Author: Thomas Wilcox

Together with his son Remi, Christophe Mestre continues to make delicious, old-school Châteauneuf-du-Pape year in and year out. We have trouble keeping this wine in stock – it hits the perfect sweet spot for value, accessibility, food matching ability and crowd-pleasing popularity.

Lots of Chateauneuf-du-Pape is built for the long haul, and somewhat inaccessible young – not Mestre’s. It’s middleweight and delicious with gorgeous young fruit and friendly tannins. It ages for 5-8 years with ease, but drinks well from the moment it is in the bottle. The 2023 Châteauneuf-du-Pape is terrific – 50% grenache, 25% mourvèdre, 20% syrah, and 5% cinsault. The nose is focused and beautiful, with lovely deep sappy fruit bursting from the glass.

Grenache makes up only half this wine, but it’s the star of the show this year – luxurious red fruit of wild cherries, raspberries and hints of provencal thyme combine to make an explosive and seductive palate. This is accessible, popular, cozy wine that will perfectly match the season as fall weather returns.

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Mestre Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2023
bottle price: $36

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Pierre Vessigaud is a committed biodynamic vigneron whose wines are Demeter certified, the highest organic classification. In the bottle this translates to superb purity and clarity, with careful elevage and excellent balance. Combine this with an envious array of vineyards, including two of Pouilly-Fuissé’s newly minted premier crus, and we think this domaine is a real find. As William Kelley puts it, “succulent but serious, any bottle bearing Vessigaud’s label is worth seeking out.”

Vessigaud’s premier crus are magnificent and offer tremendous value, but we’ve also been particularly impressed by his everyday wines. His regional-level cuvées perform admirable impressions of the fancier Pouilly-Fuissés, and offer exceptionally good pricing. Our favorite among them is the Macon-Fuissé “Les Taches,” a gem of a vineyard from just outside the appellation – we think of it as a baby Pouilly-Fuissé.

The vines are high up a hill right on the border with Pouilly-Fuissé. It’s both vinified and raised in 5-10 year old oak barrels, and while there’s no new oak this cuvée has the added weight and complexity of a more serious wine. The nose is gorgeous and floral; the mouth is rich and smooth and not a bit lacking in acidity. It’s a nice counterpoint to the totally unoaked Macon-Solutré-Pouilly – richer and longer but no less fresh. It well overperforms its appellation, and we think of it as a baby Pouilly-Fuissé.

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Vessigaud Macon-Fuissé “Les Taches” 2023
bottle price: $32

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The wines of Margaux are some of the most celebrated in Bordeaux, admired for their unique blend of finesse and power. The soils are light and thin, full of gravel, sand and limestone, and the resulting wines combine Left-Bank muscle with an exquisite finesse and perfume.

Our latest arrival from Margaux is the Baron de Brane, the second wine of the prestigious second-growth estate Brane-Cantenac. The 2018 is simply beautiful, landing just in time for summer grilling season. This is 60% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Carménère.

Jeb Dunnuck writes “Another beautiful second wine…a rounded, sexy profile as well as terrific notes of blackcurrants, spice box, and earth, with hints of graphite.” The nose high toned silky character of classic Margaux that’s somehow both elegant and muscular. The mouth is no slouch though, with an extremely well balanced mouthfeel showing graphite, earth, cassis and an old-school weight and shape. Serve with something wintery.

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Baron de Brane Margaux 2018
bottle price: $55

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The Loire Valley continues to be the epicenter of modern of French winemaking. As other regions struggle with unusually warm summers, the Loire has become a reliable place for freshness and balance, a result of a cooler climate and a dedicated organic viticulture.

Winemakers Celine and Didier Sanzay are fifth generation growers in Saumur-Champigny.. Their wines are pure Cabernet Franc, and fit modern style — small batch, organic, limited oak, concerned with balance and freshness rather than extraction and muscle. They use all wild yeasts, neither fine nor filter, and produce subtle, natural expressions of the charming central Loire.

Sanzay’s regular cuvée of Saumur-Champigny is terrific — well priced and bursting with vibrant Cab Franc fruit. But today we’re suggesting their old-vine cuvée, a step up in intensity, longevity, and depth. It’s made from vines aged 50-110 years, and spends a year in large barrels (none new). The nose is delicate and pretty, with violets, plums, and red currants. The mouth is dense and very refined, with added notes of plum, allspice and black pepper.

This is expertly made Cabernet Franc, full of intensity, balance, and vibrant energy. It was the surprise hit at our Mushroomfest tasting over the weekend, and will fit our autumn dinner table with style.

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Sanzay Saumur-Champigny VV 2022
bottle price: $28

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In his book “The New French Wine” Jon Bonné writes that Jacqueline André’s wines “are about old-fashioned subtlety,” crediting her with “quietly upholding the extraordinary quality of her family’s domaine.” André is fully worthy of this praise, and it’s never been clearer than today.

Truly great winemakers show their greatness most clearly in difficult vintages, and Jacqueline André’s 2021 results put her in that class. The 2021 growing season brought challenges of biblical proportions, with damaging frost and hail in April, followed by serial heat waves, followed by late season rains. All of this dramatically reduced yields and threw off harvest schedules.

But despite the challenges of 2021, Jacqueline André has made an elegant and absolutely delicious wine. Consonant with the dictates of the year, her Chateauneuf du Pape rouge 2021 is a wine of medium weight and mild tannins rather than huge density. Grenache always dominates the fruit in her wine, but in 2021 the distinct aromas of dried rose petals join the usual sweet wild strawberries to produce a refined and elegant glass of wine that is strikingly good.

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André Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2021
bottle price:$65

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Sablet is a classic Southern Rhône town. Its 9th century streets are home to just 1400 residents, a couple of boulangeries, and a handful of restaurants and wineries. Winemaker Eric Chauvin is a Sablet native (also a volunteer firefighter), and it’s also the location of his tiny excellent Domaine le Souverain. His organic, balanced, extremely well-priced red Rhônes have become an everyday delight for many readers.

Souverain’s 2023 Séguret is perhaps their best yet. Dark, inky berry fruit explodes from the glass, and on the palate the wine pulsates with life and energy. Eric credits careful organic viticulture with his success and we don’t doubt him. The nose both fresh and intense,  with notes of crushed berries, lavender, and a cool earthiness. The mouth is smooth, friendly, and refreshing – clean dark fruit, just the right amount of tannin, and a smooth, easy finish.

Rhône blends are a dime a dozen these days, but rarely are they this packed with flavor, this well balanced, and this reasonably priced. Your autumn house red has arrived.

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Souverain Séguret 2023
bottle price: $22

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If the Côte Chalonnaise has become a bastion of red Burgundy value, then the Maconnais is its counterpart in white. At their best the whites of the Maconnais are sunny and fresh, with vibrant acidity woven into ample fleshy fruit – not to mention exceptional pricing. Organic and biodynamic viticulture go a long way towards keeping these wines fresh, and indeed all of our sources here are one or both.

Sebastien Giroux is a quiet and meticulous winemaker making superb wines of understatement and precision. If some Maconnais whites can verge into overripeness in warm years, Sebastien’s are entirely devoid of heaviness. His careful winemaking – low sulfur, minimal oak, extremely long elevage – results in minimalist wines of precision and grace. Think Thomas Morey Puligny an hour south.

The Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes 2022 is outstanding. It’s entirely barrel raised, from vines planted mostly in the 1940s. They’re at 250m altitude, so offer intensity from their age but fineness from their elevation. South facing and just next to the premier cru “Vers Cras,” this is a special plot of vines, and so is the wine it produces. The nose is gorgeous and deep, with floral intensity and savory spice. The mouth continues the theme with and adds a dollop of ripe yellow fruit and a burst of acidity. This is a delicious mouthful, and if it said premier cru on the label, nobody would raise an eyebrow.

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Giroux Pouilly-Fuissé VV 2022
bottle price: $39

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Cyril Gautheron makes a wide range of wines from his family domaine in Chablis. They’re all from the same grape of course (Chardonnay), and all from the same town (Chablis). But the range from Petit Chablis up to Grand Cru covers an enormous range of terroir and expression. Each is carefully and beautifully crafted, leading Jasper Morris MW to call him “a superb producer.”

Among our favorites in 2023 was his Montmains Premier Cru – it’s an exceptional plot, with vines high on a southeast facing hill planted in the 1940s. The balance is just beautiful, with good roundness in the mouth, plenty of freshness at the same time, and extraordinary persistence on the palate.

The 80+ year age of these vines has something to do with the exceptional results, but vinification also plays a part. For a part of this wine Cyril has used a 3500 liter wooden cuve tronconique (a cone lopped off at the top to make a truncated cone). It delivers micro-oxygenation without much movement of the lees, retaining freshness and focus while adding depth. This is superb white Burgundy, available for half the cost of Meursault.

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Gautheron Chablis 1er Montmains VV 2023
bottle price: $52

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Yesterday we spent a delightful afternoon tasting and sharing lunch at the Fattoria Poggerino in Tuscany. It’s been years since we last visited, and it was wonderful to walk among the sangiovese vines again. Piero Lanza is a gifted winemaker who has turned his humble property into what top wine writers consider a reference point for Chianti Classico.

“I’m like a chef refining a recipe,” Piero told us “but I only get one chance a year – so it takes time to perfect.” Two decades of winemaking have done just that, and Piero’s wines are better than ever. His current release (2023 Annata and 2022 Riserva) will be out in January Futures, but his 2021 Riserva is in stock in Newton and it’s magnificent.

Pierro yesterday said he considers 2021 among the best vintages of his career. Made with old-vine sangiovese grapes from his “Bugialla” vineyard, Poggerino’s top wine is exceptional. It’s bold and deep with remarkable purity and intensity, but with an elegance that carries the wine through a long and refined finish. Antonio Galloni of Vinous awarded 94 points calling it “superb… dark, virile, and strapping.”

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Poggerino Chianti Classico Riserva “Bugialla” 2021
bottle price: $45

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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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Vincent Boyer now works with his sister Sylvie, and together they share the viticulture (mostly her) and winemaking (mostly him). They’ve nearly completed their conversion to organic farming, and their always excellent wines have become even better in recent years. They raised prices after their catastrophic 2021 vintage where they lost 90% in some plots from frost, but actually lowered them this year given the healthier crop.

The Boyers use an extended two-year elevage in oak barrels and then concrete eggs, and the resulting wines are sleek and full, steering well clear of the traps of overoaking and heaviness. Boyer’s Bourgogne Côte d’Or comes from vines near his hometown of Meursault, and even this humble cuvée shows a glimmer of that golden Meursault character.

The resulting wine is the best value Bourgogne blanc in our cellar – and with this year’s pricing it might be the best value too. Burghound found the nose “elegant” and “exuberantly fresh,” with “delicious and equally vibrant flavors” in the mouth. The nose opens with citrus and white flowers, and the mouth is full of concentrated fruit and tension. An exceptionally successful white Burgundy, and at the price, an excellent value.

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Boyer-Martenot Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2022
bottle price: $38

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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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No winemaker we work with has captured more readers’ attention in the last few years than Pierre Vessigaud. We get emails with comments like “the wines are so alive,” and “as good as Meursault but half the price.” We’re not surprised – we find ourselves reaching for Vessigaud’s wines more often every month.

Pierre and his wife and son are committed biodynamic vignerons whose wines are Demeter certified, the highest organic classification. In the bottle this translates to superb purity and clarity, with careful elevage and excellent balance. This extends all the way from top – their superb Premier Cru Pouilly-Fuissé – to bottom – today’s humble Macon-Solutre-Pouilly.

The Macon Solutre-Pouilly 2023 comes from a plot in Pouilly, along the line between the hamlets of Pouilly and Fuissé. The Vessigauds vinify and raise it in large oak foudres for eleven months, where micro-oxygenation develops density and flavor rather than any apparent oak. It’s classic unoaked Maconnais white, imbued with the sunny character of south of Burgundy and a pulsing, vibrant energy that’s impossible to resist.

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Vessigaud Macon-Solutré-Pouilly 2023
bottle price: $28

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Many of the winemakers we work with farm on a small scale, particularly in Burgundy. But strictly by the numbers, our smallest winemaker might be Dumien-Serrette in Cornas. Located at the southern end of the Northern Rhône Valley, Cornas is home to just 50 winemakers across 145 hectares (compare to 3000+ in Chateauneuf-du-Pape).

Cornas is pure Syrah like the rest of the Northern Rhône, but the feel is of something sunnier from further South. Today fifth generation winemaker Nicolas Serrette farms a miniscule 1.8 hectares (4 acres) in Cornas. Simon Field MW of Berry Brothers writes of the Dumien-Serrette wines’ “granitic splendor” and “beguiling floral elegance which sets them apart.”

Their primary cuvée is called “Patou,” made from 80+ year old syrah vines – and that’s their “young vine” bottling. The 2023 is terrific, and follows a similar pattern to the 2023 red Burgundies: it bears a strong resemblance to the 2022s, but with more lift and energy. Once upon a time a tasting of young Cornas would be considered work, and you might have to brush your teeth afterwards – but not today.

Vinous’s reviewer found it “gorgeous” with “floral nuance” and “spot-on balance.” It’s sleek, dense, silky Syrah with a gorgeous sweet dark fruited nose and a refined, detailed palate. Serrette used 100% whole clusters this year, and the delicate tannin behind the perfectly ripe fruit is magnificent.

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Dumien-Serrette Cornas “Patou” 2023
bottle price: $58

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If Côte d’Or Pinot Noir is a sophisticated, well-dressed gentleman with a long resume, Gamay from Beaujolais is a free-spirited artist: unruly, unpredictable, and often way more fun. Nearly all reds from Burgundy are unblended – all classy Pinot, or all untamed Gamay.

But in rare cases – around one percent – winemakers will blend these two grapes into a fascinating and delicious cuvée, usually bottled under the appellation Coteaux-Bourguignons. The resulting wine is a charming blend of Burgundian polish and Beaujolais joie-de-vivre. Our friends the Amiot family in Morey-St-Denis make such a cuvée, and in 2023 it’s flat out delicious.

Grown from a single plot of 60 year old vines of both varietals in Morey-St-Denis, for decades the family reserved this cuvée all to themselves. The nose shows delicate red fruited Pinot Noir (think wild cherries and roses), but in the mouth the Gamay appears, adding dark muscly texture to the delicate Pinot fruit.

This won’t win any awards for longevity or detail, but it’s a traditional and delightful blend of two of Burgundy’s diverse characters.

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Amiot Coteaux-Bourguignons 2023
bottle price: $29

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