Author: Thomas Wilcox

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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Some wine writers will tell you that we’re living in the golden age of Loire Valley Cabernet Franc. Twenty years ago winemakers would struggle to ripen their grapes, and as anyone who’s had one will agree, underripe Cabernet Franc is a particular sort of unappealing. Twenty years from now, if warmer summers and earlier harvests continue, the wines may become unrecognizable. Rejoice, they say, in this window of perfect weather.

The size of the window and speed at which it closes remain to be seen, but, as far as the present goes, we wholeheartedly agree. The reds coming out of the central Loire are irresistibly good – the best match juicy ripeness with a precision and freshness. Our source here is Domaine des Sanzay, an organic producer making humble, delicious, affordable wines.

The 2021 base cuvée is a return to the classic expression — delicate red fruit, excellent freshness, and perfectly extracted middle-weight tannin. The fruits are dark and pretty, with violets and cassis; the mouth is crackling and fresh with excellent density and a cool finish.

Serve this with anything that needs a fresh red — spiced pasta; goat cheese on crackers; a wintery salad; a cozy ratatouille.

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Sanzay Saumur-Champigny 2021
bottle price: $22

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The Northern Rhône represents (for now) the northern limit of where Syrah can ripen fully. As with many grapes, the area of northernmost range produces the most elegant and delicate expression of the grape – think South African Shiraz, now picture its opposite.

But recent warmer drier summers have changed the character in frontier regions a bit – in the Northern Rhône the reds have added a bit of weight and intensity. The best winemakers, however, have used this extra ripeness to support (rather than shout out) their classical style. Winemaker Denis Basset of the Domaine Saint Clair is one winemaker who walks this line between tradition and modernity with skill and grace.

Basset’s new crop of excellent 2020s have just arrived. Despite a scorching hot, drought-filled summer, they show excellent freshness – Basset picked early enough to avoid the traps of high alcohol and flabbiness. The gamble paid off, and all three – Etincelle, Fleur Enchantée, and St-Joseph – are carefully structured and full of freshness.

The 2020 Crozes-Hermitage “Fleur Enchantée” is all of 13% alcohol – refreshingly fresh despite its abundant dark fruit. The nose shows clove and blackberry, with black pepper and hints of earth – the oak is barely perceptible. The mouth is young and juicy with dark tannins and plenty of zip. The blackberry/plum fruit joins a fresh minerality and long dusty finish.

This is casual, weeknight Syrah that way overperforms its $25/glass pricetag.

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Saint-Clair Crozes-Hermitage
“Fleur Enchantée” 2020
bottle price: $25

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One of our most popular white Burgundies these days was the product of an accident. After tasting a Gevrey-Chambertin from a small unknown domaine in a restaurant in Beaune a few years ago, and spent a week full of emails, calls, and text trying to track down the winemaker. When we at last managed to get an audience, the rest of her reds impressed us; but her whites simply blew us away.

Formed in 2002 with just 1.5 hectares of vines, the Domaine Bohrmann is a modern Burgundian anomaly: no other importers, zero critical reviews, and a hard-to-reach winemaker, and a stellar lineup of wine. Sofie Borhmann is Belgian, and splits her time between Belgium and Burgundy.

Her crop of outstanding 2020 white Burgundies arrives in our warehouse this week, and we couldn’t be more excited to get our hands on them.

Bohrmann is a master of careful oaking. By using barrels made with very old (fine-pored) oak trees from Austria, her wines show their wood subtly and beautifully. Borhmann’s Bourgogne comes from 40 year old vines, giving the wine an intense, distilled mouthfeel and excellent length.

The Bourgogne blanc 2020 is smooth, elegant, floral, and concentrated. In the nose it reminded us of Meursault, and a bit of research confirmed Meursault and Puligny as the neighborhood for the regional-level vines. The mouth is cool, impressively long, and vibrant.

This is the third vintage of the wine we’ve imported, and it’s become a fan favorite among our readers. And that’s for good reason – it’s among the most impressive regional-level Bourgogne blancs we’ve ever had.

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Bohrmann Bourgogne blanc 2020
bottle price: $36

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The wines of Chablis are known for their limited oak, piercing minerality, and crystalline elegance. Our favorites are often mid-range bottles that combine everyday pricing and with great energy and beautiful precision.

But high-end Chablis can be extraordinary. Cuvées from Chablis’s seven famous Grand Crus show a depth and power that’s remarkable for a white wine. The Domaine Jean Collet makes superb everyday village and premier cru cuvées, but their Grand Cru, with a higher pricetag and shorter supply, is worth every penny.

Collet’s 2020 Grand Cru from Valmur lives up to its considerable billing, the product of impressive terroir in a concentrated vintage. Romain has expertly balanced Chablis’s signature minerality with a richness that calls to mind a Puligny Grand Cru. William Kelley gave 94 points, calling it “excellent…layered and fleshy…deep and nicely concentrated.” Jasper Morris MW awarded 95 points, finding the wine “pleasingly balanced…with energy levels that really kick on at the back.”

Grand Cru Chablis is hardly an everyday bottling, but we think this wine easily outperforms its pricetag. The nose shows is explosive and delicious, showing gardenia, green tea, and baked lemon flavors, with a bright chalky stoniness that enhances the fruit. The mouth is simply packed with flavor — it’s bold and rich, but vibrant in texture. A grand wine for a grand occasion.

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Collet Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2020
bottle price: $82

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The soils of Sancerre are famous for their flint. This unusual rock gives the region’s wines a note of smokiness and minerality — a perfect foil for Sauvignon Blanc’s lush grapefruit notes. This unique balance has made Sancerre one of the world’s most popular wines.

Our Sancerre producer, the Domaine de la Garenne, makes three excellent cuvées: a fruit-forward Sancerre from a blend of soil types, an intense and refreshing Sancerre “Bouffants” from limestone-heavy soils, and today’s vibrant Sancerre “Infidèle” from soils full of classic flint.

If you like your Sauvignon Blancs zippy, dry, and mineral, it doesn’t get more exciting than this.

We love converting non-believers to Sauvignon Blanc with this wine. A few comments we’ve received at warehouse tastings over the years: “I really don’t like Sauvignon Blanc, but this is delicious;” “It’s like biting into a stone…in a good way;” and “Most exciting white I’ve had from Ansonia all year.”

In the nose 2020 Infidèle is delicate and lovely — a combination of dry grapefruit, straw, oyster shells, and a hint of gunflint smokiness. In the mouth it’s outstanding, packed full of flinty minerals, notes of chalk, grapefruit and lime rind, and smooth, tension-filled texture. It’s full of ripe fruit from a warm year, cut expertly by smoke and minerals.

Garenne only makes 200 cases a year — but it’s back in stock and ready for action.

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Garenne Sancerre Infidèle 2020
bottle price: $35

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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.”

It didn’t get much warmer or drier than the 2020 vintage, and we’re thrilled to release Amiot’s exquisite Combottes today.

Amiot is Combottes’s second largest owner behind the legendary Dujac, whose bottling starts around $400/bot on release. Amiot’s may not match Dujac’s in fame or staying power, but in an outstanding year like 2020 and at less than one third of the price, we think the Amiot provides exceptional value.

As with all of Amiot’s other 2020s, this wine is impossibly dense – the look and feel of a Syrah, with the fruit and earth of a classic Burgundian pinot. Many of Amiot’s vines here date to the 1930s, and the resulting wine is deep, complex, and impressive. Look for notes of violets, cassis, plum, and gingerbread in the nose, with a long, stilled mouthfeel that’s at once powerful and perfectly channeled. This is sleek, modern, seriously impressive red Burgundy – if you’ve got a bit of room in your cellar and a dash of patience, this won’t disappoint.

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Amiot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er “Combottes” 2020
bottle price: $125

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Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-St-Georges are neighbors with opposing characters. Vosne tends towards elegance, finesse, and spice; Nuits towards richness, more structure, and bolder flavors. In the hands of a talented winemaker, both can be superb.

Today’s wine not only comes from an expert winemaker, but from an exceptionally well-located plot. Michel Gros’s Nuits-St-Georges comes from vineyards lying on the Nuits-Vosne border. The resulting wine shows a splash of the violets and spice for which Vosne is so prized, but beneath that nose a classic Nuits mouth.

Today we’re suggesting the 2017, an early drinking vintage that’s just delicious today.

The 2017 red Burgundies may lack the concentration to last for decades, but all that means is you don’t have to wait. Their medium weight tannins and friendly acidity mean that even at the village level they’re approachable and delightful today.

Gros’s 2017 Nuits-St-Georges is simply beautiful red Burgundy. The Guide Hachette awarded this a “Coup de Coeur” (their highest honor), finding “beautiful finesse;” Vinous’s Neal Martin found a “harmonious palate” with “nicely judged acidity.” The bottle we opened last week showed gorgeous floral notes, beautifully earthy tones under spice and dark cassis fruit. Serve this with delicate meat or nothing at all.

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Gros Nuits-St-Georges 2017
bottle price: $75

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The wines of Margaux are prized for their elegance and perfume, and combination of left-bank Bordeaux power, and unusual grace and lift. Our source here is the Château du Courneau, and their 2018 delivers both subtlety of fruit and richness of palate. Courneau is the second wine of Chateau Haut Breton la Rigaudiere, a well respected Margaux vineyard which Jane Anson MW describes as “excellent and reliable.”

It’s a blend of about 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. The 2018 vintage was among the hottest on record, and the resulting wines are packed with ripe juicy fruit. Courneau spends a year in oak, and has more than enough stuffing to withstand the wood. In short, this is punchy, elegant, simply delicious Margaux.

Perfume is always the watchword in Margaux, and this wine delivers beautifully. We found the nose exquisitely balanced, with the oak already well integrated over notes of plums and stones. The palate shows notes of raspberry jam, wild dark cherries, and violets; the mouth has beautifully fine tannins with a long, very elegant finish.

If you’ve got tenderloin on the menu this Christmas, here’s an affordable perfect pairing. If not, all you need is Bing on the radio and a crackling fireplace.

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Chateau du Courneaux Margaux 2018
bottle price: $35

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