Author: Thomas Wilcox

White Burgundy is an easy wine to pair with food. At the high end, an ageworthy bottle Meursault or Puligny can exceed the subtlety and depth of a red Burgundy. Paired with a lobster risotto or veal in cream, it’s a marriage of opulence and charm.

But white Burgundy also answers the call for something uncomplicated and reliable — a Monday night pasta dish, or a hearty bowl of mussels. Gerard Thomas’s Bourgogne blanc has been our go-to white burgundy for over a decade. It has become a “house white” for many of our readers, and we’re honestly not sure what we’d do without it.

Thomas’s 2020 white Burgundies are unusually good – a hot year with low yields concentrated both the fruit and the acidity, producing wines jam-packed with flavor and freshness. All of Thomas’s 2020s deliver far above their classification, and the Bourgogne particularly so. Classy yellow fruit palate pulses with energy and golden fleshy roundness – this is entry-level only in name and price.

The nose is soft and elegant, with hazelnut and toasty oak notes melting into lemon and baked apple fruit. The mouth is round and mouthcoating, with delicate freshness acidity balancing a shimmering core. It’s delightful on its own – if you open a bottle while you’re still making dinner, better have a second bottle at the ready.

____________________________

Thomas Bourgogne 2020
bottle price: $29

Add to Cart

 

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 2019s possess an extraordinary balance of fruit, tension, and texture — some 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.

____________________________

Bohrmann Bourgogne rouge 2019
bottle price: $34

Add to Cart

 

We’re not sure where you’re reading this from, but we hope it has air conditioning. Everywhere from Beaune to Boston to Bordeaux has been baking this week. When it’s warm out we like to drink Chablis and cooled Beaujolais; but when it’s this brutally hot, there’s just one answer: Muscadet.

Muscadet is a crisp, precise, dry white wine that is the essence of freshness. It’s also abundant and inexpensive. Made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape, the best examples are raised “sur lie” (on the lees) to add complexity. In recent years Muscadet has undergone a reinvention of sorts with the elevation of three of the region’s best towns to a new “Cru Communal” status.

Today’s wine comes from one of these leaders in the new wave of Muscadet. Martin-Luneau is a family domaine farming old vines on the plains south of Nantes. Today we’re pleased to release the 2016 “Gorges” Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine. Combining exceptional terroir with extended years on the lees, this is an unusually complex take on a classic.

The 2016 Gorges is a perfect antidote to late summer muggy weather. It’s pure and clean, showing melon, dried spring flowers, and lemon zest. The mouth is smooth and very dry, with notes of salt air, stones, and green apple skins. It’s refreshing and full of energy.

Oysters are the longstanding pairing of choice with Muscadet, and the thick savoriness in this wine is an exceptional foil for the fresh brininess of an oyster. Make sure to drink lots of water this week – but once you’re well hydrated, pour yourself a chilly glass of Muscadet.

____________________________

Martin-Luneau Muscadet “Gorges” 2016
bottle price: $22

Add to Cart

 

Syrah grown in most of the world is bold, rich, smooth and voluminous. In the Northern Rhône the grape takes on a different style: lower alcohol, less mouthfilling, more spice, more energy. Recent scorching summers have blurred this style a bit, but 2020 was a welcome return to normal. Decanter writes of “A reliably fresh, balanced and approachable vintage – a return to classicism.”

Praise continues to pour in for the Domaine Patrick & Christophe Bonnefond. Their Northern Rhône reds are pure syrah, and display an exquisite balance of texture, fruit, subtlety and depth. The wines continue to improve each year — Josh Raynolds of Vinous declared his tasting last year “the single most impressive set of bottlings I have had here.”

Christophe’s 2020 syrah is terrific and calls to mind a ballet dancer – strong and chiseled but quick and light on its feet. The nose is spice forward, with black pepper, nutmeg and rosemary – the black fruit is there but taking a back seat to the savory elements. The mouth is gorgeous and refined, with refreshing tension and lovely intensity – it’s perfectly extracted, leaving not an ounce of harshness. Pretty and precise instead of ponderous.

In 2020 the blurring lines between Northern Rhône Syrah and “global” Syrah have snapped into focus – there’s only once place this wine could be made. Time will tell how the 2022 vintage turns out (it hit 101 degrees in the Côte Rôtie yesterday), but this wine at least is a welcome dose of freshness.

____________________________

Bonnefond Syrah 2020
bottle price: $24

Add to Cart

 

Bordeaux is best known for its expensive, ageworthy red wines that are among the most famous and collectible in the world. But this tier represents only a fraction of what the region produces, and if you know where to look, there’s accessible value to be found.

Today’s wine is a perfect example. Sure, it could stand nicely next to a fancy steak, or a five course white tablecloth dinner. But we think its best match is good takeout pizza. That’s not a knock against the wine – we tried the combo earlier this week, and it’s hard to imagine a better match.

The Château Lafont Menaut is the second property from the owners of the prestigious Chateau Carbonnieux, a legendary Graves estate. The Perrins farm their less famous terroirs with the same care as Carbonnieux, and the Lafont-Menaut rouge is among the most consistent wines we import.

Their 2018 rouge is a merlot cabernet blend with excellent depth and nice balance. The nose shows plums, chalk, stones, and hints of tobacco. The mouth is dense, chewy, and delicious, with softened tannins perfectly coated by ripe inky fruit.

Okay, fine – wouldn’t turn down Lafte with a takeout pizza either. But until someone else buys us one, this Lafont is a home run.

____________________________

Lafont-Menaut Pessac-Leognan rouge 2018
bottle price: $24

Add to Cart

 

FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES

A wine made up of equal parts Grenache/Syrah can take on many shapes. Grown on a flat plain in irrigated soil by a large-volume winery, the blend will be a cheap, unremarkable Côtes du Rhône. Grown just miles away in the legendary soils of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and the wine can be an ageworthy gem.

Today’s wine is the same blend, but follows neither of these paths. The Mas Foulaquier’s “Orphée” cuvée is made from grapes grown in the untamed soils of the northern Languedoc. The winemakers practice biodynamics in the vineyards and the cellar, and the result is an entirely different take on the blend.

The grape makeup of this wine is important, but only as a vehicle to communicate the vignerons’ philosophy, and their rugged terroir.

Foulaquier is an excellent source in Pic-St-Loup, at the northern end of the sprawling Languedoc. Their wines are natural, wild, sometimes funky, and always delicious. They also exhibit a completeness often absent in low-intervention styles — where some offer a single, interesting, unusual note, Foulaquier’s wines are a harmonious symphony of nature — perhaps Philip Glass more than Beethoven, but charming nonetheless.

Foualquier’s 2019 Orphée is natural wine done to perfection. Foulaquier has added no sulfites to this cuvée, but the nose is sophisticated and clean – we’d put it squarely in the middle of the domaine’s typical natural character. It’s raised for 15 months in sandstone amphora and concrete tanks. The nose shows dark fruit, with violets and tapenade; the mouth is young and intense but with excellent intensity.

Pour this at your next backyard barbecue.

____________________________

Foulaquier Orphée 2019
bottle price: $29

Add to Cart

 

FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES