Author: Thomas Wilcox

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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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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