Author: Thomas Wilcox

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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Volnay has no Grand Crus, but the premier cru Caillerets vineyard is the finest in the appellation; in fact the local saying goes “he who has no vines in Caillerets knows not the worth of Volnay.” We’ve had delicious bottles from all over Volnay, but one taste of Caillerets and the reasons for its reputation become clear.

Michel and Estelle Prunier are a father-and-daugther team making terrific, traditional red Burgundies in the nearby town of Auxey Duresses. Their finest vines are in Volnay’s famous “Caillerets” vineyard. With such impressive terroir, much of Prunier’s job is to get out of the way – and their understated style is a perfect match.

Prunier’s 2019 Volnay 1er “Caillerets” is polished and sophisticated, with a gorgeous, perfumed bouquet and a lush, chiseled mouth. Neal Martin of Vinous awarded 90-92, finding a “well defined bouquet” with “a fine bead of acidity” on the palate, concluding “impressive density…good long term potential.”

This is very 2019 and very Volnay – perfectly formed and tightly coiled, but already showing off outstanding aromatics. In 5-8 years this will be a gorgeous mature red Burgundy, but patience is not required. But pour it from a carafe, or with braised shortribs this holiday season, and we’re confident your table will have no trouble finding the bottom of the bottle.

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Prunier Volnay 1er “Caillerets” 2019
bottle price: $88

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If Nicolas Maillet were to sum up his winemaking philosophy, it’d go something like this: let the grapes speak for themselves. Firmly committed to organic viticulture, and always a light tough in the cellar, Maillet coaxes rather than crafts his wines from each plot and vintage. If the fermentation needs a year to finish (a not infrequent occurrence chez Maillet), then he gives it a year.

As such, our tastings with him are always fascinating – each wine has its own distinct identity. William Kelley describes Maillet’s style as “elegantly textural and enveloping… pure and precise, with so much immediate charm.” As it’s generally a mistake to try to improve on a good British author, we’ll only add that Maillet’s wines are a frequent dining companion at our house, and we know they’ll be a welcome guest at yours.

Maillet’s excellent Macon-Verzé is always among the best sellers in our portfolio – pure, shimmering unoaked white Burgundy. Today we’re suggesting his Pouilly-Fuissé, a clear step up in complexity and class. Maillet raises some of this cuvée in older oak barrels, and while there’s no hint of wood, the added depth matches the terroirs intensity beautifully.

The nose is beautiful and very expressive, with golden yellow apple, mandarin orange, white flowers, and chalk. The mouth is expansive and lush but beautifully channeled, and finishes stony and clean. With layers of white fruit and white flowers, it’s more serious than the Macon-Verzé, but not an ounce less charming.

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Maillet Pouilly-Fuissé 2020
bottle price: $39

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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 has just arrived – 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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In our portfolio filled with brilliant, committed and passionate winemakers, there is none more so than Jacqueline André of the Domaine Pierre André in Châteauneuf du Pape. Her family has been a pioneer in organic viticulture, beginning with a grandfather who decided in 1963 that chemicals were bad for vines and gave them up entirely (just as most others were dialing up treatments).

As a result, she farms some vines that are more than 140 years old. Those vines’ roots reach profoundly deep — back in time, you might say — channeling an enormous range of minerals into a precious few bunches of grapes. And in the hands of meticulous craftswoman such as Jacqueline, they become truly magnificent wine, at once deep and soaring.

André pours her entire soul into just two wines (one white, one red), and the resulting cuvée is among the most special wines in our cellar. The 2019 is a triumph: There are delicious dark fruits of blackberry and cassis. The wine is dense and rich, with good structure and lots of intensity – “construit” (“built”) she called it. There is excellent complexity too — tiny notes of anise, lavender, thyme, raspberries and more.

More than perhaps any other in our portfolio, this wine embodies the term “layers.” And as always, though it is rich, the wine has plenty of freshness. We love watching this wine age and have yet to have a tired bottle, but this one should be delightful young as well, particularly enjoyed from a decanter over a long winter meal.

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

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