Author: Thomas Wilcox

Chambolle Musigny’s famous terroirs are the Grand Crus Musigny and Bonnes-Mares, and Premier Cru Amoureuses. All three fetch prices north of $500/bot, and are among the jewels of many serious collectors’ cellars.

But the undisputed fourth-best terroir in the town is Les Fuées, a premier cru immediately next to Bonnes-Mares. And it’s here that today’s wine originates. Our Chambolle source is the Domaine Boursot, which farms 75+ year old vines in Fuées – and the wine they produce is exceptional. It’s not cheap, but next to the top three it’s a bargain.

(We usually don’t use the words “fourth-best” to sell readers on a wine, but this is Chambolle, so even 24th-best would be special.)

Boursot’s 2019 Fuées marries power and grace in a way only a Chambolle vineyard can. Vinous’s Neal Martin awarded 93 points, finding it “refined’ and “supple.” The nose is dark and brooding, with cassis, violets, and gingerbread. The mouth is huge and intense, and yet elegant and silky in a way only Chambolle can be.

Mugnier’s Chambolle Fuées goes for $900/bot, and we’re certainly not saying Boursot’s would win in a prizefight. But pound for pound, at around a tenth the price, it more than holds its own.

____________________________

Boursot Chambolle-Musigny 1er “Fuées” 2019
bottle price: $129
3+ bottle price: $109.65 (use code FRIDAY)

Add to Cart

 

Winemaker Frederic Michot is as energetic as his wines: pure Sauvignon blanc, no oak, clean and crisp. Michot’s side of the river – Pouilly-Fumé – may be less famous than his neighbor Sancerre, but he isn’t willing to concede it any advantage.

Michot’s humble wines have quietly become some of our best sellers, and we’re pleased to restock today after selling out several months ago. His old-vine cuvée refreshing, unoaked, mouthfilling and utterly delicious – the 2022 is ripe and lush with terrific tension and bursting mouthfeel. There’s lots of inexpensive Sauvignon Blanc around — most of it doesn’t hold a candle to this wine.

The nose shows mango, grapefruit rind, and straw; the mouth shows ripe grapefruit, lime rind, and honey. The wine is at once mouthfilling and electric, with the persistence of richness and stony freshness found in a perfectly balanced Sancerre. Serve with goat cheese.

____________________________

Michot Pouilly-Fumé VV 2022
bottle price: $22

Add to Cart

 

Lancelot-Royer was one of our most exciting discoveries last year. Michel Chauvet and his son run this tiny house in Cramant, producing exquisite small-batch grower Champagne. All of their wines come from grapes they grow themselves, and their vineyards are 100% Chardonnay from exclusively Grand Cru plots. Everything here is done by hand, from harvesting and riddling to disgorging, dosing and labeling.

And the wine is as tasty as you’d expect from such an operation – we’ve just restocked on their popular “Cuvée des Chevaliers,” a non-vintage Brut that we think far outperforms its pricetag. After spending four years on the lees in the Chauvets’ 50 degree chalk cellars, they disgorged it for us earlier this year.

Champagnes from the Côtes des Blancs are known for their elegance and chiseled focus, and this cuvée does not disappoint. It’s rich and toasty, with a lovely nose of pear, apple and buttery croissants. The mouth is crisp and delicious with plenty of richness amid the energetic freshness. If you’ve got any entertaining in the next two months, this is a no brainer.

____________________________

Lancelot-Royer Champagne Grand Cru
“Chevaliers” Brut NV
bottle price: $58

Add to Cart

 

.

Our July shipment arrived last week, just in time for the arrival of autumn. It features crisp Chablis, earthy Burgundys, and, most perfectly of all, fresh, bursting Gamay from the Beaujolais. We’ve compiled a new collection of our autumn favorites, but to us, no other wine matches the crisp chill in the air quite like Beaujolais.

Winemakers Guillaume Goujon and Sebastien Dupré are redefining what’s possible from their humble terroir. 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. Ambient yeasts and a long patient elevage deliver honest, vibrant red wine that’s hard to put down.

The aromatics in Dupre-Goujon’s wines are as pure and delicate as we’ve ever found from gamay. Each cuvée has its own identity, but all share a remarkable purity of fruit. William Kelley agreed with our enthusiasm, calling the wines “supple and charming” and labeling it “an estate to watch.”

Their just-arrived 2022 Côte de Brouilly “Démarrante” is exactly what you want for an autumn red – juicy, earthy and stony, with lush red plum fruit, perfectly balanced tannin, and a crackling, mouthwatering, vibrant (12.5% alc) texture on the palate. Pour it with everything from tailgates to turkey to tomato soup.

____________________________

Dupré-Goujon Côte de Brouilly “Démarrante” 2022
bottle price: $29

Add to Cart

 

The 2021 Red Burgundies have a reputation as inconsistent and tricky, but someone forgot to tell Gautier Desvignes. Burgundy’s leading wine critic William Kelley calls him “a leading light in the Côte Chalonnaise,” and he’s navigated an extremely difficult vintage with skill and precision. His lineup of 2021 Givrys is outstanding top to bottom – they’re not delicious “for the vintage,’ they’re objectively excellent on their own.

William Kelley credits the improvements in Gautier’s wines to the use of manure for fertilizer, a more careful oak regime, lighter filtration, and longer elevage. Wherever combination of variables is the one making the difference, the advances in quality are obvious. Gautier’s prices have yet to catch up, making his wines some of the best value red Burgundies we know.

The Desvignes 2021s arrived this week, and the village level Givry is open, supple, and simply lovely. Gautier dialed back the extraction for this cuvée, and it perfectly matches the intensity of the fruit. The nose is red fruited with cherries and raspberries alongside dried violets and spice; the mouth is delicate and silky with mid-to-low tannin and an easy finish.

Tasting at the domaine this spring, this cuvée is immediately called to our minds his terrific 2017 village-level Givry, a wine known to evaporate from the dinner table with shocking ease. This was the first bottle we opened after receiving a shipment this week, and one taste confirmed our initial enthusiasm – no patience required, just a few glasses and a few friends. If accessible red Burgundy is on your shopping list, grab this and cross it off.

____________________________

Desvignes Givry 2021
bottle price: $35

Add to Cart

 

Philippe Cheron has been making wine in Burgundy his entire life, but his Domaine du Couvent is only a few years old. In a region where many domaines stretch back centuries, it’s unusual to see a “newcomer.” But Cheron is hardly a novice, and after one taste of his wine, his skill is obvious. Burghound calls Couvent “a domaine to watch going forward;” Neal Martin writes “definitely a grower that I will keep an eye on.”

Our first few vintages with Cheron have been impressive indeed. He’s navigated years both scorching hot and rainy/cold – 2020 and 2021 respectively – with consistency and style. He farms an envious series of village and premier cru plots in Nuits, Vosne, Chambolle, and Gevrey. But the wines at the top of his lineup are worthy of their acclaim, and none moreso than his Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru.

Neal Martin calls Cheron’s Clos Vougeot “splendid” and writes that it “whisks you directly to that famed vineyard.” The plot is a nostalgic one for Cheron – his grandfather purchased the vines from Comte Ligier Belair in the 1930s, and he told us fondly of enjoying bottles with his father on Sunday afternoons in his childhood. From a vineyard too large to deliver consistent excellent, Cheron’s is as good an example as we know.

Burghound and Jasper Morris both awarded 92-95 points, with Burghound finding a complex aromatic profile: “Ripe and fresh aromas of red and black cherry, plum and earth display a top note of kirsch” with “outstanding power.” This isn’t exactly a Tuesday wine or a tomorrow wine, but given a bit of patience we expect extraordinary things.

____________________________

Couvent Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2020
bottle price: $235

Add to Cart

 

Aside from Champagne, Chablis is perhaps the most versatile food-pairing wine in our cellar. It’s fresh, crisp, dry, and lively – perfect for a wide range of foods, or for nothing at all. Seafood in particular is a perfect match, and we serve Chablis with everything from linguine with clams to grilled halibut to bouillabaisse.

Our two Chablis producers make excellent, ageworthy premier and grand crus, but their entry level wines are just as good for the price. Today we’re suggesting Cyril Gautheron’s old-vine Chablis, a wine we think well overperforms its humble billing. We loved this wine and stocked our cellar enthusiastically – turns out we weren’t the only ones to notice.

Writing last week in Vinous, Neal Martin heaped praises on this wine, finding a nose of “crushed stone and pressed white flowers” and “citrus peel, orange rind, fine weight and quite a cohesive finish.” He concluded “there is a breeze quality to this Chablis that is very appealing. Worth seeking out.”

____________________________

Gautheron Chablis VV 2021
bottle price:$32

Add to Cart

 

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. All of André’s grapes go into a single extraordinary cuvée – no luxury batch or cuvée speciale here — just one red, outstanding year in and year out.

As autumn here at last we’ve begun to shift back to “cozy wines” at our house – reds with mouthfilling textures, dark inky fruit, and long, layered finishes. So today we’re suggesting Jacqueline André’s magnificent Châteauneuf, the very definition of coziness. The 2019 is lush, round, and beautiful – it has the capacity to cellar much longer, but it was a showstopper at our Mushroomfest tasting over the weekend.

____________________________

André Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2019
bottle price:$59

Add to Cart

 

Christophe Bonnefond’s Côte Rôties have matured in style in recent years. Once described by Robert Parker as “extroverted,” the Bonnefonds now make elegant, layered, transcendent wines full of both depth and lift. Vinous reviewer Josh Raynolds calls them “superb” and with the Northern Rhône’s recent half-decade of terrific consecutive vintages, this is a source for some of the most exciting reds in our cellar.

Today we’re suggesting Bonnefond’s 2019 Côte Rôtie “Rozier,” a vineyard immediately abutting the famous La Landonne. This is always Bonnefond’s most elegant and expressive wine, and the 2019 is a knockout. Raynolds gave 95 points, finding “dark berry preserve, smoked meat, potpourri and olive…closes very long and smoky.”

This will easily age another decade, but with a lamb roast, a decanter, and a few hours’ patience it’s a perfect match for the arrival of autumn.

____________________________

Bonnefond Côte Rôtie “Rozier” 2019
bottle price:$75
3+ bottle price: $63.75 (use code FRIDAY)

Add to Cart

 

Much of the world’s Merlot is undistinguished. Its default expression is a soft, rounded wine lacking tannin, acidity, and character. But in Bordeaux, Merlot thrives as an essential component to the region’s most iconic wines; and on the Right Bank Merlot reaches its ultimate expression. Today’s wine is from St-Emilion, where the exact combination of limestone and gravel soils produce a version of Merlot with balance, definition, and depth.

The 2017 Chateau Montlisse St-Emilion Grand Cru is  85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, and a rich, velvety blend with a classic combination of dark fruit and spice. Vinous reviewer Neal Martin loved the 2017 Montlisse, awarding 92 points and finding it “medium bodied with supple tannins, a fine bead of acidity, much fresher than many of its peers with a lovely, caressing finish. Excellent.”

Pour this on an autumn Sunday afternoon with a roast.

____________________________

Montlisse St-Emilion Grand Cru 2017
bottle price: $38

Add to Cart

 

The Maconnais is a bastion of youthful winemaking energy these days. With land prices in the Côte d’Or rising into the stratosphere, and wholesale grape prices at harvest not far behind, many young passionate winemakers have set up shop in the Maconnais, Burgundy’s southernmost sub-region.

And particularly in Pouilly-Fuissé, the Maconnais appellation once known for being overoaked and overpriced, a new generation is producing some of the most dynamic, exciting white Burgundies to be found anywhere today. Gone are the days of buttery popcorn Chardonnay – today’s Pouilly-Fuissé is vibrant, fresh, delicious, and alive.

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.”

Today we’re suggesting his 2019 Pouilly-Fuissé, a blend of several village level plots around the town of Fuissé. William Kelley found notes of “pear, almonds, and fresh pastry,” and praised its “bright spine” and “precise finish.” We think it is all grown up now and ready to accompany all sorts of dishes that call for a refined white wine.

____________________________

Giroux Pouilly-Fuissé 2019
bottle price:$32

Add to Cart

 

Nuits-St-Georges is a huge appellation by Burgundy standards, stretching over four miles end to end. But the most traditional expression of the appellation comes from the middle, just south of the town. Prototypical Nuits-St-Georges is bold, dark-fruited, and often pleasantly rugged. It’s still Burgundian Pinot Noir of course, so elegant and subtle – but also somewhat untamed.

Michel Gros’s Nuits-St-Georges “Chaliots” cuvée comes from the heart of the appellation, and it is indeed a classical Nuits. Gros’s house style is always polished and refined, which creates a beautiful, dynamic contrast with the characterful terroir. The 2019 has shed a bit of its youthful exuberance, and has settled down into a charming vibrant red Burgundy. There’s a bright future ahead for this wine, but it’s smooth and simply delightful today.

This is captivating wine – the nose has begun to add gorgeous notes of dried violets and cassis liqueur. The mouth remains textural and mouthfilling with gorgeous notes of gingerbread and plum. Gros has tamed the Nuits wildness just enough to match his style, but the soul of the wine is still untamed. Pour this into a decanter with a plate of steak frites.

____________________________

Bonnefond Côte Rôtie “Rozier” 2019
bottle price:$75
3+ bottle price: $63.75 (use code FRIDAY)

Add to Cart

 

Côtes du Rhônes are a dime a dozen. They’re cheap, reliable, and abundant — you’ll find them everywhere from a fine restaurant to your local supermarket. Most are mass produced, with low tannin and lots of fruit — they may lack flaws, but they’re short on character too.

Eric Chauvin’s wines share a region and grape varietal with these Côtes du Rhônes, but little else. Chauvin’s tiny Domaine le Souverain has no website, no road sign, and barely a phone number — his cellar is a converted garage. But his wines have more complexity and depth than nearly anything else we taste at their level, and manage to remain a bargain.

Souverain’s 2022 Séguret pulsates with life and energy, a result of his low-intervention style and careful organic viticulture. The nose is dark and inky with notes of crushed berries, lavender, and a cool earthiness. The mouth is smooth, fresh and perfectly balanced – clean dark fruit, low tannin, and easy finish. Pour this on your back patio or roofdeck, paired with something from the grill and a cool hint of fall in the air.

____________________________

Souverain Séguret 2022
bottle price: $19

Add to Cart

 

Romain Collet took over his family’s estate a decade, and has transformed it from a good if occasionally inconsistent source to a reliably excellent domaine. He’s expertly navigated the changing climate, which has affected Chablis perhaps more dramatically than other French region. Jasper Morris MW writes that he “is moving towards joining the pantheon” in Chablis; William Kelley writes that the wines “have taken another step up in quality…mark this out as an estate to follow closely.”

Collet’s 2022 village-level Chablis is simply delicious. A very ripe vintage and early harvest produced lush, abundant fruit with excellent concentration. And yet Romain harvested early enough (August 28th) to preserve the freshness and vibrant character of the wine. This unoaked, plum, energetic wine isn’t one for the back of the cellar – but it’s too tasty to last that long anyway.

Look for notes of green apple and lemon curd in the nose alongside chalk and oyster shells – the aromatics are exceptional this year, and more reminiscent of a premier cru. The mouth is punchy and fine, finishing very dry and clean. Serve this with Chicken Schnitzel.

____________________________

Collet Chablis 2022
bottle price: $29

Add to Cart

 

The quality of entry-level Burgundy has never been higher. Riper grapes and more controlled winemaking now produce Bourgogne-level wines that rival village-level wine for value and depth. We’re hardly the first to notice though, and the market has driven many Bourgogne prices well past $50, and more than a few into three figures.

But there are still hidden gems to be found in those golden hillsides. Today we present two terrific Bourgogne-level wines, one white from outside Meursault, and one red from outside Chambolle. These are among our favorite cuvées in the genre, and come with sub-$30 pricing through our upcoming September Futures issue.

We’ve got seven exciting producers to offer in our Futures Issue next week, but we’re opening the bidding early on these two today.

Bohrmann Bourgogne Blanc 2020
Savvy Ansonia readers might remark, “wait, didn’t you offer this before?” or “wait, wasn’t Bohrmann in last month’s Futures?” The answer to both questions is yes, and we couldn’t be more excited. With an eye to the miniscule yields of the 2021 vintage, winemaker Sofie Bohrmann held back some of her stock of this wine to sell this year. So while bought all she’d let us buy last year, she’s offered it to us again, and we nearly tripped over ourselves signing up.

This wine makes a persuasive case as the most popular white Burgundy in our warehouse. Made from regional-level vines near Meursault and Puligny, the Bourgogne blanc 2020 is smooth, elegant, floral, and concentrated, with more than a passing resemblance to Meursault. The mouth is cool, impressively long, and vibrant. Bourgogne-blanc doesn’t often get better than this.

Ansonia Retail: $432
September Futures: $350/case

To order this wine, email tom@ansoniawines.com

 

Boursot Bourgogne Rouge 2021
Up the road in Chambolle-Musigny, where the Boursot family has been in the grape business since the 16th century, we find our second suggestion. The millennial Boursots have taken their family’s near-priceless terroir and begun to apply some seriously impressive cellar work. Jasper Morris MW writes that “the winemaking has been sharpened up by the current generation;” Neal Martin of Vinous finds the wines “superb” and writes of “a promising future.”

We were quite taken with Boursot’s 2021s – an extremely difficult vintage that proved a test for even seasoned winemakers. The Boursot brothers passed with flying colors, and their humble Bourgogne rouge 2021 is a perfect example. Raised entirely in steel, this is gorgeous, accessible, simply delicious red Burgundy. The nose shows cherry, plum and white flowers; the mouth is fresh and chalky with raspberry notes and low tannin. The dry, classy finish ties it up into a neat package. An exceptional value under $30.

Ansonia Retail: $432
September Futures: $350/case

To order this wine, email tom@ansoniawines.com