Author: Thomas Wilcox

Sancerre remains among the world’s best known white wines. Sauvignon blanc, a naturally high acid grape, is well positioned to weather today’s hot summers without losing pep and energy. Our source here is the Domaine de la Garenne, an old family domaine of the highest quality, certified organic and practicing biodynamic techniques.

Garenne’s cuvées aren’t showy or innovative – they’re honest, punchy, simply delicious Sancerre. We import four  ofcuvées, but our best seller has always been “Bouffants.” This unoaked sauvignon blanc comes from 40+ year old vines in a limestone-rich plot with excellent drainage. It’s a perfectly located single vineyard cuvée, and from one of the best plots in the appellation.

The 2024 Bouffants is the best wine they’ve made to date. A rainy vintage meant the grapes ripened more slowly, retaining their acidity and freshness.  There’s no oak, and the old vines contribute loads of dry concentration cut by a chiseled, stony backbone. The nose shows grapefruit zest and herbal honey, and the mouth bursts with white flowers, lime, and stone. Serve this with a hearty shrimp pasta with herbs and parm.

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Garenne Sancerre “Bouffants” 2024
bottle price: $36

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Wine may be France’s most famous culinary export, but it’s hardly alone. The French have plenty of protected designations: for cheese, of course, but also for chicken, mustard, lentils, ham, oysters, butter, nuts and even salt. One of the pleasures of spending time in France is discovering the distinctive foods each region proudly produces.

Normandy is a beautiful rural region along the English Channel coast in northern France. Along with scallops, oysters, butter, and a magnificent cheese called Pont l’Evêque, Normandy is renowned for its cider. Apples and pears have been grown, pressed and fermented here for more than a thousand years – an ancient product of the rugged coastal landscape. About a decade ago we imported some tasty ciders from neighboring Brittany, and we’re delighted to announce that this year we’re giving the genre another try.

Cyprien Lireux is a thirtysomething artisan cidermaker who left business school and decided to return home to work his ancestral land. His father and grandfather had taught him the art of cidermaking from the apples of their small family farm, and upon his return Cyprian began producing and selling cider commercially. He’s since purchased several small local abandoned orchards, and expanded production further.

He sent us samples this spring and we tried them alongside a range of domestic and French ciders for comparison. The Lireux ciders were tasters’ universal favorites, and we’re delighted to introduce them to our lineup. They’ll be featured in July Futures out next Sunday, but we’re offering an early look at them today. We expect these to arrive in September, just in time for autumn enjoyment.

Norman ciders and American craft ciders diverge in several important ways, but chiefly in the types of apples used. American cidermakers mostly use native sweet apples (Macintosh, Empire, Cortland, etc), but Norman cidermakers use apples most people would find inedible if eaten raw. There are thousands of ancient apple varieties across France, usually classified into four types: sweet, bittersweet, bitter and sharp. The ciders made from these apples are less about sweetness and more about tension and texture – they result in crisp glasses that are very dry, and relatively low in alcohol.

Our first suggestion is called “Soixante.Quarante,” named for the 60/40 proportion of sharp vs. bitter apples. This was our tasters’ favorite – bone 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. Its wine equivalent is probably a very dry Petit Chablis. Serve this with grilled fish, mussels, or roasted chicken.

Our second pick, called “Premises” is a perry, made from seven different heritage varieties of pear, and just as dry as the Soixante.Quarante cider. It’s brighter and prettier than the cider, 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 is really delicious. For a wine comparison we’d look to Muscadet; this poiré clocks in at 4.5% alcohol. Pair with sushi, tuna tartare, steamer clams, or fresh goat cheese.

Finally, back in the cider category, we’re suggesting Cyprien’s “Parcimonie” cuvée. It’s a more serious cider – the apples undergo a 2-4 week maturation in wood crates before pressing – and shows more complexity than the 60/40. Cyprien sources 20 different varieties of apple from twelve different vineyards; roughly 25% each from the four categories (sweet, bittersweet, bitter and sharp). This has a deeper nose than the 60/40, with more fruit and woodsy notes. (One of our tasters even noted eucalyptus.) At 5.7% alcohol it’s still dry and zippy, but has just a splash of residual sugar – not enough to be considered off-dry, but more than the first two. Think Brut for this one, and Extra-Brut for the first two. For a wine comparison, we’d pick a mostly dry Chenin blanc. This should drink well on its own, or with fresh soft pretzels.

All of these come in 750ml bottles, and all three are $235/case. We don’t anticipate cider will become a substantial part of the Ansonia portfolio, but we were really taken with these – and with all under $20/bot, they’re ripe for experimentation. Available by the case, or a sampler pack of 4 each; quantities uncertain, these may sell out – if still available next week we’ll include in Futures.

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Lireux Cidre 60/40:  $235/case
Lireux Poiré:  $235/case
Lireux Cidre Parcimonie:  $235/case

Lireux Sampler (4 each):  $235/case

 

Email Tom to order: orders@ansoniawines.com

We’d bet that many readers have garages bigger than the Domaine Malmont’s winemaking space. We work with some small-production winemakers, but even by our standards Malmont’s winery is tiny. The space attached to winemaker Nicolas Haeni’s house in Séguret looks more like a large tool shed than a winemaking operation.

But from this tiny place Nicolas crafts some of the most exciting wines in our portfolio. His vines are high in the hills to the east of Séguret, a series of terraced vineyards that he farms with minimal intervention. His winemaking is similarly restrained, where he uses only ambient wild yeasts, and allows the fermentation to proceed at its own pace. The result is honest wines full of precision and complexity.

His 2025 Séguret Rosé is delicious. This year it’s 85% grenache and 15% syrah, and as with all of Nicolas Hanei’s wines, impeccably balanced. Rosé from the Rhône Valley is always among our favorites, where savory notes of the rugged southern grapes blend beautifully with fruit and aromatics. The 2025 is smooth and fresh, and has a gorgeous nose of wild cherries and melon. The mouth is clean and crisp with a faint note of grapeskin and a burst of stony freshness. Serve with chicken or summer vegetables on the grill.

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Malmont Séguret Rosé 2025
bottle price: $25

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On a hot summer day our choice of wine is usually white (Chablis/Muscadet) or rosé . But sometimes the moment or meal calls for a red, and we like to be well prepared. Reds served cool have had a turn in the spotlight in recent years, and we delight in their rediscovered popularity. But it has to be the right red – cold Volnay or St-Emilion is mostly just tannin and acid.

We usually feature Beaujolais in our July Futures catalog, timing it to arrive in the fall for autumn enjoyment. But this spring we discovered a few cuvées we couldn’t resist bringing in early for hot weather enjoyment. Dupré-Goujon’s new carefree summertime red is fresh, uncomplicated and simply delicious.

Dupré-Goujon’s Cru Beaujolais cuvées make a compelling case for taking the genre more seriously – so much so that we’ve entirely sold out. But for their new “Equinoxe de Printemps” cuvée their goal is a simpler wine that’s readier to drink early – less extraction, less elevage, just delightful gamay fruit. Grown on granite and sandy soils, this is exuberant wine, with lovely low tannins and perfectly judged acidity. The nose shows raspberries and violets, the mouth is crunchy and flat out delicious. Serve a bit cool on a sunny backyard patio.

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Dupré-Goujon Côte de Brouilly
“Equinox de Printemps” 2024
bottle price: $25

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For the winemakers of Chablis the 2024 vintage was about as difficult as they come. Spring frosts, months of rain, summer hailstorms, and relentless humidity in the vines all combined to produce one of the smallest crops in recent memory. But handled correctly, the vintage also produced thrilling wines shot with tension and vibrant energy – a return to classical Chablis.

For years now Jasper Morris has called Cyril Gautheron “a superb producer making wines in a crisp cool classically Chablis style,” and the 2024 vintage provides a ringing affirmation of this praise. The wines are a beautiful showcase for Cyril’s skills and for the subtleties of Chablis terroir.

His Chablis Vieilles Vignes cuvée is, as usual, a delightful bargain. The vines here are 50 to 70 years old, delivering full body and extra concentration. The elevage is a mix of tank and barrels, which provide additional roundness that balances the chiseled, punchy character. It’s among his most versatile wines: pleasant in a glass by itself, and pairing well with any dish calling for lively white. Pour it all summer long.

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Gautheron Chablis Vieilles Vignes 2024
bottle price: $36

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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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Our criteria for a good rosé are simple: fresh, low alcohol, and inexpensive. Sure, there’s plenty of serious rosé out there that’s tasty – but for the summer we like to keep it straightforward. On a muggy summer afternoon, there’s little more welcome than a cold splash of rosé in a gently fogged glass.

Our most popular rosé is from the Domaine Sanzay, a fifth generation organic winemaker in the central Loire Valley. Their pure Cabernet Franc rosé is delightful year in and year out – perfect on its one, but a great match for goat cheese on crackers.

The 2025 has (finally) arrived, and is ready to settle in next to your pool, patio, or picnic. The nose shows fresh strawberry, lime zest and quiet minerals. The mouth is dry and crisp, with a quick, clean finish. It’s everything you want, and nothing you don’t. Cool off with this all summer long – the kids get sprinklers and bubbles; we’ve got rosé.

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Sanzay Saumur Rosé 2025
bottle price: $22

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By Burgundy standards, Nuits-St-Georges is an enormous appellation, stretching nearly four miles end to end. The soil makeup varies widely across the town, and Nuits can best be thought of as three distinct districts: north, middle and south. The northern part that borders Vosne is the most elegant, the middle the boldest and most powerful, and the southern the most mineral.

Today’s cuvée comes from the middle, not far from the famous “Les St-Georges” vineyard from which the town borrows its name. Pierre Gros’s “les Chaliots” vineyard produces a classic expression of Nuits: deep intensity, muscular texture, deep dark fruit. The trick in Nuits-St-Georges (particularly the middle sector) is to balance the readily available tannin with enough fruit and finesse.

Gros’s 2023 NSG Chaliots walks this balance to perfection, with an irresistible combination of rugged density and vibrant lift. The nose is deep and lovely, with plums, blackberries, toast and spice. The mouth is rich and concentrated, with deep color and even deeper flavor. This bold, dynamic wine has a bright future, but as with most 2023s is already a tasty glass. Serve with sirloin tips from the grill.

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Michel Gros Nuits-St-Georges “Chaliots” 2023
bottle price: $88

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Domaine Guillemot-Michel is an iconic Maconnais source for white Burgundy. Based in Quintaine in the Viré-Clessé appellation, they’ve been biodynamic since  the 1980’s. Founded by Pierette and Marc Guillemot-Michel forty years ago, they’ve recently been joined in the last decade by their daughter Sophie and their son-in-law Gautier Roussille. For years we’ve sold them as “Forces Telluriques” label, but going forward we’re using their official label.

We can also now quote directly from the extensive critical praise for this domaine: Jasper Morris writes “amazing how such a luxurious style of chardonnay can retain elegance.” Neal Martin (Vinous) writes “these wines are well worth seeking out.” William Kelley (Wine Advocate) writes “these are honeyed, concentrated wines that are imbued with remarkable concentration and energy, and they develop beautifully in the cellar….One of the best producers in the Maconnais.”

Guillemot-Michel’s flagship Quintaine cuvée is terrific in 2023 – it’s unoaked, pure Chardonnay full of tension and energy. Despite a stormy summer, the grapes reached optimal maturity while maintaining an excellent level of acidity — a perfect equilibrium that makes for a wine with ripe fruit, minerals and structure at the same time. Look for notes of honeysuckle, tangerine, green tea, and lime zest. It shows the richness of a Meursault without relying on any oak for added weight – not to mention at a serious discount. A showstopping white Burgundy.

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Guillemot-Michel Viré-Clessé Quintaine 2023
bottle price: $45

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Salomon Undhof is a centuries-old winery in Krems, Austria overlooking the Danube River. Today 7th and 8th generation winemakers Bert and Bert Salomon run the estate, and they’re among the best respected sources in the region. They’ve become favorites of many readers (as well as our own family) and we’re delighted to bring them back by popular demand.

“Austrian wine” is nearly synonymous with Grüner-Veltliner, and indeed 75% of the world’s Grüner is Austrian. Much of it is dry, crisp, unserious wine that matches will with hot weather and light fare – the Salomons’ “Hochterrassen” is just such a wine. But they also produce a more serious cuvée, that’s more interesting and flat out delicious.

Salmon’s more serious cuvée of Grüner Veltliner comes from the 1ÖTW Wachtberg vineyard, and the domaine has held some of the 2017 for a delayed release. Now with nine years under its belt, this is fully mature but remarkably youthful. There’s no hint of oxidation – the nose shows dried pears and with woodsy notes you might confuse with white Burgundy. The mouth is mellow and very long, with notes of chalk, citrus peel, white pepper, and just a whisper of salinity at the end. A dry, delicate, delightful cuvée that calls for sushi.

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Salomon-Undhof Grüner Veltliner “Wachtberg” 2017
bottle price: $28

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The 2023 red Burgundies are still quite young, but they’ve already begun to reveal themselves as a tremendous vintage. From a growing season full of extreme heat and drought but with perfectly timed rains, the best wines are perfectly balanced – with modest alcohol, excellent density, and vibrant textures. We heard more than a few winemakers describe them as “digeste” (roughly, digestible), and it’s an excellent characterization.

Nobody was more successful than Gautier Desvignes, a humble thirtysomething winemaker with a near limitless attention to detail. Gautier landed back at his family’s domaine a decade ago, and has since transformed it into one of the region’s superstars. We find ourselves saying this almost every year, but his 2023s are the best he’s made – ripe and sleek with perfect extraction and maturity, vibrant textures, and elegant, lifting finishes.

At the northern end of town lies Gautier’s 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. Now six months after arriving this has just begun to open up; serve with refined dishes like duck or mushroom risotto.

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

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You don’t have to be a vigneron to notice Guillaume Goujon and Sebastien Dupré are farming organically. Their vineyards appear almost abandoned – vines share the ground with herbs, flowers, grasses, and wildlife, all in the name of fostering biodiversity and soil health. In the cellar Dupré and Goujon have a similarly light touch – their cuvées are made with whole clusters, ambient yeasts, limited oak, very low sulfites, and a long, slow elevage.

The resulting wines are remarkably complex, and yet immaculately crafted. The wine press agrees – William Kelley calls the wines “supple and charming” and labels them “an estate to watch.” WA reviewer Kenna Wells writes, “The domaine encapsulates the Beaujolais spirit, showcasing a blend of humility, intentional farming and a cellar brimming with character.”

One of our favorites this year is their “631” Côte de Brouilly, a blend of three plots that’s readily drinkable but deceptively sophisticated. The 2022 is terrific, with an expressive nose of dark, ripe fruit – violets and cassis with a croquant (crackling) texture. The profile is almost somewhere between a Pinot and a Syrah. James Suckling praised its “striking elegance” and “fine tannins.” It’s the perfect bottle to grace your patio on a warm summer afternoon.

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Dupré-Goujon Côte de Brouilly “631” 2022
bottle price: $35

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Wine writer Rajat Parr describes St. Aubin as the “insider’s white Burgundy.” Wedged in a valley between Chassagne and Puligny, this town produces white Burgundy with hints of Chassagne and Puligny’s golden richness, but a less stratospheric price tag. St-Aubin has become rarer and pricier like everything else in Burgundy, but it’s still far more affordable than its famous neighbors.

At the western edge of the St. Aubin appellation lies a plot named “Murgers des Dents de Chiens.” Perched just up the hill from Montrachet itself, this St. Aubin 1er cru is a remarkable value – real, classy premier cru white Burgundy, but somehow still under $70/bot with St-Aubin’s (and Gérard Thomas’s) friendly pricing. The nose is deeper and slightly darker than the village level, with a hint more of woodsiness. The mouth is classic, with lemon curd sucrocité and a beautiful beeswax finish – it shows a similar grapeskin note as the village, but there’s more flesh around it.

Jancis Robinson’s reviewer was effusive: “Refined, understated. A very fine example of the best of Chardonnay from the Côte de Beaune but without the elevated prices of the better-known appellations. So precise! I love the focus here. Fresh, clean, mineral, the concentration is there but you don’t really see it until you let the wine linger in the mouth. Great result!”

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Thomas St-Aubin 1er cru
“Murgers des Dents de Chien” 2024
bottle price: $65

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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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For centuries the Ravaut family has made traditional red and white Burgundies from their small domaine just north of Beaune. Their little-known hamlet of Ladoix sits at the junction between the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits. It’s one of the corners of Burgundy where winemakers will somewhat sheepishly admit that, aside from frosts and hailstorms (a big aside), climate change has improved their wines in recent years.

Vincent Ravaut and his sons have taken this opportunity and run with it – they’re now certified EU organic, and have softened the extraction in their reds. Their wines used to require extended maceration to draw color and flavor from grapes, but now the crop arrives at harvest with enough concentration to ferment more gently. The resulting wines are smoother, beautifully balanced, and simply delicious young. William Kelly of the Wine Advocate calls them “hearty, characterful wines,” with “plenty to admire.”

The Ravaut humble Bourgogne Côte d’Or Rouge is gorgeous this year, a useful entry-level wine that provides excellent value. The nose is dark and sappy with notes of plum and wild cherries. The mouth is inky and smooth, and the tannins are perfectly integrated. This requires no patience, and you won’t be able to keep your hands off it anyway. A perfect, easygoing weeknight red Burgundy.

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Ravaut Bourgogne Côte d’Or rouge 2023
bottle price: $35

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