Author: Thomas Wilcox

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 calls 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.

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 a chilly weeknight. The perfect accompaniment to a midwinter cold snap.

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Goubert Gigondas 2020
bottle price: $29

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Everyone seems to be raising their prices these days, but the Burgundians have been doing it since before it was cool. It’s hard to blame them – tiny vintages, pricier equipment, and a shortage of labor all contribute to rising costs. At the same time, demand and quality have never been higher.

Which makes the humble Bourgogne rouge from Domaine Ravaut all the more striking. Particularly in 2020, when each bottle of Burgundy seems to contain two bottles-worth of flavor, this wine is an outstanding value. It’s priced to enjoy on a weeknight, but delicious enough for a Sunday afternoon roast chicken.

Vincent Ravaut is a fourth generation winemaker in Ladoix, a town in the less famous stretch between the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune. The Ravauts craft delicious, well-priced cuvées (white and red) from humble appellations. The Wine Advocate’s William Kelley calls them “hearty, characterful wines with plenty of stuffing.”

Ravaut’s 2020 Bourgogne rouge is intensely red-fruited, with notes of wild cherries and currants. The mouth is packed with flavor – juicy ripe tannins, plum and cassis notes, and 2020’s signature pitch perfect freshness. If you (like we) are constantly in search of an everyday red Burgundy for your cellar, your quest ends today.

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Ravaut Bourgogne rouge 2020
bottle price: $29

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Sauvignon blanc is among the world’s most widely planted grapes, but its origin is the Loire Valley. In the Loire, Sauvignon takes on a floral, mineral style, juicy grapefruit notes with a lively minerality, often notes of flint, and pleasant herbal finish.

Wine writer Lettie Teauge once described Sancerre as a wine that delivers “pleasure not profundity.” Located at the eastern end of the Loire, Sancerre produces consistently delicious wines — approachable, affordable, and uncomplicated.

Our source here is the Domaine de la Garenne, a family operation making classic, unoaked, vibrant Sancerre. It’s not showy or ageworthy, just pure, clean, and simply delicious.

Garenne’s new 2021 Sancerre is crisp and delightful. It’s bone dry with pure sauvignon grapefruit in the nose. In the mouth it’s lively but with no astringency or grassiness — a cooler vintage has added an extra dose of dry tension. Look for minerals and lime in the mouth, with dry extract, lovely tension, and surprising length.

Sancerre is as versatile as they come, pairing with anything and nothing. Our favorite match is a cozy moules frites — a simple broth of shallots, wine, parsley, garlic and tarragon. It’s just like Sancerre: humble, uncomplicated, and delicious.

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Garenne Sancerre 2021
bottle price: $25

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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 finally arrived in our warehouse last week, and it’s as good as we remembered (if not better). 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 an 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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In a recent column, Vinous’s Rhône reviewer Josh Raynolds returned to one of his favorite subjects: Gigondas. This southern Rhône neighbor to Châteauneuf-du-Pape is perennially underrated; or as Raynolds writes: “Gigondas continues to be among the best values in high-quality, small production wines in all of France.”

We agree, and both of our producers here (Goubert and Joncuas) received terrific notes from Raynolds. Their styles diverge notably – Goubert toward polish and sophistication, Joncuas toward old-school, organic, and exquisitely complex. Today we’re focused on Joncuas, which Raynolds calls “a true insiders’ producer…with recent vintages their best yet.”

Winemaker Dany Chastan is the granddaughter of the founder, and she’s successfully raised the quality without abandoning the style. “These are true, old-school renditions of Gigondas,” writes Raynolds – whole clusters, ambient yeasts, not even mention of new oak.

Chastan’s 2019 Gigondas is a triumph, and just the ticket for a cozy winter afternoon. The nose explodes with black raspberry, plum, spice, earth and cedar; the mouth is rich and palate-coating but with excellent definition and exceptional length. Raynolds awarded 92 points, finding a “silky texture” with an “energetic, long, sappy finish” with “supple tannins that add shape and subtle grip.”

Hang up your skis, throw on your slippers, and curl up with a glass of masterful southern red.

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Joncuas Gigondas 2019
bottle price: $38

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Sofie Borhmann is a bit of an anomaly in Burgundy. She’s not French (she’s from Belgium), not well known, and exports very little to the US. In a tiny region with exploding demand and skyrocketing prices, her wines are quiet, well priced, and relatively unknown. We found them on a restaurant list in Beaune, and after some persistence managed to track her down.

It was worth the effort – her wines have become favorites among many of our readers for their clarity, meticulous oaking, and excellent pricing. Most of her wines in our portfolio are whites, but her reds – particularly today’s Bourgogne rouge – are terrific as well.

This is everything Bourgogne rouge is supposed to be – low oak, lovely red fruit, excellent energy, and a perfect Burgundian blend of earth and berries.

Borhmann’s Bourgogne vines are across the RN-74 from Pommard. At 35 years old, they’re more mature than many Bourgogne-level vines, and their fruit produces a wine of real complexity. She uses 70% whole clusters, giving the wines excellent definition and exquisite tension.

The nose shows seductive, crushed ripe red fruits, overlaid with a soft floral character. The mouth is perfectly ripe, smooth, and delicious, with fine chalky tannin supporting the bursting fruit. The 2020 shows a remarkably density, but also excellent acidity — some 2020 cuvées are destined for future greatness, but this one requires no patience.

This is everything you want from an everyday Bourgogne rouge. Nobody you serve it to will know the domaine, but after a sip or two they won’t care.

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Bohrmann Bourgogne rouge 2020
bottle price: $36

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In just over a decade, winemaker Romain Collet has turned his family’s reliable if unremarkable domaine into one of the very best sources in Chablis. With a focus on lower sulfur, a transition to organics, and modernized cellar practices, the domaine has begun to realize its full potential. The wine press has taken notice too; William Kelley finds “a lot to admire here,” and Jasper Morris recently opined that Romain Collet “is moving towards joining the pantheon in Chablis.”

Collet’s terrific crop of 2020 Chablis cuvées has at last arrived in our warehouse. As usual the premier cru and grand crus are terrific, but today we’re beginning with Collet’s simplest wine — a humble, village-level Chablis made from 90-year-old vines.

The 2020 Chablis Vieilles Vignes far outperforms its billing, and at under $30 provides tremendous value.

As vines age their production decreases as the quality of their fruit increases. Romain’s vines for today’s cuvée were planted in 1932, and produce very concentrated juice full of minerality and tension. It’s so pure and vibrant that Romain ferments and raises the wine 100% in stainless steel.

Jasper Morris found “excellent fresh concentration” and “a fine natural acidity,” concluding, “sunny but not hot.” Drawn from soils with very little clay, this is classic, old-school Chablis, but in an intense, concentrated vintage. It beautifully combines loads of dry extract with brilliant, vibrant freshness. Look for dry citrus notes in the nose with oysters shells, salt spray, and melon. The mouth is long, stony and dry, with chiseled texture and not a shred of oak.

Pair this with something from the sea – scallops, lobster, oysters, halibut, or whatever’s fresh at your local source.

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Collet Chablis VV 2020
bottle price: $29

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Where much red Burgundy tends towards subtleness and finesse, the Domaine du Couvent style is noticeably more intense. The winemakers harvest relatively late, and use a long cold soak to extract loads of flavor and texture from their grapes. The resulting wines are concentrated, dark, and delicious.

Couvent is best known (and deservedly so) for their terrific village-level and premier cru wines from Gevrey-Chambertin and Chambolle-Musigny. They only began making a Bourgogne-level wine a few year years ago, but it’s an exciting addition to their lineup. And in 2018, a year of near-record ripeness, the wine is unusually good.

The nose is very dark and spiced, with briary blackberry fruit, notes of woods, cinnamon, smoke, and a hint of ginger. The mouth is bold and silky smooth with a solid texture laid under intense masculine fruit. It’s not as long or as deep as a Gevrey, but there’s loads more material than most Bourgogne-level wines.

No need to cellar this — this is a juicy, delicious glass of bold Pinot Noir today. If it lacks a bit of refinement and finesse, it makes up for it in character and charm. It might not be old-school Burgundy, but it’s awfully tasty wine.

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Couvent Bourgogne rouge 2018
bottle price: $35

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If we were to pick one thing we look for above all else when evaluating a wine, it would be balance. No matter the grape or region, style or price, a wine with all its elements in at the correct levels succeeds. Achieving balance between ripeness and freshness has become harder in recent hot, dry summers, particularly in the scorching south of France.

So we’re always thrilled to find classic Southern Rhône blends that manage to show energy and zip. The cooler than usual 2021 growing season gave winemakers a leg up in this effort, and we’re thrilled to release our first 2021 Rhône red today: Domaine le Souverain Séguret 2021.

Winemaker Eric Chauvin has crafted a humble, refreshing, delicious Rhône red – a screaming bargain that’s hard to put down. Made from 50/50 Grenache/Syrah raised only in stainless steel (no oak), this wine carries a beautiful energy throughout its dark, mouthfilling palate.

The nose is deep and perfumed, showing violet, cassis, and a hint of local garrigue. The mouth is dark and lush but with great freshness and a concentrated, middleweight mouthfeel. It’s the perfect wine for a weeknight burger or takeout pizza – upgrade your go-to Côtes du Rhône with a beautifully balanced everyday red.

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Souverain Séguret 2021
bottle price: $19

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Gautier Desvignes is among the most exciting young producers in our portfolio. He’s taken his family’s humble domaine and turned them into one of the Côte Chalonnaise’s leading sources. It’s easy to argue they’re the best value red Burgundies in our cellar. (Boston area readers, keep your eyes out for a possible winemaker dinner in April with Gautier.)

Gautier’s richly deserved attention has caught the eye of several top not reviewers, including the Wine Advocate’s William Kelley. Kelley calls Desvignes “a rising star” and one of a “new generation of quality-conscious producers” in the Côte Chalonnaise. Tasting the 2020s Kelley found “elegant, sumptuous reds,” and called them “a strong follow-up to his lovely set of 2019s.”

Many readers have already picked up Gautier’s terrific 2020 Givry rouge, which has finally arrived in our stock. But for a few extra bucks – like, three – we think his premier cru “Grand Berge” is an exceptional value. Made from vines a bit higher in elevation, this wine shows the ripe, lush character of the vintage but with an extra dose of tension and energy.

Kelley awarded 92 points, finding notes of “rich berries, loamy soil, licorice, spices and forest floor; full-bodied, ample and layered.” We found more plummy richness than the village level wine, and more supporting backbone too. The oak is beautifully integrated, as is the freshness.

It’s easy to read the headlines these days and think the whole region of Burgundy is out of your price range. But it only takes a bit of digging to find some extraordinary values that remain.

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Desvignes Givry 1er “Grand Berge” 2020
bottle price: $35

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The Northern Rhône produces the world’s most complex and balanced expressions of Syrah. Particularly in Côte Rôtie, at the region’s northern limit, the wines combine inky, black, masculine fruit with extraordinary lift and finesse. Our producer in Côte Rôtie is Christophe Bonnefond, who seems to make more impressive and well-balanced wines each year. 

Indeed his 2020s are magnificent. Josh Raynolds of Vinous writes “the 2020s are shaping up to be as impressive, especially in terms of elegance, as any bottlings I have experienced here.” Having bought here for nearly 20 years, we agree — the wines have never been better.

Christophe and his daughter Léa Bonnefond make two site-specific bottlings, both of which border the famous La Landonne vineyard in Côte Rôtie. Both cuvées — Rozier and Rochins — are terrific in 2020, but we’re singling out Rochins today. It’s the more powerful of the two, with bigger shoulders and a longer finish. The 2020s will be delicious young — indeed spitting them out during our tasting last spring was a real challenge — but their intensity should carry them a decade in the cellar with ease.

The Côte Rôtie Rochins 2020 is beautifully balanced Syrah — the one third new oak provides careful guardrails for the lush fruit, and is perfectly integrated. The nose shows cassis, blackberries, toast, smoke and spice. The mouth is extremely long, but without an ounce of heaviness. Raynolds awarded 95 points, finding “candied flowers [that] take on a smoky mineral nuance with aeration,” calling the mouth “velvety and round” with notes of “cherry-cola, olive paste, and spicecake.”

If you’ve got a taste for Côte Rôtie, this is a stunning wine in a top notch vintage.

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Bonnefond Côte Rôtie “Rochins” 2020
bottle price: $78

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Christophe Mestre and his wife are from old Châteauneuf du Pape families. Like many such families, their vines are in plots scattered across the town’s remarkably diverse terroir. Their parcels cover all three of Châteauneuf’s famous terroirs: the famous galets roulés (see photo), sand, and clay-limestone. Mestre makes a single red cuvée from these terroirs, seeking an expression of the appellation as a whole. It’s always delicious, and always well priced.

Christophe has just been joined by his son Remi, who (along with quite a few other Gen Z winemakers) brings an interest in whole cluster fermentation and single-varietal experimentation. We always enjoy watching the generations work together at our producers, as new ideas mix with long experience.

Whoever has the reins chez Mestre these days, one thing is for sure – the wine continues to be excellent.

Mestre’s 2019 Châteauneuf-du-Pape is not a complicated wine, and probably not one for the back of the cellar. But today, and for the next few years, it should offer pure, unbridled hedonistic delight. It’s a blend of 50% grenache, 25% mourvèdre, 20% syrah, and 5% cinsault. The nose explodes with ripe strawberry fruit and a pleasant cool earthiness.

Despite a blistering hot year, Christophe managed to build tannins behind the fruit beautifully, and this wine is well defined and not the least bit flabby. The mouth is rich and ripe, with remarkable intensity and length for its price. The Wine Advocate awarded 92 points, finding it “full-bodied and supple, with a long, harmonious finish.” With cold weather here to stay for a few months, this is as useful as a warm cashmere scarf.

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Mestre Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2019
bottle price: $35

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The 2019 vintage produced outstanding wines in red Burgundy, white Burgundy, and the Rhône valleys. But the success of this vintage stretched further, across the Mont Blanc and into Tuscany. The 2019 Chianti Classico from Poggerino is as good as it’s ever een.

As most of you know already, Poggerino is a top-notch producer from Chianti in Italy. Nearly all of our winemakers are French, but we carve out a small exception for Piero and Benedetta Lanza in Radda. Rajat Parr calls their pure Sangiovese wines “some of the purest expressions of [Sangiovese] in Italy.” Wine Spectator calls their wines “impeccably balanced.”

Poggerino’s 2019 Chianti Classico is simply delicious. The wine bursts from the glass in dark floral notes that somehow also carry tremendous lift and elegance. Look for red cherries, roses, plums, licorice and cocoa. In the mouth it’s focused and sleek, with impressive intensity and perfectly coated tannin. The texture is fine grained and polished – in fact, a remarkably polished wine for its price point.

Antonio Galloni of Vinous gave 92 points, finding it “fleshy and super-expressive,” adding “all the elements come together so well,” and concluding by calling it “especially inviting.” We plan to keep our portfolio’s focus on French wines, but wines like this make us want to expand. Poggerino’s 2019 Classico is a no-brainer addition to your cellar.

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Poggerino Chianti Classico 2019
bottle price: $25

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It seems that hot, dry growing season are now the norm in Burgundy. Twenty years ago these vintages would have been unusual – a challenging outlier requiring some careful adjustments in the cellar. But as warm, sunny conditions have become the new normal, both growers and vines have begun to adapt more permanently.

Winemakers have adjusted their growing techniques and cellar practices to manage riper grapes, higher sugars, and earlier harvests. Now with several years of practice, growers manage to maintain balance and freshness with the new crop. Despite the heat and lack of rain, the 2019 red Burgundies are some of the most exciting we’ve tasted. And nowhere is this more apparent than at a top domaine like Michel Gros.

Gros’s 2019s were universally successful. While most of their village, premier cru and grand cru wines sold out through Futures last year, his regional level wines offer a chance to experience this superb vintage with more modest investment.

Today we’re suggesting the 2019 Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Au Vallon,” one of Gros’s regional level cuvées, and one that performed particularly well in 2019. This wine continues to improve – pure and precise with an expressive nose of red fruits and violets. The mouth is delicious, with excellent concentration and lots of depth.

Vinous’s Neal Martin found “fine grained tannins” and called it “commendably energetic,” concluding “this is worth seeking out.” Burghound awarded it both his Outstanding and Top Value labels, finding it “sleek and fine with a beguiling intensity” and concluding “this is very good and worthy of your interest.”

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Michel Gros Hautes-Côtes de Nuits
“Au Vallon” 2019
bottle price: $36

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At its best, white Burgundy is a balance of richness and elegance. Expressions range across the region from light and crisp (Chablis) to lush and ripe (Maconnais), but if we had to pick one, our favorite expression is somewhere in the middle. At the center of this spectrum lies the famous stretch of Meursault, Puligny, and Chassage.

The whites from these three famous towns deserve every bit of their fame, but warmer summers have expanded the range of this sweet spot in the middle. And nowhere is this more apparent than Saint-Aubin, a valley stretching just off the main slope between Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny Montrachet.

We have several sources for Saint-Aubin – in fact we buy it just about where we can find it – but our most recent favorite is Sofie Borhmann. Bohrmann somehow still flies under the radar of most of the wine world, but if her wines keep tasting like this, she won’t for long.

Bohrmann’s white Burgundies are magnificent in 2020, but today we’re focused on her village-level Saint-Aubin from “Champ Tirant.” It’s Sofie’s first year making this wine, and it’s a knockout. The nose is a pitch-perfect blend of thyme, butter, cream and toast – Bohrmann uses a particular fine-grained Austrian oak for her barrels, permitting a long élevage with limited wood influence.

In the mouth this wine shines, easily matching the richness of a village Meursault or Chassagne. The texture is rich and opulent, with plenty of zip and a long, velvety finish. Look for notes of sweet cream butter, button mushrooms, and warm earth. The wine achieves a balance of fat and lean only possible in Burgundy – simply delicious white wine.

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Bohrmann St-Aubin “Champ Tirant” 2020
bottle price: $49

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