Author: Thomas Wilcox

Philippe Cheron is just getting started. He’s hardly new to the trade – his father and grandfather were vignerons – and Phillipe has spent his career making wine around the Côte d’Or. But three years ago he managed to acquire most of the holdings from the defunct Domaine des Varoilles, and now farms an extraordinary collection of plots under the name Domaine du Couvent.

His unmarked cuverie is hidden down a back street in Nuits-St-Georges, and Cheron himself is quiet and pensive. But his wines more than speak for themselves. Cheron’s 2019s are beginning to shed their baby fat, and are showing just what talented winemaker he is.

Couvent’s 2019 Chambolle Musigny “les 40 Ouvrées” is a terrific expression of the Chambolle appellation in total. It’s open and accessible, showing deep strawberry fruit and the silky texture for which the town is known. Neal Martin of Vinous awarded 90-92 points, finding it “delicate but precise,” “smooth and succulent, very lush in style, but maintains good balance and freshness,” concluding “very sensual.” Jancis Robinson found it “luxurious” and “delicious.”

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Couvent Chambolle-Musigny “40 Ouvrées” 2019
bottle price: $88
3+ bottle price: $74.80 (use code FRIDAY)

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After a few years’ absence, the Fattoria Poggerino re-introduced the “Labirinto” cuvée this year. Made from the youngest vines on the estate, the Labirinto cuvée offers easy, uncomplicated pleasure. It’s Sangiovese with no rough edges – middle-weight, unoaked, unserious, and wonderfully easy to drink.

Poggerino’s regular Chianti Classico cuvée is as delicious as always, but the Labirinto offers something a bit less sophisticated. Labirinto’s fruits are redder – think wild cherries – with a smooth mouthfeel and very subtle tannin. The Classico is darker and woodsier (blackberries, cassis) with slightly firmer tannins and a longer mouthfeel.

If you’ve got thirsty relatives visiting this season, or need something easy to pair with everything and nothing, look no further.

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Poggerino Labirinto 2021
bottle price: $22

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Champagne has a reputation as refined, elegant, and delicate. While this reputation fits much of the wine from the heart of the Champagne region, today’s wine is another story. Domaine Jacques Robin is a small grower producer in the Côtes des Bar, a satellite sub-region of Champagne an hour to the south.

The Côtes des Bar is less fussy and more friendly, and the wines match this shift. Robin’s cozy family domaine is a far cry from the glossy brochures and glitzy tasting rooms of the Côtes des Blancs. Their 100% Pinot Noir cuvées sport a broader, richer palate than many Champagnes from further north – gourmand rather than gourmet — rich, welcoming, and mouthfilling.

They’re also a comparative bargain. At under $50 we think their Secret de Sorbée cuvée is among the best values of any wine in our portfolio, with a complexity that easily outpaces $100 bottles from the big name houses. It’s fermented partially in barrel and left on the lees for over two years. The resulting wine is toasty and fresh with lovely apple fruit and floral notes.

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Robin Secret de Sorbée NV
bottle price: $49

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Poggerino is often cited as a reference point for Chianti Classico. Vinous writes of their Poggerino’s “remarkable purity and nuance,” and Rajat Parr calls their wines “excellent” and “some of the purest expressions of the grape in Italy.” Their organic vines from Radda-in-Chianti produced exquisitely balanced wines, full of depth and richness but also tension and lift.

Poggerino’s finest wine is their Chianti Classico “Riserva,” a magnificent cvuée we’ve enjoyed both young and with 15+ years in the bottle. Their 2020 Chianti Classico is delicious as always – fresh and lively and bursting with perfectly extracted black cherry fruit. The Riserva is all of that, but moreso – deeper and richer with beautiful texture and a long, chiseled finish.

Vinous’s founder and chief reviewer Antonio Galloni writes that “cherry, incense, leather and spice give this virile Riserva plenty of complexity.” He called it a “dark, powerful wine, . . . impressive, especially in terms of its depth and overall substance.” Pour this with a wintery Osso Buco and a crackling fireplace.

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Poggerino Chianti Classico Riserva 2019
bottle price: $42

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Sauvignon Blanc is among the world’s most popular white grapes, planted everywhere from New Zealand to California to Chile. But the original source for Sauvignon Blanc is France’s Loire Valley, in particular the twin villages of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé.

Here the grape takes on a distinctly mineral and citrus character. An elevated level of flint and limestone in the soil keeps the wines full of tension and chiseled energy. Our producer here is Frederic Michot, a small family vigneron with no other US importer making simple, delicious, startlingly affordable wines..

His 2022 has just arrived — beautiful, balanced wine, bursting with freshness and fruit. The nose is bright and expressive, with ripe grapefruit, honey, and lime. The mouth is full and very lively. There’s no oak at all, and the palate sings with zippy fruit and minerals. The palate is juicy, quick, and very clean, with a dry, slightly smoky finish.

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Michot Pouilly-Fumé 2022
bottle price: $19

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The 2015 vintage was just about perfect from top to bottom – warm but not scorching conditions, dry but no drought, good quantity and outstanding quality. It was also a vintage that was excellent at every level, from regional Bourgognes all the way up to Grand Cru.

At the premier cru and grand cru levels, most 2015s are deep in their mid-life hibernation – nothing wrong with them today, but years away from beginning to express their full potential. At the village level, however, things are starting to wake up.

Today we’re suggesting a 2015 Gevrey-Chambertin from Domaine des Varoilles, a shuttered domaine whose vines now operate under the Domaine du Couvent label. The “Clos du Meix des Ouches” is a small monopole at the edge of the town. It’s surrounded by an old wall, which blocks the wind and traps warmth, making its wines particularly round.

Writing several years ago, Jancis Robinson found it “rather gorgeous,” finding it has “already lots of pleasure but with the tannins to keep it in shape.” Burghound found it “solidly concentrated” and “sleekly textured.” This is a delight today – look for black pepper, mushrooms, anise, dried red berries and cocoa.

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Varoilles Gevrey-Chambertin 1er
“Clos du Meix des Ouches” 2015
bottle price: $88
3+ bottle price: $74.80 (use code FRIDAY)

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Nicolas Paget is a creative, organic winemaker working in the heart of the Central Loire Valley. His pure, expressive cuvées have been wildly popular among our readers since we discovered him a few years ago – most notably his crisp, dry, unoaked Chenin Blanc cuvée called Melodie. The 2021 of this wine has just arrived and it’s as good as ever.

But this year we imported a new wine from Paget – still dry, still Chenin blanc, but of an entirely different character. Paget’s 2020 Chinon blanc is from more exalted terroir in the nearby Chinon appellation, and the wine’s added pedigree is obvious.

This nose is perfumed and beautiful, with notes of yellow apples and pear compote. The mouth is rich, smooth and very long with notes of grapefruit, honey, lime and apricot. It sees a few months in old oak barrels, which add a smoothness and spice to the lush fruit. If a Meursault were made from Chenin Blanc it might taste like this.

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Paget Chinon blanc 2020
bottle price: $29

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It doesn’t take an expert to notice that Guillaume Goujon and Sebastien Dupré are farming organically. Their vines, located in the Côte de Brouilly, share the earth with an impressive array of 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 and almost no sulfites.

We bought their “631” Côte de Brouilly cuvée last year and it evaporated from the warehouse in a matter of months – customers told us they didn’t know it was possible for so much depth and elegance to be packed into a bottle of gamay. The texture is refreshing and thirst-quenching, but the underlying fruit is detailed and very fine – all alcohols are 12.5-13.5%. William Kelley agreed with our enthusiasm, calling the wines “supple and charming” and labeling it “an estate to watch.”

We were thrilled to see the 2020 “631” still on the price list this spring, and quickly reserved all they’d sell us. perfume of violets and roses, with a fruit profile somewhere between Pinot and Syrah. The mouth is sturdier and more complex, with perfectly coated tannin and a dark, crackling finish. Kelley awarded 92 points, finding “Aromas of sweet berries, spices and loamy soil [in a] fleshy and lively wine framed by sweet, powdery tannins.” This was a hit on our Thanksgiving table last year, and we expect even more this year.

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Dupré-Goujon Côte de Brouilly “631” 2020
bottle price: $35

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Sebastien Giroux is a terrific young winemaker farming just six hectares of vines in and around Pouilly-Fuissé. Giroux’s disciplined organic winemaking results in extraordinary wines – William Kelley describes them as “supple, pure and charming.”

Once known for over-oaked buttery Chardonnays, Pouilly-Fuissé has undergone a renaissance in the last decade, and is among the most dynamic and exciting corners of Burgundy today. A new generation of organic-minded winemakers now produces vibrant, thrillingly tense white wines with prices that have not yet caught up to those of the Côte d’Or. Giroux is among our favorite discoveries here.

From a warm ripe year, Sebastien has channeled abundant fruit into a sleek, delicious package. Kelley called Raidillons 2020 “another success, mingling aromas of fresh orchard fruit and white flowers with scents of beeswax and freshly baked bread,” awarding 92 points. Giroux’s wines are studies in elegance over opulence, dancing across the palate, marrying length with lift.

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Giroux Pouilly-Fuissé “Raidillons” 2020
bottle price: $35

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Beaujolais is one of the most dynamic winemaking regions in France today. Affordable land and a vibrant community of biodynamic viticulture have brought some of the top new winemaking talent to the region. Our two new producers here, Dupré-Goujon and Frederic Berne, perfectly embody the Beaujolais’s jubilant spirit and low-intervention ethos – and their wines happen to be delicious as well.

Frederic Berne is an evangelist for the terroirs of Lantigné, a town just off the main drag of the ten famous Beaujolais Crus. Whether or not it’s someday added as the 11th Cru (Fred believes it will be), we find its wines excellent. Berne’s 2022 Beaujolais Lantigné “Pierre Bleu” is a strong endorsement for the appellation.

Grown on blue granite soils, this is uncomplicated, joyful, beautifully-made beaujolais. The nose is deep and floral with cool purple fruits mixed with precise, linear minerality. The mouth is dense and fresh – think violets, pencil shaving, raspberries – and finishes clean and chalky. It’s quintessential fall wine, and we expect to be a frequent dining companion all the way up through Thanksgiving.

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Berne Beaujolais-Lantigné “Pierre Bleu” 2022
bottle price: $22

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In Burgundy as in real estate, location is everything. Today’s wine comes from a vineyard in Gevrey-Chambertin called “Combottes.” It’s classified Premier Cru but surrounded on all sides by five famous Grand Crus, including Charmes, Latricières, Mazoyères, and Clos de la Roche.

In lesser vintages, Combottes is an excellent wine that doesn’t quite match the depth of its famous Grand Cru neighbors. But as Rajat Parr writes, “in warm, dry vintages… Combottes can be every bit as great as [the Grand Crus], with a grace and suppleness to accompany potent cherry fruit.”

Amiot is Combottes’s second largest owner behind the legendary Dujac, whose Combottes you can pick up on online for around $400/bot. Amiot’s may not match Dujac’s in magnificence or staying power, but in an outstanding year like 2019 and at a quarter of the price, we think the Amiot provides exceptional value.

Burghound loved Amiot’s 2019 Combottes, marking it “outstanding,” finding it “admirably pure” with “excellent volume…appealingly graceful flavors” with a “beguiling texture,” awarding 91-93 points (just one point under Dujac’s 91-94, not that we’re counting).

The nose is dark and sweetly floral, with notes of spice, plum, and earth. The mouth is dense and sappy with a rich, mouthfilling concentration. If the weight is less than a Grand Cru, it is not by much. Very fine-grained tannins come in at the end, and the finish is very long.

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Amiot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er “Combottes” 2019
bottle price: $115
3+ bottle price: $97.75 (use code FRIDAY)

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The Domaine Ravaut is the ultimate local wine source. For over a century the family has cultivated a loyal clientele of friends and locals — our tasting visits are frequently interrupted by neighbors stopping by to stock up their cellars.

The Ravaut’s friendly, humble domaine disguises some sophisticated winemaking – William Kelly of the Wine Advocate finds “characterful wines with plenty of stuffing,” and “plenty to admire.” Their regional-level wines offer terrific value, and with just a few years in the bottle well overperform their billing.

Ravaut’s entry level wines are usually lightweight and pretty — but not in 2019. Abundant sunshine and warmth produced a crop of bold, juicy, delicious reds with lots of intensity and character. It’s dark, sleek, and beautiful with notes of gingerbread, earth, wild cherries, and smoke — all wrapped up in Ravaut’s signature polish. If you’re feeling adventurous, serve with seared tuna; for classicists, go with game or duck or just a simple mushroom toast.

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Ravaut Côte de Nuits-Villages 2019
bottle price: $38

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Châteauneuf-du-Pape is one of the world’s great wine brands – at its best, the wines can rival Burgundy or Bordeaux for complexity and nuance. But our favorite value in the Southern Rhône is Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s neighbor Gigondas. Our source here for several decades has been the Domaine les Goubert.

Vinous calls Goubert “one of the appellations most venerable domaines.” In particular he cites “the 2018 and 2019 versions, the current releases, are superb and in the upper tier of bottlings from those vintages.” Winemaker Florence Cartier has maintained her family domaine’s storied reputation, and the wines are as good as they’ve ever been.

Their 2019 Gigondas “Cuvée Florence” is terrific, and a perfect wine for the chill in the air these days. Vinous’s Josh Raynolds gave 94 points, finding “white pepper, incense, espresso,” and “smoke-laced blackberry compote, kirsch and mocha.” We think this wine has a long life ahead of it, but with a decanter and roast of lamb it will disappear from your table with haste.

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Goubert Gigondas “Florence” 2019
bottle price: $52

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In a few short years Gautier Desvignes has transformed his family’s sleepy, humble domaine into one of the stars of the region. Burgundy’s Côte Chalonnaise sub-region is a dynamic place these days – warmer summers, technological advances, and surging demand have combined to make it a source for terrific wine with excellent pricing.

William Kelley, Burgundy’s top wine writer, calls Gautier one of the “leading lights” of the Côte Chalonnaise, citing recent improvements in both the vineyard and cellar. Kelley calls the wines “elegant” and “sumptuous,” and given the string of terrific vintages Gautier has turned in over the last half-decade, we wholeheartedly agree.

Gautier’s village-level Givry is among the best values in our cellar, but his premier crus are well worthy of their increased prestige. Desvignes premier cru “Grand Berge” vines lie just in back of the domaine, and the wine is particularly expressive this year. The nose shows raspberries and pepper with forest floor and violets. The mouth is sleek and medium weight, with layers of fruit neatly packed over a long, precise profile. We expect this to drink well for 5+ years, but will be hard to put down by Christmas.

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Desvignes Givry 1er “Grand Berge” 2021
bottle price: $38

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Bordeaux is best known for its Grands Vins, the famous chateaux whose pricey wines improve for decades. But the varied terroirs of Bordeaux also produce some terrific “petit vins,” which share the same soils and grapes, but are more accessible for both the palate and the pocket.

Fleuron de Liot is a tiny, Burgundy-sized domaine run by the Negrier family. Their Saint-Estèphe is 50/50 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, a humble, traditional, simply delicious Left-Bank Bordeaux. It doesn’t carry the prestige or airworthiness of Cos d’Estournel or Montrose, but that’s not its game.

The 2018 Fleuron de Liot is awfully tasty these days – with notes of plums, tobacco, pencil shavings, and gravel in the nose, the mouth remains sturdy and juicy, perfect for a weeknight plate of steak frites.

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Fleuron de Liot Saint-Estèphe 2018
bottle price: $32

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