Author: Thomas Wilcox

Pouilly-Fumé is the less famous neighbor of Sancerre, located just across the Loire River. The grape is Sauvignon blanc, and there’s a high percentage of flint in the soil, which gives the wines their eponymous “smoky” (Fumé) character.

Our producer here is Frederic Michot, a brisk and energetic vigneron who makes wines that mirror his personality. His cuvées are no-oak, no-nonsense, delicious and refreshing – and extremely well priced. Winemakers in other parts of the world tend to overthink Sauvignon Blanc; Michot revels in simplicity.

The Pouilly-Fumé 2023 is fresh, lively and delicious. The nose shows grapefruit, a hint of herbs, and a burst of stoniness. The mouth is savory and punchy with a quick, clean mouthfeel and notes of grape skin and lemon zest. Serve with fish, oysters, cheese and crackers, or nothing at all.

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Michot Pouilly-Fumé 2023
bottle price: $19

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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 2020, it’s produced something spectacular.

This wine blew us away when we first tasted it, and it’s only gotten better – impossibly fine and delicate, but with density and length. The shallow limestone soil and unusual exposition balance the extreme ripeness of the vintage, and the resulting wine is a masterpiece. Jasper Morris MW had a similar reaction – he gave it 5/5 stars and awarded it 93-95 points, finding “vibrant deep red fruit” and “very good acidity as well.” it “really quite a striking Vosne-Romanée,” with “superb length.” We agree – for anyone with a taste for the magic of Vosne, this is not a wine to be missed.

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Couvent Vosne-Romanée “Barreaux” 2020
bottle price: $108

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Tasting this spring at her domaine in Meursault, 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.

The results speak for themselves. Across Burgundy the 2022 whites (and reds, for that matter) are friendly, lush, balanced, vibrant, and flat out delicious. Sofie’s style is pure and vibrant with limited oak (max 15%). Today we’re suggesting her St-Aubin 1er cru “En Remilly,” a masterpiece from the town’s finest vineyard.

The secret is out about St-Aubin, but it still offers terrific value relative to its fancy neighbors. The 2022 Bohrmann En Remilly tastes just like what you’d expect – expertly made wine from a top terroir in an outstanding vintage. It’s lively and generous at the same time: thick and full of a rippling intensity, combining perfectly ripe golden fruit with structure and minerality. Serve with a sole meunière.

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

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Our newest Champagne source is RH Coutier, and it’s quickly become a reader 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 – we had it open at our RacletteFest tasting last weekend and it stole the show. 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, with seriously good pricing – full of character, flavor, and life.

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Coutier Champagne “Tradition” NV
bottle price: $52

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Regular readers will know Gautier Desvignes, the humble, friendly, thirtysomething winemaker who has transformed his modest family domaine into a top name in the region. William Kelley writes that Desvignes is “one of the leading lights in the Côte Chalonnaise,” and we wholeheartedly agree.

Gautier’s 2022s show a talented winemaker firing on all cylinders. He has refined his cellar technique considerably, using gentler extractions, and focused his barrel work through exhaustive (some might say obsessive) experimentation and tasting. The resulting wines easily rival reds from the Côte d’Or in detail and complexity, and simply blow them away on price.

Givry 1er cru “Clos Charlé” is detailed and sophisticated – higher toned and with more chiseled detail than his other premier crus. It’s particularly good in 2022, and easily worth the $6 upgrade from the village. The nose shows peony, wild cherries, and a delicate stoniness. The mouth is darker but retains a vibrant minerality alongside the inky fruit. Serve with a roast chicken on a cozy Sunday afternoon.

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Desvignes Givry 1er “Clos Charlé” 2022
bottle price: $42

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Of our six Futures issues each year, November has the most obvious star power. The Domaines Michel Gros and Boyer-Martenot are two of the most recognizable in our portfolio, top talent farming some of Burgundy’s iconic terroirs. Boyer holds vines in all three of Meursault’s famous premier crus (Charmes, Genevrieres and Perrieres) as well as the Puligny gem “Cailleret;” Gros’s envy-inducing lineup now includes three hallowed Grand Crus: Clos Vougeot, Echezeaux, and Richebourg. In other words, this is the Big Leagues.

And while few of these wines would be considered weeknight staples, the Gros and Boyer lineups have withstood much of the pressure of the latent Burgundy bubble. All but ten of the twenty-six wines remain in double-digit pricing territory, and at the regional level they both produce exceptional value cuvées. Both producers’ full lineups will be in next Sunday’s November Futures release, but we’re delighted to offer both of their sub-$30 Bourgogne Côte d’Or today.

 

Boyer-Martenot Bourgogne Blanc Côte d’Or 2022
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. 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 well overperforms the category. (After a price spike caused by last year’s catastrophic vintage where some plots lost 90% from hail, Boyer actually lowered his prices this year – about as unheard of in Burgundy as disinflation is over here.) The resulting wine is as good as sub-$30 Burgundy comes. Burghound found the nose “elegant” and “exuberantly fresh,” with “delicious and equally vibrant flavors” in the mouth. This may be “just” a Bourgogne, but it is remarkable wine, whatever the label says.

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Boyer Bourgogne blanc 2022
Ansonia Retail: $456
November Futures: $350/case

 

Gros Bourgogne Rouge Côte d’Or 2022
The “Michel” of Gros fame is now fully retired – or, at least, as fully retired as a winemaker can be with 45 vintages under his belt, a house nearby, and his name on the label. His son Pierre has taken the reins, representing, in Neal Martin’s words, “a change in tack rather than charting a totally different course.” Like many of his peer group Pierre has moved the domaine toward organics, and if his first few vintages at the helm are any indication, the future at Gros may be even brighter than the past.

Like Boyer’s, Gros’s Bourgogne Côte d’Or comes from vines just outside his hometown – in this case Vosne-Romanée. It’s middleweight and pretty, with red currants and violets in the nose; the mouth has mild tannins and a pleasant earthy and floral finish. This year Burghound found “good vibrancy and detail,” and Neal Martin called it “quite fleshy and dense.” It drinks effortlessly from the start, and however much we set aside for ourselves, we always wish it were more.

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Gros Bourgogne rouge 2022
Ansonia Retail: $456
November Futures: $350/case

Part of November 2024 Futures
Available by the case and half-case
Wines expected January 2025
Pickup free, shipping not included
No further discounts, quantities limited

Romain Collet is a terrific young winemaker running his family estate in Chablis. He dabbles with modern, oak-infused Chablis, and the wines are tasty if not traditional. But our favorites are always the classics: plenty of stony freshness, low or no toast, and clean zippy finishes.

Burghound called Romain’s lineup of outstanding 2021s “entirely classic,” and we agree — they’re dry and focused, with just the right amount of depth. Lovers of old school Chablis will find much to like.  For his Premier Cru Vaillons cuvée, Romain uses an elevage of ⅓ barrels, ⅓ foudre, and ⅓ stainless tank for this cuvée, and his 50+ year old vines here produce a perfectly balanced wine, with good concentration and well-supported ripeness.

Jasper Morris found the bouquet “both stylish and typical, stones with lemon zest.” Burghound praised its “cool and airy aromas,” its “intense and attractively sleek” flavors, and its “lovely minerality.” With Thanksgiving approaching and R months upon us, there’s no better time to stock up on Chablis.

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Collet Chablis 1er “Vaillons” 2021
bottle price: $38

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Climate change has thrown a series of hurdles at the winemakers of Burgundy, but the news isn’t all bad. In some corners of the region vignerons will (somewhat sheepishly) admit that a warming world has improved their wines, and nowhere is this more apparent than the Côte Chalonnaise, where grapes once on the margins of ripeness are now basking in abundant sun and heat.

Nicolas Ragot is our newest Côte Chalonnaise producer, and his wines have quickly become crowd favorites. He’s based in Givry, and his style is one of rugged polish: excellent balance and richness, plump tannins, smooth and perfectly clean. He makes ample use of amphoras, which give his wines an appealing patina and exquisite freshness. William Kelley calls his reds “supple and flavorful,” Jancis Robinson writes of their “purity” and “classiness,” and Neal Martin of Vinous finds them “caressing,” “fleshy,” and “excellent.”

His finest wine is the Givry 1er cru Clos Jus, from one of Givry’s most famous vineyards. This is ripe and powerful, with a nose of violet and cassis, the mouth bursts with fleshy red cherry fruit and a bit of cracked pepper. We think it’d hold its own against a village-level Gevrey-Chambertin, and certainly wouldn’t be the weaker of the two. Its inky density means it will improve for several years, but no patience is required – grab it while it lasts.

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Ragot Givry 1er cru “Clos Jus” 2022
bottle price: $45

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Christophe Mestre is from an old Châteauneuf-du-Pape family. Together with his wife and son they craft a single delicious, traditional, early drinking cuvée. In a town where luxury cuvées and single-varietal bottlings have become in vogue, the Mestres stick with the original formula – a single, appellation-wide cuvée.

Christophe farms plots more than a dozen plots around the appellation, blending Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah, and a touch of Cinsault. The elevage is 18 months, mostly in foudres and large oak, with some in cement eggs and vats. The resulting wine is accessible, crowd pleasing, and the perfect wine for cool weather.

The 2022 vintage is explosive aromatically – you can smell it from a glass several feet away. It offers a bursting nose of youthful fruit with lush floral notes. It’s rich and supple, but with noticeable freshness that prevents heaviness and keeps it juicy. The bigger the glass you have, the more you’ll appreciate the nose. Serve with an autumn stew.

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Mestre Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2022
bottle price: $35

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Morey-St-Denis is perhaps the least celebrated of the four great Côte de Nuits towns. Its tiny scale (1 mile wide, population 680) and position between the giants of Chambolle-Musigny and Gevrey-Chambertin mean it’s rarely the loudest voice in a lineup of Burgundies. But there are outstanding winemakers and extraordinary terroir here.

Our source in Morey is the Domaine Amiot, a gem of a domaine headed up by twentysomething Léon Amiot, the tenth generation of Amiot to work vines in the town. Their careful organic winemaking produces wines of exceptional clarity and balance, and lately has begun to turn heads among wine writers.

The Amiots farm vines in both Morey and Gevrey, but we’ve long thought their best wine is their Morey-St-Denis 1er cru “Ruchots,” generally considered the best premier cru in town. From an acre of vines, the Amiot family makes just 200 cases of this wine per year. Their vines, planted in the 1950s, produce concentrated, intense red Burgundy, particularly in vintage like 2022. Allen Meadows (Burghound) awarded the 2022 Ruchots 92 points, finding it “sleek and fine” with a “caressing, even sappy mouthfeel.”

This wine is enough to prove that Morey-St-Denis is much more than just a stop between Chambolle-Musigny and Gevrey-Chambertin. Its nose is dark and spicy, with hints of earth and smoke. The mouth is ripe, rich, and long, with blackberry and woodsy flavors. There’s enough concentration to keep this aging beautifully for a decade, but like most 2022s it’s exquisite today.

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Amiot Morey-St-Denis 1er “Ruchots” 2022
bottle price: $125

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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.

We’ve long enjoyed this wine at tastings, but have never received an allocation until now. It’s simply beautiful, natural white Burgundy – a bit like a low-intervention Maconnais white but with more minerality. The nose shows apricots and fresh herbs, while the mouth is long, lush, and silky, balanced with beautiful chalky freshness. James Suckling’s writer Stuart Spigott was blown away, writing “This could well be the best dry white wine made so far in Beaujolais.”

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Dupré-Goujon Beaujolais blanc “Clos des Mûriers” 2022
bottle price: $35

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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 received the terrific 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.” Pour this with a steak salad or this hearty Mushroom Farro.

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Montlisse St-Emilion Grand Cru 2019
bottle price: $42

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If every vintage of white Burgundy were like 2022, you wouldn’t hear much complaining. Perfectly-timed rain showers in June and August punctuated an otherwise record-breaking summer of drought and heat. The resulting wines are magnificent – friendly and open but with tremendous concentration and real complexity. “Bountiful and beautiful,” writes Jasper Morris.

Nobody was more successful in 2022 than Sofie Bohrmann, a quietly brilliant producer based in Meursault. Sofie farms an impressive collection of vineyards around St-Aubin, Meursault, St-Romain and Puligny – her wines offer terrific value, particularly in a stellar vintage. Her style is limited oak, overtly floral, low-alcohol, and impeccable balance.

Sofie’s village level St-Aubin from “Champ Tirant” is a tremendous success. The nose is exquisite, bursting with white flowers and notes of lemon curd, apple crisp, nectarine and beeswax. The mouth is sleek and delicious with delicate acidity balancing a smooth and polished texture. Serve with fish and chips.

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Bohrmann St-Aubin “Champ Tirant” 2022
bottle price: $55

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The Beaujolais has become a hotbed of innovative winemaking in recent years. Land prices and startup costs have chased new winemakers from the Côte d’Or, and many have landed further south in the Maconnais, Chalonnaise, and Beaujolais. These young vignerons are pushing the limits of what’s possible from the gamay grape, and we’ve found several remarkable and revolutionary cuvées.

But old school Beaujolais still has a certain charm, and when the weather turns crisp and the leaves start to fall, sometimes we’re in the mood for a simple, unoaked, refreshing gamay. And that’s just what Frederic Berne has made with his 2023 Beaujolais-Lantigné “Pierre Bleu.” It’s few bucks more than a Beaujolais Nouveaux, but easily ten times the wine.

Berne is a thoughtful organic winemaker working near the Côte de Brouilly. The 2023 Pierre Bleu is grown on the appellation’s signature blue granite soil – it’s lively and floral with low tannins and an easy, refreshing finish. A friendly Beaujolais for a backyard barbeque or tailgate.

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Berne Beaujolais-Lantigné “Pierre Bleu” 2023
bottle price: $25

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Transition to organics/biodynamics may be trendy in winemaking today, but it’s nothing new at the Domaine Pierre André in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Jacqueline André’s grandfather stopped using chemicals in his vines in 1963, and the domaine has been certified organic since 1980 – the first in the appellation.

As it turns out, he was onto something — some plots of the André family wines are now over 140 years old, and still producing gorgeous fruit. Pierre’s daughter Jacqueline now tends these ancient vines (she calls them her “grand dammes” or “old ladies”) with the love and attention usually reserved for family members. In his excellent “The New French Wine” published last year, Jon Bonné writes, “Jacqueline André has quietly been upholding the extraordinary quality of her family’s domaine in a manner that legitimately earns the word “artisan.”

The 2021 vintage was anything but smooth across France, and the Rhône Valley was no exception. But truly great winemakers show their greatness mostly clearly in difficult vintages, and Jacqueline André’s 2021 results put her in that class. Her 2021 Châteauneuf-du-Pape rouge is elegant and absolutely delicious wine. 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.

This is a middleweight Châteuneuf, for enjoyment in all seasons, not just beside a roaring fire. Low tannin, subtle layers, and Burgundian finesse highlight this stellar, timeless southern Rhône red.

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

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