Author: Thomas Wilcox

If there’s one wine in our portfolio that rivals white Burgundy for complexity and depth, it’s Riesling. The perennially underrated grape is capable of remarkably layered subtlety, and often comes with a surprisingly friendly pricetag. This week we opened a terrific bottle of biodynamic Grand Cru Riesling from Alsace, and we’re excited to suggest it today.

Vincent Gross makes tiny quantities of exquisite wine in his picturesque town in Alsace. His 2018 Riesling Goldert Grand Cru is elegant and delicious – the nose bursts with classic slate and petrol, alongside roses and lime zest. The mouth is dry and very long, with excellent focus amid the concentrated fruit.

Serve this when it’s too hot to drink Chassagne.

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Gross Riesling Grand Cru “Goldert” 2018
bottle price: $38

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The Languedoc region of southern France produces oceans of cheap, uninteresting wine. (A few years ago the government even paid vignerons to pull up vines to limit overproduction.) But if you know where to look, the region is also the source for some excellent wines and terrific values.

Today’s syrah-based wine is from St-Chinian, a small area of wonderful terroir high in a pocket of schist- and limestone-covered hills. Clos Bagatelle’s 2019 “Fil de Soi” got an extra year of élévage (not in oak) because of a pandemic bottle-shortage, and delay was a blessing in disguise. The texture is silky smooth and delicious, fleshy and rich. The nose bursts with dark fruit and spice, and the mouth shows plums mingled with a pleasant earthiness.

Pour at your next barbecue.

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Bagatelle St-Chinian “Fil de Soi” 2019
bottle price: $25

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A well-made entry-level Burgundy is the mark of a talented winemaker. Fancier cuvées will show off the power of terroir, and many wines from famous sites are deserving of their reputation and praise. But a Bourgogne-level wine is more a reflection of house-style and vintage.

Gérard Thomas’s house style is old-school and classic. Their careful use of barrel aging adds notes of toast and hazelnuts rather than buttery popcorn, and these blend perfectly into the traditional lemon cream core of Chardonnay. The 2021 vintage was a return to the cooler weather patterns of decades ago, and a departure from the warm-weather richness of recent years.

The resulting wine is simple and classic – traditional, unadorned Bourgogne blanc. And a bargain under $30.

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Thomas Bourgogne blanc 2021
bottle price: $29

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Muscadet is a dry, lightweight, well-priced Loire Valley white. It’s grown near where the Loire River meets the Atlantic, and the wine matches the essence of the windswept coast and the shellfish of its shores. The juice of the Melon de Bourgogne grape is so pure and light that winemakers age the wine on its lees for several years to add flavor.

Our producer here is Martin Luneau, a traditional vigneron making classic Muscadet that a patron of a Parisian cafe in 1923 would easily recognize. Their 2018 “Deux Roches” cuvée is a blend of grapes from two terroirs, and is everything you expect – light, crisp, dry, refreshing, and cheap. (At under $5/glass it might even beat that craft beer in your fridge.) Serve with oysters, of course, but also with goat cheese on crackers, grilled fish, or a summery pasta.

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Martin-Luneau Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine
Sur Lie “Deux Roches” 2018
bottle price: $19

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The soils of Burgundy vary widely based on location, but in general are some blend of argile (clay) and calcaire (limestone). The proportion of these two elements goes a long way in determining the character of wine made in each town. And in Chambolle-Musigny, it’s all about the calcaire.

This higher mineral content gives the wines of Chambolle their signature silkiness, featuring elegance and lift more than muscle and power. Our source here is the Domaine Boursot, a winery dating back to the 1550s, but one that’s unmistakably on the upswing today. Jasper Morris MW writes that “the winemaking has been sharpened up by the current generation;” Neal Martin of Vinous sees “good potential” and “a promising future.”

Boursot’s outstanding crop of 2020s arrived last fall, and they’ve only gotten better – yields were down 25-50%, and the resulting wines are almost syrah-like in their intensity. Boursot’s village-level Chambolle is particularly impressive this year – inky and rich with a tremendous amount of flavor packed into every sip. Neal Martin of Vinous called it “bold and assertive,” an enticing foil to the silky Chambolle terroir.

Dark notes of violets and cassis pour from the nose on this wine. The mouth is concentrated and nearly opaque but also very precise, with cinnamon, wild cherries, and cassis all channeled into a sleek form. Enjoy this as a young wine from a decanter over the next year or two, or save it for another five and drink it as a mature masterpiece.

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Boursot Chambolle-Musigny 2020
bottle price: $82

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We can’t tell you the real name of the Forces Telluriques — it’s an iconic Mâconnais source with an exclusive importer for the primary label. But it’s the same juice in the bottle, and extraordinary juice it is. The family who creates this wine are true believers in the theory of biodynamics — minimal vineyard intervention in the vines, meticulous and hands-off winemaking.

The resulting cuvée is a living, breathing wine, bursting from the bottle, ready to commune with the natural world. It’s pure Chardonnay, entirely unoaked – the nose explodes from the glass with tangerine, honey and lemon peel. The mouth is cool, long and luxurious with tremendous energy wrapped into a fleshy core.

We often convert red drinkers to white with this wine.

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Forces Telluriques Viré-Clessé 2020
bottle price: $42

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Michel Gros makes some of the fanciest reds in our cellar, from appellations like Vosne-Romanée and Chambolle-Musigny. Like many other Burgundian winemakers, he also makes a series of “petits vins” – wines from less exalted zip codes, with earlier drinking windows and friendlier price tags.

Gros’s 2017 Hautes-Côtes de Nuits has drunk well from its arrival a few years ago – a low tannin, accessible vintage that has always been a crowd pleaser. We opened a bottle this week to check and it’s terrific – smooth and approachable but with plenty of precision and vibrant freshness. Look for notes of violets, toast, black cherry, and cassis.

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Gros Hautes-Côtes de Nuits 2017
bottle price: $35

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The Jura region has an untamed feel to it. Lying only an hour east of Burgundy, it’s a wilder, craggier landscape, producing unusual wines to match. We love its most famous product — the sherry-like oxidized Vin Jaune — but concede it’s not to everyone’s taste.

The red wines of the Jura are certainly less esoteric than its whites, but still embody a funkier, more rugged style than the Côte d’Or. If red Burgundy is a polished, Harvard-educated lawyer from the Back Bay, red Jura is her younger brother who went to art school and lives in Porter Square .

Today’s cuvée is Ligier’s Arbois Trousseau 2019, a lightweight, pleasantly funky red full of freshness and character.

Trousseau is an unusual and increasingly rare grape — it’s grown almost exclusively in the Jura, and even there covers only 172 hectares (a bit larger than the town of Vosne-Romanée). Trousseau may be light in color, but it’s got plenty of character, and can stand up to a wide array of flavors — think prosciutto, duck, salmon, pâté, mushrooms, of the local specialty, Comté.

The nose is bright and fruit forward with strawberries and a hint of earthiness. The mouth has lightweight tannins, nice density, and a pleasant dry juiciness — look for notes of mushrooms, thyme, dried meats, and wild strawberries.

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Ligier Trousseau 2019
bottle price: $19

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In a warming world perennially in search of freshness, Chablis is often the answer. Even amid recent scorching dry summers, many winemakers were able to channel the stony precision of Chablis into beautifully balanced wines.

The 2021 vintage was cooler and wetter than recent years, and a welcome return to classical style after several years of unusual ripeness and heat. The best of these Chablis are simply magnificent, the only problem is their scarcity. We’re thrilled to have two terrific Chablis producers (Collet and Gautheron), and are excited to release another knockout premier cru today.

The Vaillons premier cru lies on a slope parallel to Montmains on Chablis’s left bank, known as a source of chiseled, vibrant wines. Gautheron’s Vaillons 2021 is round and full on the palate despite the vintage’s relative freshness. Morris gave it 90-93 points, writing: “Very pale colour, with impressive tension on the nose. The stones are there and a bit of flesh, too, pure and typical with the usual dry finish. Old vines here. Really very long.”

This is everything you want from Chablis – savory intensity, perfectly ripe fruit, brisk stony backbone and laser focused finish. This needs no accompaniment – a delicious, elegant, complete glass of white Burgundy on its own. But should hunger force your hand, this will match anything in need of zip – scallops, creamy oysters, swordfish, lobster, chicken sausages, etc.

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Gautheron Chablis 1er “Vaillons” 2021
bottle price: $42

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When Burgundy’s leading critic singles you out as one of a “leading light” in the region, you could argue that you’d made it. But Gautier Desvignes – who in just eight short years has taken his humble family domaine from ordinary to outperforming – is not one to rest on his laurels. Each year we visit he has a new series of vineyard and cellar improvements to share and explain. In the words of Aaron Burr, “the man is non-stop.”

And it shows. The 2021 Red Burgundies have a reputation as inconsistent and tricky, but someone forgot to tell Gautier. His lineup of 2021 Givrys is outstanding top to bottom, with each cuvée perfectly balanced and crafted – ripe plummy fruit, gorgeous floral aromatics, and sleek, polished textures. They’re among the most successful wines we tasted from the vintage, including those from much fancier towns.

 

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.

We’re thrilled to see the success of this emerging superstar, even if it means his yearly cellar dispatch to us has changed from “our price list” to “your allocation.” All of Gautier’s 2021s will be featured in next Sunday’s July Futures release, but we’re singling out one today.

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 think it will drink well for 5+ years, but will be hard to put down by Christmas.

All of the Desvignes premier crus sold out in Futures last year, and this year’s allocation is even smaller – so we counsel haste to interested parties. You won’t regret it.

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Desvignes Givry 1er “Grand Berge” 2021
Ansonia Retail: $468
July Futures: $350/case

TO ORDER THIS WINE, EMAIL TOM

 

The Syrahs of the Northern Rhône are known for their intense color and soaring aromatics. Some wines even rival their Burgundian neighbors to the north in terms of elegance and subtlety. Though recent hot vintages have delivered a bit more meat on the bones than a decade ago, the most successful cuvées retain their classic northern complexity.

Our newest discovery in the region is the Domaine de Boisseyt, a recently founded domaine with an astonishing array of vineyards. At our most recent visit their 2019 Saint-Joseph “Izeras” grabbed our attention. This pure, sleek Syrah cuvée hails from old vines a windy plateau overlooking the river, and the resulting wine combines dark rustic power with floral, aromatic minerality in a dynamic concerto of high and low.

The 2019 Izeras is flat our delicious these days. The nose is dark and brooding, with no apparent oak and beautiful notes of tapenade, dark cherries, and stones. The mouth is compact and long, with a dry, sophisticated finish – it’s polished to sleek modern shine, but retains a rugged, untamed charm.

The Wine Advocate’s reviewer agreed with our enthusiasm, awarding 93 points and calling it “full-bodied, round and fleshy…with a long, silky finish.” He pointed out it’s “already drinking well, and should easily last through the end of the decade.” We think this domaine, and this cuvée in particular, is a real find – an awfully impressive wine under $50.

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Boisseyt Saint-Joseph “Izeras” 2019
bottle price: $49

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Burgundies are not getting any cheaper. With limited supply and ever-increasing demand, good values are harder and harder to find. But one Burgundian town that continues to deliver far more than people expect is St-Aubin. And we’re not the only ones to notice.

Rajat Parr writes writes that St-Aubin “produces some of the best-value Chardonnays in the world,” and Jancis Robinson says it “should now be regarded as virtually the equal” of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet. Our source here is Gérard Thomas, a small family domaine has lived and made wine in St-Aubin since the 1940s. Their 2021s are a delicious return to classical Burgundian style.

Thomas’s Bourgogne blanc is as good as entry-level white Burgundy gets; their St-Aubin 1er cru “Murgers des Dents de Chien” is elegant, overperforming and classy. Today’s wine is their village-level St-Aubin, sitting nicely between the two.

The village level St-Aubin Champ Tirant is more earthy and savory than the Bourgogne, with less cream in the nose – it’s long in the mouth, with an easygoing mouthfeel and fresh finish. Jancis Robinson’s reviewer found “rich, broad fruit with precise, sculpted purity and freshness,” and “well-judged oak.”

In a world where many Bourgogne-level whites are pushing past $60/bot, Thomas’s village-level St-Aubin is a steal.

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Thomas St-Aubin “Champ Tirant” 2021
bottle price: $39

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The Domaine les Goubert is among the domaines we’ve worked with the longest. Over more than two decades their consistency has remained unshakable – good vintage and difficult, up year and down, Goubert’s delicious, well-priced Gigondas cuvées are like trusty old friends.

In recent years Florence, the thirty-something daughter at the domaine, has taken over the winemaking, and turned an always consistent production into one that truly shines. Josh Raynolds of Vinous called the wines “superb” and calls them “one of the appellations most venerable domaines.

Their 2020 Gigondas is the most exciting cuvée we’ve had from them in recent memory. The nose explodes with a symphony of floral notes, combining vibrant wild cherries, garrigue, blackberry, lavender, and earth. The mouth is long and fresh with excellent persistence. We sold out of our entire stock in two months last fall, so we’re pleased to have restocked earlier this month.

Raynolds gave 93 points, finding “palate-staining red/blue fruit,” with flavors that “deftly blend power and delicacy,” before an “impressively long, floral- and spice-driven finish.” We think it’s a tremendous value, priced in a range to pull out on casual weeknight.

This is always in the top three most popular reds we sell – a perfect blend of depth, elegance, and value. Open a bottle yourself and you’ll understand why.

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Goubert Gigondas 2020
bottle price: $29

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Roger Belland is best known for his beautiful, golden premier cru Clos Pitois from Chassagne-Montrachet. It’s rich, elegant, and everything you want in a top class white Burgundy. When we want to really impress someone with a Chardonnay, we often reach for the Pitois blanc.

Belland’s Santenay 1er cru “Beauregard” blanc is not as complex or long-lived as the Chassagne premier cru — but for half the price it does an admirable impression, and we think it’s a bargain. White Burgundy prices continue to rise around the region, but this wine is proof that there’s still value to be found.

Belland’s Beauregard blanc vines are a few hundred yards from the Chassagne-Montrachet border, and the wine drinks like it’s from much fancier terroir. The 2020 Beauregard blanc is rich and opulent, the product of abundant ripe fruit channeled into a tasty package. Burghound agreed, finding it “succulent, round and delicious” with “good focus on the refreshing finale.”

The 2020 whites continue to be strikingly good — perfectly ripe, fleshy fruit bolstered by laser focus and elegant shape. With a tiny crop and impressive early drinking window, we don’t expect them to be around much longer.

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Belland Santenay 1er “Beauregard” blanc 2020
bottle price: $55

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We suppose it’s a good thing when in the opening paragraph of this fall’s article on “Insider’s Burgundy,” the Wine Advocate’s William Kelley mentions Gautier Desvignes by name as a face of a “new generation of quality-conscious producers” in the Côte Chalonnaise. We’re thrilled to see Gautier receive the recognition he deserves, even if it means his wines are a bit harder to come by.

Tasting the 2020s Kelley found “elegant, sumptuous reds,” and writes that Gautier’s “2020 portfolio is a strong follow-up to his lovely set of 2019s.” After them back in April we wholeheartedly agreed. Gautier’s entire lineup of 2020s has arrived in stock, and today we’re suggesting the best value of the bunch.

From a dry, sundrenched vintage, the 2020s from Desvignes drink like a cross between Gamay and Nuits-St-Georges. The 2020 Givry rouge punches well above its weight, with outstanding richness and intensity. If the Côte Chalonnaise calls to mind red-fruited, lightweight reds with bright tannins, it’s time to reconsider.

The Desvignes 2020 Givry packs an extraordinary amount of flavor into a $32 bottle – it’s among the best entry-level Burgundies in our cellar, and we’d put it up against much bigger names from the Côte de Nuits. The nose bursts with cassis and black fruits, with hints of earth and spices. The mouth is rich and layered with tremendous concentration. Kelley awarded 90 points, finding a “layered and concentrated palate framed by powdery tannins and succulent acids.”

The days of $20 Burgundian pinot may be behind us, but if this is what entry-level red Burgundy tastes like these days, sign us up.

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Desvignes Givry 2020
bottle price: $32

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