and South. But today’s wine comes from an unusual North-facing plot, and this fact defines its identity. “Les Barreaux” lies atop the slope in Vosne, adjoining the Grand Cru Richebourg and the Premier Crus Aux Brûlées and Henri Jayer’s famous “Cros Parantoux.” The view is spectacular, but the wine is somehow even better.

Barreaux’s northern exposition has historically been a limitation, and likely why it’s classified at the village level – the less sunny slope has made it hard to ripen fully. But in the new normal of hot, dry growing seasons, this exposition has become an asset. And in 2023 it produced something spectacular.

The 2023 Vosne “Barreaux” from Couvent is strikingly good. The balance is impeccable – 13% alcohol despite the heat of the vintage, with soaring aromatics and a gorgeous silky core. Jasper Morris gave the 2023 five stars (the second time in four years) and praised its “deep glowing purple, with a pure racy dark cherry fruit.” Overall, he called it “a really fine village Vosne with impeccable length.”

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Couvent Vosne-Romanée “Barreaux” 2023
bottle price: $125

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