Author: Thomas Wilcox

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Back in Stock: Stony, Refreshing, Delicious $25 Sancerre

Sauvignon blanc is among the world’s most widely planted grapes, but its origin is the Loire Valley. In the Loire, Sauvignon takes on a floral, mineral style, juicy grapefruit notes with a lively minerality, often notes of flint, and pleasant herbal finish.

Wine writer Lettie Teauge once described Sancerre as a wine that delivers “pleasure not profundity.” Located at the eastern end of the Loire, Sancerre produces consistently delicious wines — approachable, affordable, and uncomplicated. We’ve (finally!) just restocked on this wine, which has fast become one of the most popular bottles in our cellar.

Garenne’s 2020 Sancerre is easy and delightful. It’s bone dry with pure sauvignon grapefruit in the nose. In the mouth it’s lively but with no astringency or grassiness — a warm vintage gave added weight but no lack of freshness. Look for minerals and lime in the mouth, with dry extract, lovely tension, and surprising length.

Sancerre pairs with anything and nothing. Our favorite match is a classic moules frites — a simple broth of shallots, wine, parsley, garlic and tarragon. The fries will soak up the broth. Or just a cracker with some fresh chèvre.

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Garenne Sancerre 2020
bottle price: $25

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Fresh, Floral, New Biodynamic Grenache from Foulaquier. $22

We usually place our order from the Mas Foulaquier in January, and by the time the wines arrive in March the earth has barely begun to awake from its winter slumber. This year the wines have arrived a month later, with Spring in full bloom.

Patience testing aside, the delay means we’re in fact releasing the Foulaquier wines at a perfect seasonal moment. Foulaquier’s southern blends burst from the glass with the exuberance of springtime, and invite you to close your eyes and imagine a sunny meadow in southern France.

We’re thrilled to release their newest cuvée today: Les Indiennes.

The Foulaquier recipe (minimal vineyard intervention, wild yeasts, no fining or filtering, low/no sulfites) produces wines that might best be described as carefully channeled wildness – they’re not as funky or offbeat as much of the world’s natural wine but they still contain an earthy, untamed quality, and natural spirit.

“Les Indiennes” 2018 is pure grenache, raised in concrete vats and bottled with minimal sulfites. The name is a reference to Indian fabrics with a faintly red tint that were imported to Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries (examples here), and the wine bears a similar lightweight red character. We found this wine delightful when we first tried it back in January, and confirmed our enthusiasm with a bottle last night.

It’s easy and light, with roses and earthy violets in the nose, alongside hints of spice, licorice, and soy sauce. The mouth is low tannin and fresh, with cherries and stones – a perfect weeknight patio wine for a warm evening. Carafe this for 20 minutes to help welcome it to Spring, and enjoy all summer long on the patio.

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Foulaquier Indiennes 2018
bottle price: $22

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[ADVANCE ORDER] “Powerful yet Refined” Premier Cru White Burgundy, 25% off

With a supply crunch from recent small vintages and seemingly inelastic demand, the cost of Burgundy is headed in one direction. And yet amid ballooning prices Chablis has maintained its place as a consistent source of value. Even Grand Crus from top tier producers still rarely break the $100/bottle mark.

Of the forty premier cru vineyards across the appellation of Chablis, Montée de Tonnerre is undisputedly the finest and most prestigious. As wine writer Rajat Parr puts it, Montée de Tonnerre “produces at Grand Cru status, but still goes for Premier Cru prices.”

We’re pleased to offer a full lineup of 2020 Chablis from Jean Collet in next Sunday’s May Futures issue (along 2020s from Amiot, Thomas Morey, and several new white Burgundy sources). But as usual we’re opening up the bidding early on Collet’s finest premier cru, the 2020 Montée de Tonnerre.

We tasted Romain Collet’s 2020 Montée de Tonnerre at his domaine in Chablis a few weeks ago, and it’s just terrific wine. Romain makes well over a dozen different Chablis cuvées, and his tastings are studies in subtle terroir shifts. But amid a long and delicious tasting, the Montée de Tonnerre stood out – regal, refined, complex and vibrant.

The nose is deep, dry, and beautifully layered, with white flowers, saline, seashells and lemon peel. The mouth is rich but not heavy, with oak carefully integrated and notes of dry apple and stones. Jasper Morris gave 90-93, calling it “harmonious” and “one of the more powerful wines” in the lineup. Burghound awarded 90-92, finding “excellent volume” and calling it “unusually powerful yet refined.”

Romain Collet continues to produce on a superlative level, and this would-be Grand Cru is among his best showings this year. We’ve reserved a bunch, but it’s been known to sell out before – interested readers should reply before Sunday’s May Futures launch.

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Collet Chablis 1er “Montée de Tonnerre” 2020
Ansonia Retail: $504
May Futures: $385/case

To reserve this wine, email    tom @ ansoniawines.com

AVAILABLE BY THE CASE AND HALF CASE

 

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New Overperforming 2019 Bourgogne from Gevrey-Chambertin. $36

We used to wonder why the humble Bourgogne rouge from the Domaine des Varoilles was so good. During our visit to Philippe Cheron last month we found the answer. He explained that the grapes for this cuvée come from vines planted in what until recently was village-level Gevrey-Chambertin.

It answered a lot. The wine is always dark, juicy and plummy, bearing strong resemblance to the Côte de Nuits’s boldest appellation. The 2020 from barrel a few weeks ago was a knockout, and we’ve reserved a bunch for when it finally arrives in bottle. But the 2019 has arrived this week at last, and the bottle we opened last night was just terrific.

Varoilles 2019 Bourgogne is the last vintage under the old label (beginning next year it will be Domaine du Couvent), but whatever’s on the outside of the bottle, the inside is tremendous. The nose is dark, jammy and full of spice like cinnamon and cocoa. The mouth is rich and delicious with way more stuffing than most Bourgognes. The tannins are delicious and inviting with smooth texture and excellent freshness.

Writer Bill Nanson found it “big, mouth-filling wine,” with “plenty of concentration.” We can’t think of a more impressive regional level Burgundy in our lineup. Close your eyes and you’ve got a village-level Gevrey; but whatever you call it, you’ll want another glass of this.

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Varoilles Bourgogne 2019
bottle price: $36

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Delicious, Earthy, Rugged Everyday Rhône Red: $22

France’s Southern Rhône valley produces rich, smooth red blends. At one end of the spectrum there’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape, famous and long-lived; at the other there’s Côtes du Rhône, uncomplicated and inexpensive. Today’s wine is from the middle.

If Beaumes de Venise calls to mind dessert wines, you’re not wrong. The town is famous for its sweet Muscat wines first planted in 600 BCE. But the terroir also produces a small amount of excellent red, with a rugged richness that makes them sturdy and crowd-pleasing.

Goubert’s Beaumes de Venise is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Cinsault, with the final grape adding a sauvage quality that makes the wine distinct and delicious. The 2019 is terrific – dense and gorgeous, bursting with dark aromatics and no oak. All three grapes fermented together and raised in concrete tank; the wine is full of spice and garrigue, but all drawn from grapes and earth instead of wood.

The nose is dark and weathered, showing strawberry jam, honey, and earthy notes;. the mouth is lively and juicy, with pleasant structure. This is an astonishingly complete wine at $22. It’s perhaps a bit less refined than its older brother Gigondas, but what it lacks in elegance it makes up in pluck.

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Goubert Beaumes-de-Venise 2019
bottle price: $22

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Exquisite New White Burgundy from a Legendary Winemaker

All of the winemakers we work with in Burgundy are grower-producers, meaning they farm their own grapes and produce their own wine. But over the last few years of severely diminished yields, we’ve seen several winemakers add “négociant” operations, making additional wine with purchased grapes under another label. These cuvées often put winemaker skill on display, and such is the case with the wines of Caroline Letsimé.

Though we no longer offer Caroline Lestimé’s brilliant wines under her traditional Jean-Noël Gagnard label through our regular channels, we’re excited to have a few of her “négoce” cuvées in stock – both of this year’s show off Caroline’s technical cellar chops, and carry the signature glossy Gagnard character.

Caroline’s Savigny-les-Beaune is a bit out of left field, but trust us, you want some of this. No, it’s not really near Chassagne (it’s up a side valley west of the city of Beaune), and it’s the first Savigny in our cellar. But this wine is a tremendous value, and will delight any lover of white Burgundy.

The nose is bright and perfumy, with lemon, stones and faint herbs. The mouth shows beautiful sucrocité, with a sleek round texture that finishes vibrant and fresh. As with all of Caroline’s wines, the interplay of oak, fruit and earth is seamless. With its excellent freshness we expect this to drink well for a number of years.

Tasted blind we’d have placed it in St-Aubin or even Meursault. It’s easily the best Savigny-les-Beaune we’ve ever had, and will make any fan of the Gagnard style smile.

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Lestimé Savigny-les-Beaune blanc 2019
bottle price: $55

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The Essence of Chablis: Pure, Unoaked Premier Cru White Burgundy

More than anywhere else in Burgundy, winemakers in Chablis have felt the impact of recent warm vintages. Earlier harvests and more sun exposure have meant riper grapes and wines with fleshier, richer textures. This style of Chablis can support more oaking, and some winemakers have begun to increase the exposure to oak barrels.

Not Cyril Gautheron. His commitment to original Chablisien style is unwavering, and even today’s premier cru, bursting with an extra dose of citrus fruit and energy, is 100% stainless steel. Gautheron’s 2020 Chablis 1er Vaucoupin is pure, shimmering, and unadorned — a modern Chablis in a perfectly classic style.

Gautheron’s vines here are 50 years old, and produce intense concentrated juice. The clay-rich, south-facing soils produce a wine that Cyril somehow manages to reign into a neat, precise package. We found a terrific blend of fruit, freshness, savory herbs and minerality, with a hint of saline on the finish. Bill Nanson found “saline-edged citrus complexity. Chablis pure!”

Oaked whites and raw fish don’t get along well, but that’s no concern here. Pair this with tuna tartare, crudo, sushi, or – most perfectly – raw oysters. Or a lobster bisque and a fresh spring salad.

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Gautheron Chablis 1er “Vaucoupin” 2020
bottle price: $39

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“Succulent” and “Precise” New 2019 Chambolle-Musigny

Last week we finally met Philippe Cheron, winemaker at the newly created Domaine du Couvent. The new domaine combines the holdings of the shuttered Domaine des Varoilles and Cheron’s family vineyards, including several plots his grandfather planted in the 1930s. It’s a new lineup with a new label, but with a highly experienced winemaker, and vineyard holdings steeped in history.

Cheron’s 2020s from barrel last week were stunning: sleek, elegant, beautifully balanced and packed with flavor. They’ll be bottled later this year, and we look forward to offering them in January 2023. But the 2019s have (finally) just arrived in the states, and we’re thrilled to begin to release them today.

Cheron’s family holdings include an enviable collection of plots in Chambolle-Musigny. Philippe makes two cuvées from the town, one a single vineyard (Clos de l’Orme), and one a blend of a dozen plots across the tiny appellation. This blend, called “40 Ouvrées,” is named for the combined size of the plots; an ouvrée is an old unit of measure for the land one worker could harvest in a day.

Couvent’s 2019 Chambolle Musigny “Les 40 Ouvrées” is a terrific expression of the Chambolle appellation in total. It’s open and accessible, showing deep strawberry fruit and the silky texture for which the town is known. Neal Martin of Vinous awarded 90-92 points, finding it “delicate but precise,” “smooth and succulent, very lush in style, but maintains good balance and freshness,” concluding “very sensual.” Jancis Robinson found it “luxurious” and “delicious.”

Burghound calls Couvent “a domaine to watch,” and Martin writes “It is definitely a grower that I will keep an eye on.” We agree, and we’re thrilled to have them on board.

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Couvent Chambolle-Musigny
“40 Ouvrées” 2019
bottle price: $82

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Delicious, Sophisticated New 2020 Côte d’Or White Burgundy

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.

The 2020 Bourgogne blanc at last arrives in our warehouse today, after months in transit. It’s a staple of our cellar, and it’s awfully nice to have it back in stock.

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.

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Thomas Bourgogne 2020
bottle price: $29

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Masterful, Small-Batch Grower Champagne

Over the weekend Pascal Bardoux welcomed us to his kitchen table for an intimate tasting of his terrific grower Champagnes. Pascal’s wines are just like the man himself: subtle, understated, and delightful. In a region where “le marketing” is king, Bardoux’s delicious, hand-crafted, well-priced cuvées stand out.

This time we tasted three magnificent vintage cuvées from magnum, and we’re excited to bring them back to the states later this year. But Pascal’s humble Brut Traditionnel is his calling card, and it’s as good as ever. Much mass-market Champagne that gets to the US fetches between $75 and $100 a bottle; Bardoux’s small-batch Brut Traditionnel doesn’t even crack $50 — twice the wine at half the price.

Bardoux’s Brut Traditionnel is his non-vintage cuvée, and an excellent entrypoint to the collection. A blend of 60% Pinot Meunier, 30% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir, this wine has the complexity and depth to match the finest bottles from Burgundy or Bordeaux. The nose shows plum, chalk, lime zest, and buttered biscuits; the mouth is dry, elegant, and smooth, with notes of apple and toast.

We can’t recommend this wine highly enough. Think of it as a refined, complex wine in its own right; it just happens to feature bubbles. Some of our favorite pairings include: sushi, triple-cream cheese (like Delice de Bourgogne or Brillat-Savarin), or gougères.

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Bardoux Champagne Traditionnel NV
bottle price: $49

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Elegant, Focused $25 Red Burgundy with 400 Years of History

Something that often strikes us when we visit France is the expanded sense of time. The countryside is littered with twelfth century chateaux, Roman era churches, even remains of neolithic settlements. Vignerons in particular have an expanded time horizon – the vines they plant today may not be mature until their children are grown; Champagne producers lay down their vintage bottles imagining what the world will be like in ten years when they finally disgorge them.

The Boursot family in Chambolle-Musigny has been growing grapes on the same hillsides since 1550. The most recent generation has upgraded the facilities and the focus, and their wines have begun to gain substantial critical interest. Our tasting there last week was terrific, as the winemakers blend their considerable history with cutting edge winemaking techniques.

Boursot’s simplest cuvée, their Bourgogne rouge, comes from vines near Vosne-Romanée and Chambolle-Musigny, and this origin helps explain the wine’s unusual refinement. Inexpensive regional level Burgundy can lack complexity or freshness, and in recent hot summers many have devolved into “fruit bombs.” Boursot’s avoids both traps, emerging as a wine with unparalleled subtlety for its level.

Clocking in at 13% alcohol, with fine grained but subtle tannins, the Boursot 2019 Bourgogne rouge is like the Bourgogne rouge of a decade ago. (The pricing may remind you of the aughts as well.) The nose shows wild cherry, chalk, and earth, bursting with unoaked freshness. The mouth is fine-boned and dry with just enough tannin to support the delicate fruit, and a classic Burgundian minerality.

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Boursot Bourgogne rouge 2019
bottle price: $25

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Superb 2019 Premier Cru from Saint-Aubin’s Best Vineyard

The changing climate has caused dramatic shifts amid the tiny microclimates of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or. In a region where a few meters makes the difference between four-figure Grand Cru and $60 village, a couple degrees of warmer weather can have profound effect.

Among the undisputed winners is the side valley of St-Aubin. With some of the highest elevation vines in the Côte d’Or, this appellation once on the margins of ripeness is increasingly right in the middle. During our tastings in Burgundy this week we’ve tasted dozens of St-Aubin cuvées, many of which are perfectly situated to maintain balance amid the ever warming growing seasons.

We’ve long loved the terroirs of St-Aubin, and are pleased to see them increasingly receiving their due – even if it’s meant they’re scarcer and pricier. We have several producers who farm here; but among our favorites is Domaine Bohrmann. Bohrmann’s style is low oak, pure fruit, and exquisitely balanced texture: richness, depth and energy all at once. Raised in only 15% new oak for a year, their St-Aubin 1er cru comes from “En Remilly,” considered one of the town’s top vineyards.

This wine is lively and generous at the same time: thick and full of a rippling intensity, combining perfectly ripe golden fruit with structure and minerality. There’s precision capable of enhancing your most refined dishes — sole meuniere, for example. The use of oak is perfect: support for the minerals and fruit, but without too much spice or toast.

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Bohrmann St-Aubin 1er “En Remilly” 2018
bottle price: $59

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Delicious New 2019 Red Burgundy from Michel Gros

Yesterday morning we tasted through Michel Gros’s 2020 vintage from barrel. It’s a terrific year, with both tremendous density and great energy. Hot, dry growing seasons have become the norm in Burgundy, and while they still make life difficult for the growers, the vignerons here begun to adapt their practices in the vines and the cellar. The resulting wines are as good as they’ve ever been.

Gros’s 2020s will be in the October Futures offering this fall, but in the meantime the 2019s continue to drink beautifully. Gros’s 2019s were universally successful. While most of their village, premier cru and grand cru wines sold out through Futures last year, his regional level wines offer a chance to experience this superb vintage with more modest investment.

Today we’re suggesting the 2019 Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Au Vallon,” one of Gros’s regional level cuvées, and one that performed particularly well in 2019. The bottle we opened last night was terrific – pure and precise with an expressive nose of red fruits and violets. The mouth is delicious, with excellent concentration and lots of depth.

Vinous’s Neal Martin found “fine grained tannins” and called it “commendably energetic,” concluding “this is worth seeking out.” Burghound awarded it both his Outstanding and Top Value labels, finding it “sleek and fine with a beguiling intensity” and concluding “this is very good and worthy of your interest.”

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Michel Gros Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Au Vallon” 2019
bottle price: $36

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Tremendous 10-Year-Old Vintage Grower Champagne.

We at last visited the Domaine Jacques Robin in the Côtes des Bar on Saturday. Sebastien Robin gave us a tour of his family’s small domaine, and tasted us through a terrific lineup in his small, cozy tasting room alongside a crackling wood stove.

Robin’s finest wine is their 2011 Cuvée Kimmeridgienne – made from pure Pinot Noir grown in chalk/limestone/clay soils, this wine sat on its lees for seven years, gaining complexity and exceptional depth.

The wine stands on its own as a delicious vintage grower champagne. But after seeing its origin – a small family domaine where Sebastien and his sisters produce tiny quantities of thoughtful, precise, handmade Champagne – it’s even more impressive.

Made from 100% pinot noir, the 2011 Kimmeridgienne has spent eight years on the lees, and the payoff in depth and complexity is immediately evident. The nose is gorgeous and refined, showing notes of cream, brioche, creme brulee, coffee, and hazelnut; the mouth is dry and very long, with notes of candied fruit, chalk, and butter.

Vintage grower champagne of this caliber can easily cost twice this or more, and much of it isn’t half this interesting or complex. Just a few thousand bottles were made nearly a decade ago, and have sat quietly since then, gaining magnificent depth. Our batch in stock was disgorged last fall, and is in perfect condition for enjoyment this year.

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Robin Champagne Kimmeridgienne 2011
bottle price: $75

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Chiseled Premier Cru Chablis: Pears and Saline

We visited Romain Collet in Chablis yesterday morning – he pruned late this year and wasn’t too worried about tonight’s forecasted frost. (It’s another story in the Côte d’Or.) Spring frosts have become the norm in Chablis these days, and Romain has steered his domaine beautifully, making terrific wines in difficult circumstances.

His 2021s tasted in tank were vibrant, energetic wines with classic Chablisienne zip. His 2020s from bottle are similarly excellent, with a generous, approachable lushness laid over a crisp core of minerals. (The 2020s will be in next month’s May Futures.) Romain has long since sold all his terrific 2019s, a very dry vintage with excellent concentration and a laser focus – but we’ve got several of them left in stock in the states.

Today we’re suggesting his 2019 Chablis 1er cru “Forêts,” the cuvée for those who like their Chablis steely and bone-dry.

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.

From a subsection of the Montmains hillside, this plot is extremely steep and stony. This cuvée is vinified in cement eggs, which allow a long, slow, cool fermentation. The 2019 Forêts is electric and vibrant, with muted fruit and a gorgeous fresh salinity. Drink all spring as the earth awakens from hibernation.

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Collet Chablis 1er “Forêts” 2019
bottle price: $38

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