Author: Thomas Wilcox

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Floral, Meursault-Like White Burgundy from a Hidden Valley

Tucked away in a valley off to the west of the Côte d’Or, Auxey-Duresses is often passed over for famous nearby names such as Meursault and Volnay. But hot summers have turned these towns on the margins of ripeness into sources for real value.

Domaine Michel Prunier is one of the leading domaines in Auxey – they make humble, delicious, well-priced wines with early drinking windows. Today we’re featuring their Auxey-Duresses blanc, an overperforming, classy white Burgundy that’s floral, accessible, and delicious. Hide the label, and you’d guess a village-level Meursault.

Prunier’s Auxey blanc is unusually vibrant in 2018, a particularly impressive feat given the hot summer. The nose shows the classic white flowers and lychee of nearby Meursault, with additional lemon curd, stones and perfectly integrated wood (only 10% new oak).

In the mouth this wine bursts with richness and tension. There’s excellent sucrocité (the flavor and texture of sugar, but without the sweetness), followed by a blast of freshness. It shows excellent length, particularly for its level, and the texture is pure and clean.

It’s just about impossible to find Meursault under $50 these days. While this doesn’t carry quite the same complexity and balance as its famous neighbor, we think it’s an excellent value at $45. Serve with a creamy mushroom risotto.

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Prunier Auxey-Duresses blanc 2018
bottle price: $45

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Bold and Beautiful: Mouthfilling New 94-point Côte Rôtie

We get lots of prospecting emails from around the world — new winemakers in less traveled regions offering to send samples. We stay in our lane as much as we can, and so most offers we politely decline. But it’s not every day you hear from someone promoting Côte Rôtie “Côte Blonde,” and so when we received such an invitation last year we took note. And after a half hour of Googling we started to get excited.

The Domaine de Boisseyt has been around since the 1790s, but the current winemaking team has been at the helm since 2017. Thirtysomething winemaker Romain Decelle is part of a winemaking family stretching from Bordeaux to Burgundy, and today he farms 24 hectares of Syrah and Viognier in St-Joseph and Côte Rôtie. The wines get impressive scores but are hard to find in the states.

All of De Boisseyt’s wines that arrived last fall have been popular – some have even sold out already. But most impressive cuvée is undeniably their finest: the Côte Rôtie “Côte Blonde.”

There are only six domaines (among them Chapoutier, Guigal, Ogier, and Rostaing) with vines in the famous Côte Blonde vineyard in Côte Rôtie. De Boisseyt’s parcel here is 0.55 hectares (1.3 acres), producing around 200 cases a year. It’s not exactly a weeknight bottle, but at $125 it beats Rostaing’s Côte Blonde 2018 ($200) and Ogier’s ($400) by a wide margin.

The wine itself is seriously impressive. Combining elegance and depth, the 2018 Côte Blonde shows terrific intensity and extraordinary length. The nose shows cassis and raspberry, with dried violets and earth; the mouth is exceptionally long and intense, without an ounce of harshness or dryness — every inch of tannin perfectly coated in inky fruit.

The Wine Spectator’s James Molesworth wrote “this has a beautiful flow to it,” finding “savory and floral details carried by a seamlessly embedded iron spine. A really pure expression of Syrah. 94 points.” Jeb Dunnuck also awarded 94 points, remarking “it’s beautifully done.” It’s rich, bold, muscular and mouthfilling – a perfect snowstorm red.

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De Boisseyt Côte Rôtie “Côte Blonde” 2018
bottle price: $125

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“Delicious” Five-Year-Old Gevrey-Chambertin

Winemaker Gilbert Hammel is a softspoken man making red Burgundies that are anything but. The town of Gevrey-Chambertin typically produces bold, masculine wine, and the Varoilles style channels this terroir perfectly.

Hammel’s “Clos du Meix des Ouches” is a village level cuvée that drinks more like a premier cru. It’s surrounded by an old wall, which blocks the wind and traps warmth, making its wines particularly round and ripe.

Hammel’s last vintage (the 2019s) are available through January Futures (order deadline Sunday) under their new label, Domaine du Couvent. But today’s wine is in stock and ready to drink.

The nose is lovely, with dark intensity and notes of cherries, cinnamon, and anise. The mouth is smooth and just delicious – hard to put down. As with most 2017s in Burgundy it features welcoming tannins and a beautiful mid-weight palate. The finish is subtle and delicious, with gentle tannins and a careful balancing freshness.

Burghound found “poached plum, forest floor and a whisper of oak,” with “delicious middleweight flavors.” This is a precocious village plot in a user-friendly, early drinking vintage – an impatient Burgundy lover’s delight.

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Varoilles Gevrey-Chambertin “Meix des Ouches” 2017
bottle price: $85

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Almost Chassagne: Rich, Shimmering Premier Cru 2019 Burgundy

Roger Belland is best known for his beautiful, golden premier cru Clos PItois from Chassagne-Montrachet. It’s rich, elegant, and everything you want in a top class white Burgundy. When we want to really impress someone with a Chardonnay, we often reach for the Pitois blanc.

Belland’s Santenay 1er cru “Beauregard” blanc is not as complex or long-lived as the Chassagne premier cru — but for half the price it does an admirable impression, and we think it’s a bargain. White Burgundy prices continue to rise around the region, but this wine is proof that there’s still value to be found.

Belland’s Beauregard blanc vines are a few hundred yards from the Chassagne-Montrachet border, and the wine drinks like it’s from much fancier terroir. The 2019 Beauregard blanc has good freshness to support its ripe fruit, a mix of orchard and citrus. There’s a hint of wood rounding out the concentrated, supple fruit flavors.

Jasper Morris found “a chiseled backbone,” and “the right degree of flesh.” It’s something we’ve found in the most successful 2019 whites — tremendous intensity and richness and length, but with a laser focus and elegant shape. This is remarkably complete white Burgundy for its level, and one that’s already drinking beautifully.

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

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Dark, Fresh, Inky Syrah: Delicious $25 Crozes-Hermitage

Like most grapes, Syrah changes character based on where it’s grown. In warmer climates like South Africa and Australia (where it’s known as Shiraz), it’s big, rich, jammy and full of ripe plummy fruit. In France’s Northern Rhône, the wine takes on a much subtler expression.

Though it’s not as cool as it used to be, the Northern Rhône Valley is still the coolest climate to produce Syrah. Here the grape embodies a beautiful paradox: dark flavors and intense blue-black color, but soaring aromatics and a lively texture. It’s this marriage of high and low that makes the Northern Rhône such a special place for Syrah.

Located near the Northern Rhône’s southern limit, Crozes-Hermitage is rarely as complex or ageworthy as Côte Rôtie or Hermitage – but from the right source it can offer tremendous value. Denis Basset is a talented and passionate young winemaker in Crozes-Hermitage, and his wines get better each year as he refines his technique in the cellar. His wines show exceptional refinement and complexity, a result of his organic viticulture and precise winemaking.

Our favorite cuvée from him is the “Fleur Enchantée,” a beautiful Syrah made from 50+ year old vines. The nose shows inky black fruits, alongside toast, cloves, violets, and earth. The mouth is smooth and dense, with a muscled structure and notes of plum, iodine, and blackberries. With a few years in the barrel, this is a tremendous value today.

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St-Clair Crozes-Hermitage “Fleur Enchantée” 2018
bottle price: $25

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“Charming,” Elegant Premier Cru Red Burgundy from Volnay

Volnay has always been among Burgundy’s most prized appellations. Its wines epitomize Burgundian subtlety, rivaled only by Chambolle-Musigny and Vosne-Romanée for their elegance and charm. The finest examples combine a fine, earthy minerality with delicate floral notes elements and notes of smoke and spice.

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. Wine writer Matt Kramer celebrates Prunier’s “signature-free winemaking” in Caillerets, explaining they “do an outstanding job with it,” concluding, “a great Caillerets.”

The 2017 Prunier Caillerets is a delight — the nose is rich and enticing, showing violets, dark chocolate and raspberries. The mouth is balanced, silky, and very long, with terrific density. Alongside a smooth, chalky minerality, look for notes of cassis and forest floor. Jasper Morris awarded 92 points, finding balance between “weight, charm, class, structure,” and concluding “a wine to be proud of.”

Most of the high end red Burgundy we suggest comes from the Côte de Nuits – but for those with the Burgundy bug, Prunier’s Volnay Caillerets is not one to miss.

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Prunier Volnay 1er “Caillerets” 2017
bottle price: $89

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Lush, Delicious New Meursault from 98-Year-Old Vines.

Though it has no Grand Cru vineyards, the wines of Meursault are some of the most sought after in the world. Traditionally Meursault inhabits the decadent, opulent end of the white Burgundy spectrum, drawing on clay-heavy soils to produce muscular, mouthfilling white wines.

In recent years the style has shifted towards less fat and more tension, and the average Meursault today is livelier than it was 20 years ago. Vincent Boyer makes several cuvées in this more modern style, but today’s is a traditionalist. Drawing on nearly 100-year-old vines for extra concentration and depth, the Meursault “Ormeau” is classic: rich, decadent, and flat-out delicious.

Planted in 1924 by Vincent Boyer’s great grandmother Lucie, the “Ormeau” vineyard is named for the elm trees that once shared the clay-rich ground. This is classic, mouthfilling Meursault – showing peaches and citrus, with pear and a faint nuttiness in the nose. All of Boyer’s wines are rich, elegant, and complex, but “Ormeau” is among the most classically Meursault in the lineup.

The 2019 is outstanding, and a more serious take on the vineyard than in some years. There’s the classic Meursault nose – hazelnuts, white flowers, stones – but the mouth shows added concentration and superb energy. It’s still a traditional fleshy Meursault, but there’s no denying there’s more substance here than in some vintages. Burghound noted the same thing, writing “The old vines are in evidence as there is an abundance of dry extract.” He labeled it “outstanding,” and called it “a very good Meursault villages.”

We welcome Meursault’s new look, but it’s always nice to have an old reliable to fall back on.

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Boyer-Martenot Meursault “Ormeau” 2019
bottle price: $72

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Delicious New 2019 Red Burgundy from Michel Gros. $36

It seems that hot, dry growing season are now the norm in Burgundy. Twenty years ago these vintages would have been unusual – a challenging outlier requiring some careful adjustments in the cellar. But as warm, sunny conditions have become the new normal, both growers and vines have begun to adapt more permanently.

Winemakers have adjusted their growing techniques and cellar practices to manage riper grapes, higher sugars, and earlier harvests. Now with several years of practice, growers manage to maintain balance and freshness with the new crop. Despite the heat and lack of rain, the 2019 red Burgundies are some of the most exciting we’ve tasted. And nowhere is this more apparent than at a top domaine like Michel Gros.

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

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“Chiseled,” Dry 93-point Riesling from a Legendary Source

The Salomon-Undhof estate dates to 1792, and is currently on its 7th and 8th generation winemakers, father and son Bert and Bert Salomon. Their terraced vines overlooking the Danube have long been an excellent source, with the country’s preeminent wine guide calling them a “figurehead of Austrian wine history.”

Austria is best known for its Grüner-Veltliner, but Salomon also produces some terrific Riesling. This is bone dry, made from 30-50 year old vines — concentrated and intense, and with extraordinary complexity. It may cause you to rethink what’s possible from this much-maligned grape.

The just-arrived 2019 Ried Kögl Riesling is simply magnificent. It offers gorgeous dry fruit rippling with tension and minerals. The mouth is long and tense with concentrated fruit and loads of beautifully textured dry extract. The finish is dry, compact, and pulsing with energy.

Jancis Robinson found it “really well chiseled” and “particularly precise,” concluding: “classic dry Riesling with real vibrancy.” Robert Parker’s reviewer was similarly enthusiastic, awarding 93 points and finding it “clear, precise, and elegant.” He writes “this is a rich, salty-refined and very stimulating Riesling with perfectly ripe fruit and lingering salinity,” before concluding simply, “Excellent.”

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Salomon-Undhof Riesling Kögl 2019
bottle price: $28

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Smooth, Velvety, Wintertime Châteauneuf. $35

With winter weather here for the foreseeable future, we’re pleased to be well stocked on rich Southern Rhône reds. We have plenty of ideas from Séguret and Gigondas, but sometimes the most obvious answer is also the best. With that in mind we’re suggesting Châteauneuf-du-Pape today: the vinous equivalent of comfort food.

At their best these are rich, smooth wines that are inky, mouthfilling, concentrated and deep. Much of the wine from Châteauneuf is built for cellaring, but Christophe Mestre’s small production cuvée requires no patience. Rich, smooth, mouthfilling Châteauneuf to be enjoyed in its youth.

Fans of the appellation used to paying well over $50 for bigger names should take note — this is intense, velvety Chateauneuf-du-Pape with a remarkably low price tag. The nose is explosive, with a wide range of notes from violets and pan drippings to strawberry jam and lavender. The mouth is smooth and soft and rich, with a dark red complexion and silky tannins. Critic Jeb Dunnuck awarded 90-92 points, finding it “medium bodied, nicely textured, and with ample character.”

Sometimes all you want for dinner is mac and cheese or chicken soup or an omelet. And sometimes all you need in your glass is a comforting, cozy Châteauneuf.

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Mestre Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2018
bottle price: $35

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Vibrant, Fresh, Unoaked 2019 Premier Cru Chablis

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 Robert Parker 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.

All of Romain’s 2019 premier crus are terrific — we couldn’t decide on a favorite, so we bought all four. But today we’re focused on Montmains, the classical cuvée. Collet’s Montmains is raised entirely in stainless steel. The soils for their plot are clay-poor, which contributes to the decision to keep eschew oak.

The 2019 Montmains is truly delicious wine, and requires neither patience nor introduction – we think even the most hardened New World Chardonnay drinker couldn’t turn a glass of this down. It’s fresh and delightful, with plenty of dry lemon fruit, and hints of stones and shells on the finish. Dry, unoaked fruit dominates here, with terrific tension.

Jasper Morris and Burghound both gave 89-92 points, finding it “attractive and quite persistent,” with “intense and sleekly textured flavors… all wrapped in a bone-dry finish.” It’s broad enough to enjoy a glass on its own, but we think it’s best with sushi, oysters, scallops, or simple goat cheese. That a cuvée this complex and complete runs $35/bot is truly remarkable.

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Collet Chablis 1er cru “Montmains” 2019
bottle price: $35

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“Brilliant” 97-point Cornas: Magnificent 2019 Northern Rhône Syrah

Cornas is a tiny appellation. It covers 145 hectares (compared with Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s 3,000+), and is home to fewer than 50 vignerons. The name comes from the Celtic word for “burnt earth,” and it’s an appropriate moniker: Cornas is pure Syrah like the rest of the Northern Rhône, but the feel is of something sunnier from further South.

Today fifth generation winemaker Nicolas Serrette farms a miniscule 1.8 hectares (4 acres) in Cornas. We feel lucky to have finally gotten an audience at this address — a tiny, well-known producer in a tiny, popular appellation. Give their wines a bit of time and space, and they’re sure to impress.

Simon Field MW of Berry Brothers writes of the Dumien-Serrette wines’ “granitic splendor” and “beguiling floral elegance which sets them apart.” They draw from 80+ year old vines to produce intense, teeth-staining Syrah, with extraordinary depth but remarkable freshness.

The 2019 Cornas “Patou” is nothing short of an experience. A combination of inky black flavors with unusually refined floral finesse, the wine pumps out seemingly endless layers of flavor. Full of fine-grained tannin and perfectly ripe fruit, this is as bold and intense as Syrah gets. The nose is deep and rich, showing cherries, cocoa, anise, and pepper. On the palate it’s masculine and distilled, with notes of cherry jam, violets, and olive.

Wine writer Jeb Dunnock awarded 95-97 points, calling it “another brilliant wine” with “awesome black and blue fruits,” and “full-bodied richness.” He concludes “phenomenal Cornas.”

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Dumien-Serrette Cornas “Patou” 2019
bottle price: $56

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Vibrant, Delicious, Everyday 2019 Bourgogne from Michel Gros

We like to judge a vigneron’s talent by his simplest wine. Great wines from great terroir of course involve a steady winemaker as guide, but the material undoubtedly provides a head start. With humble fruit from an unsung plot of regional-level vines, winemaking skill comes even more into play.

And nowhere is this more apparent than the Bourgogne rouge from Michel Gros. Gros makes delicious (and increasingly hard to get) red Burgundies from the most famous towns in the region – Vosne, Chambolle, Morey-St-Denis, etc. But his regional level wines are just as well made and polished as his Grand Cru, and so provide terrific value.

Many of the Gros cuvées sold out through Futures in this much-hyped and stellar 2019 vintage – but we were able to increase our allocation for the Bourgogne, and are thrilled to have some in stock. (For now.)

Michel’s 2019 Bourgogne rouge is delicious. From an outstanding vintage that provided excellent ripeness laid over well-built tannin, the wine shows both utterly pleasant youthful fruit and masterfully crafted underlying structure. The tannins are smooth and unobtrusive, but provide a perfect armature on which to display the fruit. Look for notes of red berries, earth, and chalk in the nose, with a clean, refreshing finish.

Burghound called the 2019 “fresh and bright,” “vibrant and well-detailed.” As always this requires no patience and is delicious today. But there’s extra density in this wine this vintage, and we anticipate this will also cellar nicely over a year or two. As entry level Burgundies go, they don’t get much better than this.

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Michel Gros Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2019
bottle price: $32

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Earth and Jam: Gulpable, Organic 2020 Côtes du Rhône. $19

Côtes du Rhônes are a dime a dozen. They’re cheap, reliable, and abundant — you’ll find them everywhere from a fine restaurant to your local supermarket. Most are mass produced, with low tannin and lots of fruit — they may lack flaws, but they’re short on character too.

Eric Chauvin’s wines share a region and grape varietal with these Côtes du Rhônes, but little else. Chauvin’s tiny Domaine le Souverain has no website, no road sign, and barely a phone number — his cellar is a converted garage. But his wines have more complexity and depth than nearly anything else we taste at their level, and manage to remain a bargain.

Chauvin’s wines pulsate with life and energy, a result of his low-intervention style and careful organic viticulture. We sell out of his wine every year, and are thrilled to have the 2020 back in stock at last.

Chauvin’s 2020 Séguret is vibrant and lovely. The nose is dark and inky with notes of tobacco, crushed berries, lavender, and a cool earthiness. The mouth is rich and ripe but beautifully balanced, with vibrant tannic texture, clean dark fruit, and a faint smokiness in the nose.

Class up your takeout pizza or your next plate of pasta — or just unwind with a glass on a weeknight after work. It’s a buck or two more than your drugstore Côtes-du-Rhône, but it’s worlds away in quality.

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Souverain Séguret 2020
bottle price: $19

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[Advance Order] Polished, “Super-Expressive” 2019 Chianti Classico. $250/case

Last week we wrote about how the 2019 vintage produced outstanding wines in red Burgundy, white Burgundy, and the Rhône valleys. Today we suggest that the success of this vintage stretched further still, across the Mont Blanc and into Tuscany. We were at last able to taste our sample of the 2019 Chianti Classico from Poggerino this weekend, and it didn’t disappoint.

As most of you know already, Poggerino is a top-notch producer from Chianti in Italy. Nearly all of our winemakers are French, but we carve out a small exception for Piero and Benedetta Lanza in Radda. Rajat Parr calls their pure Sangiovese wines “some of the purest expressions of [Sangiovese] in Italy.” Wine Spectator calls their wines “impeccably balanced.”

All four Poggerino wines (as well as offers from Couvent, Gautheron, Thomas, Lestimé, Picamelot, Gross, Foulaquier and more) will be in next Sunday’s 2022 January Futures release. But as usual we’ve singled out one wine for which there will be much demand to preview today.

Poggerino’s 2019 Chianti Classico is simply delicious. The wine bursts from the glass in dark floral notes that somehow also carry tremendous lift and elegance. Look for red cherries, roses, plums, licorice and cocoa. In the mouth it’s focused and sleek, with impressive intensity and perfectly coated tannin. The texture is fine grained and polished – in fact, a remarkably polished wine for its price point.

Antonio Galloni of Vinous found it “fleshy and super-expressive,” adding “all the elements come together so well,” and concluding by calling it “especially inviting.” We plan to keep our portfolio’s focus on French wines, but wines like this make us want to expand. Poggerino’s 2019 Classico is a no-brainer addition to your cellar.

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Poggerino Chianti Classico 2019
January Futures price: $250/case

 

To reserve this wine, email Tom.