Author: Thomas Wilcox

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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Last week we wrote about the first of our two new finds in the Beaujolais: Dupré-Goujon. Today we’re suggesting the other discovery: Frederic Berne. Both are part of the new wave of young winemakers making their name in the region. Natural wine has a long history in the Beaujolais, indeed many cite the region as the modern movement’s birthplace in the 1970s. Both of our new vignerons practice biodynamic farming and low-intervention winemaking, limiting use of oak and sulfites.

Dupré-Goujon’s cuvées are lightweight and vibrant, with gorgeous aromatics and delicate structure. Berne’s are a bit more lush, a bit bolder and fuller, but no less complex. In spite of the origin in the Beaujolais – a region known for its unserious, carefree, quaffable reds – Berne’s cuvées are serious, delicious wines, that just happen to be made of Gamay.

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The simpler of the two is a Beaujolais Villages from Lantignié, a terroir that Berne hopes will soon become the 11th Beaujolais cru. There’s real complexity here, with perfectly extracted fruit and lovely notes of graphite and dried rose petals. The mouth shows dry cranberry and stones, with a straightforward, unoaked, delicious finish. At $22 this is a bargain Beaujolais that drinks like a Cru. Jasper Morris MW agreed, awarding 5/5 stars, and noting “a really precise nose with some minerals…Digs deep, shows more minerals and some really pretty fruit.”

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Berne Lantignié 2020
bottle price: $22

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Even more impressive is Berne’s 2020 Régnié (ray-neyay), from one of the ten Beaujolais Crus and the town best known for elegance and subtlety. Berne’s plot is on granite and clay, and he ages the 100% whole cluster wine for 12 months in 500L barrels. The nose is deep and dark with notes of violets and roses, and a pleasant earthiness to accompany the floral perfume. In the mouth the granite returns, cutting beautifully through the lush fruit. Bill Nanson called it “really super…excellent again!” We drink Beaujolais year round, but Thanksgiving is what it’s made for.

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Berne Regnié 2020
bottle price: $25

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We’ve imported Chablis from the Domaine Gautheron for nearly a decade. Winemaker Cyril Gautheron’s precise, elegant, well-priced white Burgundies have become a staple at our warehouse tastings, our kitchen table, and the cellars of many of our readers.

Gautheron’s wines burst with juicy, stony fruit and lipsmacking flavor. Cyril uses oak barrels sparingly, and only to offer a whisper of support for the intense, concentrated fruit. Today we’re releasing his excellent 2020 old-vine Chablis, laser focused and showing remarkable density and complexity packed into sub-$30 bottle.

Drawn from vines planted in the 1950s, the Chablis VV shows excellent dry material. The wine shows a soft savory spice that suggests grape skins, herbs, and dried flowers. There’s a lushness to the texture of the wine that somehow remains perfectly dry – the depth is tremendous and the finish is long and clean.

Neal Martin of Vinous found “a clean and fresh bouquet,” calling the palate “well-balanced with a fine bead of acidity,” and “quite a persistent finish,” concluding “this will do nicely.” In recent warm years Cyril has become a master of channeling ripeness into a tidy package — his wines (like all of Chablis) have become a bit broader, but no less Chablisien.

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Gautheron Chablis VV 2020
bottle price: $29

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Sandwiched between the city of Beaune and Hill of Corton lies the somewhat forgotten town of Savigny-les-Beaune. Its gravel- and sand-laden soils produce bright wines with excellent definition and delicate structure. In lean years they can be a bit angular for many tastes – but lean years may be a thing of the past.

The 2020 vintage in particular produced wines of tremendous concentration. At Boursot, our source in Chambolle-Musigny, yields were down on average 50%, and indeed each bottle seems to have two bottles’ worth of intensity. But the Boursots managed in all their 2020s to channel the dark, abundant fruit into a sleek and classically Burgundian package.

Boursot’s Chambolles are terrific in 2020, and their Bourgogne was too (it sadly all sold through Futures). But this year we added another cuvée between the two: Boursot’s Savigny-les-Beaune.

The 2020 Savigny perfectly combines the bright, delicacy of the terroir with the rich intensity of the vintage. The nose shows wild red cherries, cassis, and toast. The mouth is a punchy blend of dark modern fruit with chalky precision. Vinous’s Neal Martin called it “lively and quite generous.”

Boursot’s Chambolles will always be their stars, but this cuvée is proof that their winemaking prowess isn’t limited to their hometown appellation. We’d have a hard time coming up with a more impressive sub-$50 red Burgundy in our cellar. Upgrade whatever corner of the family Thanksgiving table you’ve been assigned.

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Boursot Savigny-les-Beaune rouge 2020
bottle price: $45

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It doesn’t take an expert to notice that Guillaume Goujon and Sebastien Dupré are farming organically. Their vines, located in the Côte de Brouilly, share the earth with an impressive array of herbs, flowers, grasses, and wildlife – all in the name of fostering biodiversity and soil health. In the cellar Dupré and Goujon have a similarly light touch – their cuvées are made with whole clusters, ambient yeasts, limited oak and almost no sulfites.

These wines blew us away at the domaine back in April, and we’re thrilled to have them in stock at last. This is Beaujolais on another level: the aromatics were as pure and delicate as we’ve ever found from gamay. Each cuvée has its own identity, but all share a remarkable purity of fruit. The texture is refreshing and thirst-quenching, but the underlying fruit is detailed and very fine – all alcohols are 12.5-13.5%. William Kelley agreed with our enthusiasm, calling the wines “supple and charming” and labeling it “an estate to watch.”

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La Démarrante 2021 (“the starter”) is just that – an excellent entrée to the lineup. Goujon described it as something you’d find in a “bar à vin,” a refreshing, juicy, Beaujolais embodying the region’s jubilant spirit. It’s fruit-forward and lovely with bright red plums in the nose alongside hints of chalk and spice. The mouth is smooth and easy with low tannin and a clean, refreshing finish.

Démarrante 2021: $25/bot
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“La 631” Côte de Brouilly 2020 is a blend of the domaine’s three terroirs, and in 2020 is simply gorgeous – far more complex than Démarrante, with a deep perfume of violets and roses, with a fruit profile somewhere between Pinot and Syrah. The mouth is sturdier and more complex, with perfectly coated tannin and a dark, crackling finish. Kelley awarded 92 points, finding “Aromas of sweet berries, spices and loamy soil [in a] fleshy and lively wine framed by sweet, powdery tannins.”

“631” 2020: $29/bot
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“Héronde” 2020, from older vines and with a two-year élévage, is everything the La 631 has but in a more sophisticated, complex package. The nose is deeply floral, with notes of hyacinth, blackberry and wild herbal honey. The mouth is fuller and longer, with an exquisite blend of chalk, peony, plum and cassis. Kelly also gave this wine 92 points, finding it broad and enveloping, with a fleshy core of fruit, tangy acids and an expansive finish.”

Héronde 2020: $25/bot
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Several of these will appear on our Thanksgiving tables this year, and we invite you to share in their enjoyment.

For years our two Champagne sources have contributed two distinct styles to our portfolio: Pascal Bardoux in Montagne de Reims, with delicate, floral, delicious blends; and Jacques Robin in the Côtes des Bar, with rich, toasty Pinot Noir cuvées. Today we’re thrilled to add a third source, this one from the Côtes des Blancs, bringing something entirely new to the table.

Michel Chauvet and his son are the winemakers at the Domaine Lancelot-Royer, a tiny house in Cramant, just south of Epernay. All of their wines come from grapes they grow themselves, and their vineyards are 100% Chardonnay from exclusively Grand Cru vineyards. Everything here is done by hand, from harvesting and riddling to disgorging, dosing and labeling.

Their NV Cuvée des Chevaliers may be their simplest wine, but it easily has the complexity and subtlety of a $100 bottle. The base of the wine (around two thirds) is from the 2017 vintage, with the rest from barrels of reserved older wines. After spending four years on the lees in the Chauvets’ 50 degree chalk cellars, it was disgorged earlier this year.

Champagnes from the Côtes des Blancs are known for their elegance and chiseled focus, and this cuvée does not disappoint. It’s rich and toasty, with a lovely nose of pear, apple and buttery croissants. The mouth is crisp and delicious with plenty of richness amid the energetic freshness. William Kelley awarded 90 points, finding “generous aromas…rich and fleshy, with an enveloping core of fruit.”

If you’ve got any entertaining in the next two months, this is a must have.

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Lancelot-Royer Champagne Grand Cru
“Cuvée des Chevaliers” Brut NV
bottle price: $58

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The 2019 vintage is a terrific red Burgundy vintage, producing wines with extraordinary balance between ripe fruit, acidity, and tannin. As Neal Martin puts it, “they unexpectedly offer freshness and richness that were once thought to be mutually exclusive.”

Roger and Julie Belland are 5th and 6th generation growers in Santenay — their wines are perennial favorites among our readers, offering early drinking and friendly pricetags. Belland’s are always delicious and precocious, but in 2019s they’re even better than usual.

Located near the southern limit of the Côte d’Or, Santenay is one of our favorite sources of value. Beauregard is among the best vineyards in the appellation, located near the northern border with Chassagne. The 2019 Beauregard has just arrived fresh from the Belland cellar.

The nose is floral and easygoing, with notes of dry cherries, nutmeg, and earth. The texture is perfect – gorgeous, mouthfilling fruit with excellent clarity and depth. Burghound called it “delicious, plump and juicy,” and we can’t think of a better description.

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Belland Santenay 1er “Beauregard” 2019
bottle price: $45

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Sancerre has no premier or grand cru classifications — all 6400 acres are under the same appellation. But, as you might expect, not all of Sancerre’s terroirs are created equal. Among the most famous is the steep slopes of the Monts Damnées (damned mountains).

The Domaine de la Garenne, our Sancerre source, farms a special plot along the same slope as Mont Damnées called “Les Bouffants.” It’s a single, limestone-heavy terroir which Garenne vinifies and bottles separately. The slope isn’t quite as steep as its famous neighbor, but it’s awfully close.

Garenne’s regular Sancerre is delightful — fruit forward, dry and refreshing. Their “Bouffants” cuvée is another level of impressive.

Made from pure, unoaked Sauvignon Blanc, Bouffants is more dense and serious than Garenne’s regular cuvée. The 2021 is concentrated and very long, full of deep mineral intensity and dried fruit. Look for notes of pears and grapefruits, with a long, clean, very dry finish. Think of the ripe, intense fruitiness of a classic Sauvignon combined with the stony core of a Cru Muscadet.

Bouffants is a perfect food wine and can stand up to a wide range of diverse flavors. Serve it with lobster risotto or broiled fish. Sauvignon blanc seems to come from every corner of the world these days, but this will remind you: there’s nothing quite like Sancerre.

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Garenne Sancerre “Bouffants” 2018
bottle price: $29

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As many of you read several weeks ago, we’ve finally expanded the Italian corner of the Ansonia portfolio, after only a decade of reader requests. Based on the popularity (and tastiness) of our new Barbaresco producer Sassi San Cristoforo, we hope to continue the trend and add to the growing list.

We happened across Sassi by chance – a friend brought a bottle of the 2016 Riserva to a dinner, and it outshone everything else on the table. After finding no local importer, we made contact with the winery and asked them to send us samples of their current releases. We were even more thrilled to discover that the exact wine and vintage, the 2016 Riserva, was still available.

2016 was an outstanding vintage in Piedmont; Vinous’s Antonio Galloni declared it “a stunning, brilliant vintage across the board.” We bought the last of the stock at Sassi, and are glad we did. It’s top notch Barbaresco from one of the best vintages in recent memory.

Founded in 1997 by Angelo Sassi, the small estate is today run by Davide Carniel, producing just a few hundred cases of Barbaresco annually. Their 2016 Barbaresco Riserva spends an extra two years in bottle before release, and the transformation is terrific.

The nose is deep and lovely, with beautifully integrated oak and notes of roses, violets, and orange zest. The mouth is clean and beautifully textured, with subtle tannins and a long, tightly channeled finish. The balance of tannin and fruit and acidity is magnificent – think Volnay premier cru with a few years in the bottle. Pair this with fresh pasta carbonara for a match made in paradiso.

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Sassi San Cristoforo Barbaresco Riserva 2016
bottle price: $62

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Chablis may be the last bastion of value in white Burgundy. Using the same grape as the rest of Burugndy (Chardonnay), the vignerons of Chablis have traditionally produced steely, low- or no-oak white Burgundies with loads of zip and minerals. But a warming climate and longer growing seasons have created a wider range of options for the Chablisiens, and today one can find fine white Burgundies there with more than a passing resemblance to those of the Côte d’Or.

Romain Collet has taken advantage of this expanded arsenal to produce a smorgasbord of styles and expressions. They’re all focused, honest Chablis, but often contain a bit more complexity and depth than in years past. A few of Romain’s cuvées are a bit too close to Côte d’Or whites for our taste, but many fall right into the sweet spot.

Today’s delicious “Forêts” cuvée perfectly walks this tightrope.

Collet’s Forêts 1er cru is particularly elegant in the 2020 vintage. This lieu dit is actually at the top part of Montmains, and the farming has been certified organic there since 2018. Its élevage is more complicated, with 90% raised in cement eggs. The last 10% is raised in Burgundy-sized barrels, bringing just a whisper of wood into the mix. The result is extra refinement and complexity – still unmistakably Chablis, but in a sleek, modern package.

Jasper Morris MW was similarly taken with this wine, finding “a particularly classy nose,” and calling it “very elegant yet with intensity and persistence,” awarding 92-94 points (the same score he gave Collet’s Grand Cru Les Clos). We think Romain is onto something with this elevage recipe, and can’t wait for you to try it as well. Serve with Delice de Bourgogne on crusty bread, crab cakes, or scallops with pesto.

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Collet Chablis 1er “Forêts” 2020
bottle price: $42

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Pouilly-Fuissé has come a long way from the over-oaked buttered popcorn of decades ago. Today the appellation is a hotbed of talent, with passionate young winemakers converting old vines to organics and turning out truly excellent wines. With prices for both land and wine in the Côte d’Or headed through the roof, the Maconnais has become one of the most exciting corners of Burgundy.

We spent a while this spring poking around the region, and discovered some really excellent sources. Chief among them is Sebastien Giroux, a thirtysomething winemaker farming 6 hectares (14 acres) with care and precision. Leading Burgundy critic William Kelley describes Giroux’s wines as “supple, pure and charming,” and we agree – they were thrilling at the domaine in April, and since their arrival a few weeks ago we’ve confirmed our first impressions.

Many readers have already picked up Giroux’s other two cuvées, the Macon-Fuissé ($25) and the Pouilly-Fuissé Raidillons ($35). Today we’re focused on Giroux’s old vine cuvée, which comes from 80 year old vines in particularly rocky soils. Sebastien gives this wine a year in oak barrels and then another a year en cuve before bottling – indeed, cellar patience is a pattern chez Giroux, and extra time pays tremendous dividends.

The 2019 Giroux Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes is delicious, classy white Burgundy. The oak is perfectly integrated – if you didn’t know it was there you might miss it. The nose features pure fruit accompanied by a lovely minerality, and the wine has a distinct lift. Kelley awarded 91-93 points, calling it “fleshy but precise, with vibrant acids,” and “one of the highlights of the range this year.” The concentration from the old vines unwinds slowly and gracefully in the glass – indeed you could argue the wine shows better on day two.

How you serve this is up to you, of course, but here’s what we’d do: we’d open the bottle at 10am on Sunday, pour it into a decanter and put it back in the fridge. We’d put a roasting chicken with potatoes and carrots in the oven around noon, take the wine out of the fridge around 2pm, and place both on the table at 2:30. We’d serve it in red Burgundy glasses, light some candles for effect, and pretend the two-year-old hadn’t just spilled her milk.

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Giroux Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes 2019
bottle price: $35

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The Clos du Joncuas is one of the most exciting recent finds in our portfolio. Based in Gigondas in the Southern Rhône, sisters Dany and Carol Chastan learned their craft from their parents and grandparents, and have themselves been farming organically for 40 years.

This is old school winemaking: ambient yeasts, no oak (not even foudres), 100% whole cluster, no fining or filtering. It sounds like a recipe for a big rustic wine, but the Chastan sisters somehow managed to produce wines of superb texture and subtlety.

We don’t know what goes into their alchemy, but it’s pretty easy to like what comes out.

Joncuas’s Gigondas cuvées are magnificent and worth every penny, but today we’re focused on their slightly simpler cuvée: Vacqueyras. The 2019 is as rich and delicious as their Gigondas usually is, and showed well side by side with a Châteauneuf-du-Pape over the weekend. It’s impressive wine at any price, and a steal at less than $30.

Made from Grenache and a splash of Mourvèdre, this wine resembles a cool inky Syrah, even though it’s absent from the blend. A floral nose gives way to ripe raspberries, lavender, sweet plums and earth. This is rich wine whose first impression is nonetheless freshness. It finishes smooth, leaving an inky blue-black perfume on the palate.

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Joncuas Vacqueyras 2019
bottle price: $28

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In the dozen years since he took over his family’s domaine, Romain Collet has elevated its reputation as fast as any new generation we’ve witnessed. We’ve noticed it ourselves, but we’re not alone — writers from Vinous, Burghound and William Kelley 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.

Romain ferments each of his premier crus in some combination of stainless steel, oak barrel, and amphora. Some cuvées benefit from the depth and roundness added from barrels, but for today’s cuvée, the recipe is simple: no oak at all.

Collet’s Chablis 1er cru Montmains is Chardonnay in its purest form.

Prices around Burgundy continue to skyrocket, but the “Chablis discount” remains in effect, and the region remains one of the best sources of value in all of France. In most years, Montmains is a friendly, delicious introduction to Collet’s premier crus, but in 2020 it’s particularly nice. Master of Wine Jasper Morris agreed, awarding 93 points, finding it “Quite floral, plus white fruit,” noting that it “starts well and kicks on to the end of the palate, some fresh apples, a little citrus, and persistent.”

Open at our warehouse tasting on Saturday this was a hit – lovely, floral, very expressive, and hard to put down. Look for honeysuckle, oyster shells, dried herbs and earth. This makes a lovely glass on its own, but we think it’ll show best with something from the sea: oysters, scallops, or sashimi.

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Collet Chablis 1er “Montmains” 2020
bottle price: $38

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It’s hard to call any place in Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits “overlooked,” but Morey-Saint-Denis has always been a bit of an underdog. It’s a tiny place — about a mile from end to end, and home to fewer than 700 people — and sits between two larger and more famous neighbors. But it’s an impressive town in its own right, worthy of attention and respect.

And nowhere in our portfolio is this clearer than the wines of Domaine Amiot et Fils. The Amiots have tended vines in Morey-St-Denis since 1702, and just last spring welcomed the 10th generation Léon Amiot back to the domaine. Having split the vines with Jean-Louis’s brother Didier, they’ve created a new domaine with new energy, new techniques, and centuries of history.

We’ve always loved the wines from the Amiot family, but we’re even more excited about where they’re going.

We’re not the only ones. The new domaine’s first vintage is a knockout – we just wish there were more to go around. Burghound awarded Amiot’s top two Morey-St-Denis premier crus his coveted “outstanding” award, and while Ruchots nearly sold out through Futures earlier this year, we’re pleased to have a bit more of their other terrific cuvée, “Les Millandes.”

The Millandes vineyard lies just several yards across the road from the famous Clos de la Roche Grand Cru, and its proximity to greatness is obvious. Normally the Amiots produce just 200 cases per vintage, but with yields down 50% in 2020, the number this year is less than 100. This wine grabbed our attention at the domaine for its delicious mix of concentration, energy, and detail.

Burghound awarded 90-93 points, finding “obvious power” in a “balanced effort [that] possesses very good quality in an ageworthy package.” We find dark, woodsy notes of briary blackberry and cassis. The mouth is intense and balanced, with fine, sturdy tannins coated in ripe, inky fruit. An exquisite, modern red Burgundy from a rising star.

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Amiot Morey-St-Denis 1er “Millandes” 2020
bottle price: $98

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