Author: Thomas Wilcox

Sebastien Giroux is exactly the type of winemaker we love to work with. He farms a tiny 6-hectare estate in southern Burgundy’s Maconnais region essentially by himself. Some of his wines come in allocations with single-digit case quantities; his rooms for vinification, bottle stockage, labeling, and tasting, are all… the same room.

Yet his disciplined organic winemaking results in extraordinary wines – William Kelley describes them as “supple, pure and charming.” We sold off every last bottle in the store last month, and are delighted (and relieved) to have them back in stock. And one of our favorites this year is humble Macon-Fuissé “Vers Chanes” vineyard.

Sebastien took us to his vines here last spring – he explained that when the original lines of the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation were drawn last century, the Vers Chanes plot had been forest. The since-cleared land, many think, would rank today as Pouilly-Fuissé if the lines were redrawn. Lucky for us – today it remains a Macon-Fuissé, an overperforming terroir with a less famous name.

The wine itself is exquisite – unoaked Chardonnay with precise, linear focus. The nose calls to mind the golden lushness of Pouilly-Fuissé, but without the oak to obscure the gorgeous fruit. The mouth is lithe and precise, with chiseled minerality beneath the apple blossom and apricot notes. Sub-$30 white Burgundy is on its way to becoming a thing of the past. Giroux’s Macon-Fuissé is proof the genre remains.

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Giroux Macon-Fuissé “Vers Chanes” 2022
bottle price: $28

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Regular readers will know Gautier Desvignes, the humble, friendly, thirtysomething winemaker who has transformed his modest family domaine into a top name in the region. William Kelley writes that Desvignes is “one of the leading lights in the Côte Chalonnaise,” and we wholeheartedly agree.

Gautier’s 2022s show a talented winemaker firing on all cylinders. He has refined his cellar technique considerably, using gentler extractions, and focused his barrel work through exhaustive (some might say obsessive) experimentation and tasting. The resulting wines easily rival reds from the Côte d’Or in detail and complexity, and simply blow them away on price.

Gautier’s Givry 1er cru “Grand Berge” is from vines just in back of the domaine, and is the friendliest of the Desvignes premier crus. The 2022 is lovely and welcoming – dark and floral with a dose of toast and a rich, jammy complexion. The vintage provides ample concentration but no heat. Look for raspberry and violets, and a clean medium weight finish. Serve this with a mushroom risotto.

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Desvignes Givry 1er “Grand Berge” 2022
bottle price: $42

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Winemaker Frederic Michot is as brisk and energetic as his wines: pure Sauvignon blanc, no oak, clean and crisp. Michot’s side of the river may be less famous than his neighbor Sancerre, but he isn’t willing to concede it any advantage. His wines are terrific Sauvignon blancs, full of energy, focus, clean dry fruit, and beautiful tension.

Michot’s Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes 2023 has just arrived and it’s refreshing, unoaked, mouthfilling and utterly delicious. His old vine cuvée combines a ripe, sunny vintage with bursting tension underneath the gorgeous fruit. There’s lots of inexpensive Sauvignon Blanc around — most of it isn’t half this good.

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 freshness found in finest Sancerre, but with a serious discount.

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Michot Pouilly-Fumé VV 2022
bottle price: $22

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The 2022 red Burgundies are quickly becoming one our favorite vintages. From the warmest, driest year in recent memory, winemakers managed to craft vibrant and beautifully balanced wines, sporting low alcohol and classic Burgundian finesse. They’re modern in their sunny polish, but traditional in their middleweight, elegant textures. If this is the future of Burgundy, sign us up.

Philippe Cheron’s entire lineup of 2022s are wonderful, but today we’re focused on his regional cuvée, a Bourgogne Côte d’Or from vines near Gevrey-Chambertin. This wine transcends the genre in a way few other Bourgognes do – if you told us it was a village Gevrey we’d believe you – humble in appellation, but striking in taste. Cheron used 100% whole clusters, adding definition to the dark fruit.

This is the most complex and elegant red Bourgogne in our portfolio. The nose is deep and beautiful with intense dark fruit but excellent lift – there’s a stony earthiness behind the plums that’s balanced and enticing. The mouth is clear, long, and nimble, bouncing from wild cherries to anise to black pepper and back to cassis. Burghound praised its “racy, delicious, well detailed flavors.” It offers immediate enjoyment, but should cellar a year or two with ease.

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Couvent Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2022
bottle price: $45

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The Domaine Dupré-Goujon is quietly becoming a leading domaine in the Beaujolais. Winemaker Sebastien Dupré and Guillaume Goujon are crafting outstanding wines that elevate the potential of the gamay grape. We’ve gotten emails from customers with comments like “had no idea Beaujolais could be that good,” and “best Gamay I’ve ever had, by a lot.” We agree, and often find ourselves reaching for these vibrant organic wines.

Part of the Dupré-Goujon recipe is an extended elevage (for their reds) of over two years, first in barrels, and then in tanks. This is nearly unheard-of patience in the Beaujolais, but the results speak for themselves. Their 2021 Côte de Brouilly “Heronde” is the best wine we’ve had from them, all this in a vintage that produced more misses than hits.

The 2021 is magnificent – deep and perfumed but remarkably light on its feet. Writing for James Suckling’s review, Spigott gave 96 points, calling it “a truly astonishing wine…stunning concentration…explosive stony minerality.” The tannins are exceptionally fine, supporting deep floral notes of peony and roses. We think the complexity here rivals many wines at twice the price from the Côte d’Or, and indeed the subtlety and elegance calls to mind a Volnay made from Gamay.

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Dupré-Goujon Côte de Brouilly “Heronde” 2021
bottle price: $39

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Weeknight Burgundy is not an oxymoron. Yes, pricing for the famous names in Burgundy has gone a bit nuts of late – and while the wines have never been better, many cuvées now occupy the “special occasion” tier for most consumers. But we’re happy to report that with legwork and a bit of patience, there’s still value to be found.

The 2022 vintage in Burgundy produced quantity and quality for the first time in years – the wines are low in alcohol, full of ripe fruit and excellent freshness, with terrific concentration and appealing textures. And none more successful than the lineup of whites from Sofie Borhmann.

This is our fifth vintage buying from Sofie, a domaine in Meursault whose wines we discovered in a Beaune restaurant. Her wines are quietly brilliant, many hailing from well-known vineyards in St-Aubin, Puligny and Meursault. But it’s her outstanding everyday Bourgogne blanc that has become a staple of many readers’ cellars.

From vines near Meursault, this cuvée offers more than a little of the golden, opulent quality of the famous town. The 2022 is simply beautiful, with a sleek core of yellow orchard fruit with lemon peel and minerals – drier than in past years, with more polish. The nose shows very light toast, and the texture is dense and sophisticated. This well outperforms its regional-level billing, and we’d struggle to find a better value white Burgundy in our portfolio.

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Bohrmann Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2022
bottle price: $35

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There’s no more exciting corner of Burgundy today than the Beaujolais. Long derided as a source for inexpensive plonk, the wines made here today are as dynamic and delicious as anything in the Côte d’Or – and at a fraction of the price. Wine writer Stuart Piggott calls Beaujolais “the best value reds in the world,” and it’s easy to see why.

A new wave of exciting winemakers priced out of the land market in the north of Burgundy has landed in the Beaujolais; and while we’re sure they’d make tasty wine in Beaune, they’re more than succeeding in Brouilly. Frederic Berne is a leader in this new Beaujolais – passionate about organic viticulture and low intervention cellarwork, he’s typical of this exciting and innovative wave.

Berne’s 2022 Chiroubles is seriously good gamay. It’s concentrated and sturdily built – it would age several years with ease – but carefully balanced with acidity and lush fruit. The appellation’s signature deep rose petal nose is there, joined by a burst of wild cherry and a zip of stony minerals. This cuvée benefits from the hot dry vintage, combining ripe fruit and refreshing granite into a tasty package.

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Berne Chiroubles 2022
bottle price: $29

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Romain Collet is a mad scientist in the cellar. He’s matched each of his Chablis terroirs with a specific recipe of elevage vessels – a combination of stainless steel tank, concrete egg, clay amphora, and wooden barrels of various ages. Each is designed to bring out the unique character of every plot of vines.

The most clay-rich of Collet’s terroirs is “Butteaux,” a south-east facing sector of the Montmains vineyard on Chablis’s left bank. For this cuvée, Romain ages the wine in a combination of old oak barrels (5 to 10 years). The resulting wine has a concentration and layered complexity somewhere between premier cru and grand cru.

We were blown away by the 2022 Butteaux when we tasted it at the domaine, and so were tasters at this past weekend’s MushroomFest. It’s not exactly classic Chablis – less brisk and angular than some of Romain’s cuvées; but it’s perfectly balanced and simply delicious in the glass. It begins with a rich attack of concentrated fruit that might make you think of modern Puligny-Montrachet, but a vibrant splash of Chablisienne minerals bursts through the palate and it finishes dry and precise.

Jasper Morris MW was similarly impressed, finding “lovely generous fruit yet with tension. Very good this year,” and awarding 91-94 points – just a point behind Romain’s Grand Cru Valmur. Think of it as a particularly stony village-level Puligny-Montrachet, at a roughly 50% discount…

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Collet Chablis 1er “Butteaux” 2022
bottle price: $42

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Several readers are already hooked on our newest Champagne producer, RH Coutier. Coutier has been a favorite of Vinous founder Antonio Galloni “for years;” he calls their wines “gorgeous… showing the natural richness of Ambonnay.” The Coutier style is open and accessible – the non-vintage “Traditionnel” is expressive, captivating wine at an exceptional price – today we’re introducing their finest cuvée.

We opened Coutier’s 2015 vintage champagne at a private tasting last week and it blew everyone (including the author of this post) away. It’s 75/25 Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, and has spent 96 months on the lees, gaining astounding complexity and depth. At 3g of dosage, this is dry, sophisticated and simply extraordinary.

The nose immediately jumps forth with layer upon layer of dry papery fruit; as it opens it adds almonds, brioche, and white flowers. The mouth is dry but full of texture and concentration, a sleek core perfectly balanced by delicate acidity and detailed minerality. Galloni found it “bright and sculpted” with “energy and cut,” remarking that “citrus peel, mint, white pepper and crushed rocks all race across the palate.”

If it sounds like we’re going over the top here, it’s a reflection of just how impressive we found this. Serve with a soufflé, cornish hens, a fish in beurre blanc, or just a quiet autumn Sunday afternoon.

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Coutier Champagne Millesimé 2015
bottle price: $82

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Organic viticulture is the future of winemaking — the majority of our winemakers are organic or in conversion. But at some domaines, it’s also the past. The Domaine du Joncuas in Gigondas turns 100 years old next year, and they’ve practiced organic winemaking, as they put it, “depuis toujours” (“since forever”).

Sisters Dany and Carole Chastan are third generation vigneronnes practicing old-school winemaking — whole clusters, limited sulfur, all wild yeasts. They use no new oak, and neither fine nor filter. Their wines are juicy and deep and very expressive, with gorgeous fruit. Writer Jon Bonné has named them a benchmark producer of the region, “essential defenders of grenache’s good name.”

Their just-arrived 2022 Vacqueyras is delicious, and a terrific value. From an appellation just south of Gigondas, this is nearly all Grenache (85%). The nose is extraordinary, bursting with dark wild strawberry fruit, plums, lavender, bay leaf and earth – a splash of Mourvedre adds complexity and backbone. It’s a crowd-pleasing everyday red that will offer immediate pleasure.

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Joncuas Vacqueyras 2022
bottle price: $29

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Much like their hometown of Morey-St-Denis, the Amiot family flies a bit below the radar. From their tiny domaine on the town’s main street, they craft delicious quantities of remarkable Burgundy. They make cellar-worthy, magnificent cuvées from premier crus like Ruchots and Combottes, and Grand Crus like Clos de la Roche and Charmes-Chambertin. But they also extend their considerable winemaking talent to their petits vins.

And none is friendlier or easier to enjoy than their Gamay-Pinot blend called Coteaux-Bourguignons. Drawn from up to 70-year-old vines, this cuvée for years was reserved only for family enjoyment. Particularly in a warm, concentrated vintage like 2022, it’s juicy, punchy and delightful – more serious than a Beaujolais, but more fun than a Bourgogne.

Amiot’s 2022 Coteaux-Bourguignons shows that top notch winemaking can elevate even humble terroir. The nose is dark and juicy with notes of plums, cherries, and earth. The mouth combines the elegance and length of pinot noir with the juicy freshness of gamay. It’s more complex than a blend of this type usually is, but no less fun.

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Amiot Coteaux-Bourguignons 2022
bottle price: $32

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In recent years the profile of Chablis has changed a bit. Most cuvées still show the terroir’s classic stony, mineral intensity; but warm summers have added a bit of extra flesh to the wines. Our favorites still taste like Chablis, but are often a bit easier to approach young or on their own.

Winemaker Romain Collet has deftly steered his family’s domaine through this new climate, and we’re not alone in this conclusion. Wine Critics Allen Meadows (Burghound) and William Kelley (Wine Advocate) have noted a “higher level of refinement” and a “significant upsurge in quality.” Jasper Morris MW writes that Romain Collet “is moving towards joining the pantheon” in Chablis.

Collet’s 2022 Chablis 1er cru “Forets” is a delicious, classy Chablis. It’s raised mostly in cement eggs, which add depth and texture to the crisp minerals and fruit. This is delightful, complete white Burgundy on its own, but also a terrific match with food. Burghound cites “minerality on the moderately austere and quite dry finale.” He concludes, “I like both the balance and the delivery and this is one to consider.”

A dry, mouthfilling texture cut by a lime zest and saline – this is a triumph of modern Chablis.

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Collet Chablis 1er cru “Forêts” 2022
bottle price: $42

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We’re delighted to welcome Christian Clerget back into the Ansonia portfolio. Thirtysomething Justine Clerget (Christian’s daughter) is now in charge, and has brought renewed energy, refined techniques, and a passion for organic viticulture. The Clerget wines were always classical, terroir-transparent, old school red Burgundy; Justine has maintained this spirit but added polish and class.

This tiny gem of a domaine has always been a favorite of ours – from their winery in Vougeot (population 174) they farm 6 hectares (14 acres) of average 60 year-old vines across eight appellations. We have four Clerget cuvées in stock from the exceptional 2022 vintage, and none is more exciting than their village-level Chambolle-Musigny.

The Chambolle is a blend from six different plots around the town, and shows the village’s classic silky, seductive nature. Neal Martin gave 90-92 points, praising its “sense of vibrancy and tension” on a “very well-controlled and persistent finish,” concluding “this is worth seeking out.” This is a wine of perfume, elegance, and grace, but with real density from the hot, dry summer – we think it punches above its village weight.

Served from a decanter at a dinner last week, this was youthful, sleek, deep and expansive — a delicious bottle with many years ahead of it.

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Clerget Chambolle-Musigny 2022
bottle price: $82

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We first met Arnaud Baillot where many great relationships have started – at a bar. This spring, as we enjoyed a terrific meal at La Superbe, a delicious new restaurant in Beaune, we struck up a conversation with the young couple a few seats down the counter. They explained they were local winemakers, we told them about our import business, and by the end of the night we had exchanged Instagram follows, with promises to remain in touch.

Baillot is a bit of an anomaly in Burgundy – he has no family connection to wine or the region, and has only been making wine for six years. His wife Laure is of a storied Burgundian family (Hudelot-Noëllat), but they have short winemaking experience and almost zero reviews. Still, since a hidden gem is the perpetual pursuit of all importers, we squeezed an appointment in late in the afternoon of our final tasting day this spring.

We’re certainly glad we did. Baillot is a talented, thoughtful winemaker with excellent instincts and impressive resources. He makes wine from a wide array of plots around the Côte d’Or, some farmed himself, some from carefully purchased grapes. We’re including three of his delicious 2022 reds in next week’s September Futures release – as well as an exciting collaboration between Baillot and his friend Theo Dancer of Chassagne-Montrachet fame – but we’re singling out his Bourgogne rouge for attention today.

Baillot’s 2022 Bourgogne Côte d’Or is lively, delicious, and eager to be drunk. The strawberry/cherry fruit is perfectly extracted, giving floral notes of violets and roses. It’s fully destemmed, from vines near Pommard and Volnay, and shows persistence and depth without sacrificing elegance. At just 10% new oak, this is a lithe, modern red Burgundy bursting with vibrancy and real style.

In short, we think Baillot has the makings of a star. But beyond his prominent spot on the wine list at Ma Cuisine and his inclusion in the Berry Brothers portfolio, you’ll have to take our word for it. Whether or not he gets famous some day, we are sure you’ll enjoy every bottle of this terrific sub-$30 Bourgogne rouge.

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Arnaud Baillot Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2022
Ansonia Retail: $468/case
September Futures: $350/case ($29.16/bot)

To order this wine, email Tom

Gigondas continues to produce some of the best value southern reds around. At their best they match the complexity and depth of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but at a noticeable discount. Our producer here, the Clos du Joncuas, is described by Josh Raynolds of Vinous as an “insiders’ producer…true, old-school renditions of Gigondas.”

Winemaker Dany Chastan is the granddaughter of the founder, and she’s successfully raised the quality without abandoning the style. Organic for over 40 years, she uses 100% whole clusters, ambient yeasts, and not even mention of new oak – this is pure, unrestrained expression of magnificent terroir.

Chastan’s 2019 Gigondas is a triumph – we’ve bought it now three times, and each time it gets better. We poured it for a tasting last night and it was easily the crowd favorite – smooth, generous, expansive and flat out delicious. 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 found “silky texture” with an “energetic, long, sappy finish” with “supple tannins that add shape and subtle grip.”

Just the wine to stock for your autumn cellar.

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Joncuas Gigondas 2019
bottle price: $42

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