Author: Thomas Wilcox

Sancerre remains among the world’s best known white wines. Sauvignon blanc, a naturally high acid grape, is well positioned to weather today’s hot summers without losing pep and energy. Our source here is the Domaine de la Garenne, an old family domaine of the highest quality, practicing organic viticulture and on track for EU certification next year.

Garenne’s cuvées aren’t showy or innovative – they’re honest, punchy, simply delicious Sancerre. We have four cuvées from them in stock, but our best seller has always been “Bouffants.” This unoaked sauvignon blanc comes from 40+ year old vines in a limestone-rich plot with excellent drainage. It’s a perfectly located single vineyard cuvée, and from one of the best plots in the appellation.

The 2023 is as good as ever. There’s no oak, and the old vines contribute loads of dry concentration cut by a chiseled, stony backbone. The nose shows grapefruit zest and herbal honey, and the mouth bursts with white flowers, lime, and stone. Serve this with fish from the grill, or a hearty shrimp pasta with herbs and parm.

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Garenne Sancerre “Bouffants” 2023
bottle price: $32

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Romain Collet is an innovator. Each time we visit he has a new project – bold new French labels, more clay amphora, a gin (yes, gin!) collaboration with a local friend. And yet his lineup of Chablis remains classical and delicious. In the face of blazing hot recent summers, Romain continues to fashion cuvées that show their terroir with clarity and focus.

His newest cuvée is a village level Chablis called “Valée de Valvan.” It’s from vines that have achieved their years-long EU organic certification, perched on a hillside facing his “Montmains” plot. We were quite taken with this new bottling in the spring during our visit, and are delighted to have it in stock at last.

We weren’t the only ones to pick up on this new cuvée. Jasper Morris MW found it “generous yet classic…good stuff;” Neal Martin of Vinous writes “palate is well balanced with commendable weight and fruit concentration…focused.” We loved the notes of pear and lemon zest, mixing with oyster shells and limestone.

With a 100% stainless steel elevage and 12.5% alcohol, this is vibrant, pure, exquisite everyday Chablis. Serve with anything and nothing.

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Collet Chablis “Valvan” 2022
bottle price: $35

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After several years of patiently waiting for an allocation, we’re delighted to introduce our newest Champagne source: RH Coutier. The Coutiers are an old family in Ambonnay (there since 1619), and today produce small-batch Champagnes exclusively from their own organic Grand Cru vineyards.

Antonio Galloni of Vinous calls the Coutier wines “gorgeous…all showing the natural richness of Ambonnay,” and writing they “have been favorites of mine for years, because of their quality, personality, and exceedingly fair prices.” Ambonnay is known as Pinot Noir country, where extra clay and warm southern exposure lend themselves well to the red grape.

Courtier’s base “Cuvée Tradition” is simply exquisite grower Champagne at a remarkable price. It’s super expressive exploding from the glass with notes of spring flowers, pear, raspberries, herbs and brioche. At 6g dosage and a blend of 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay it’s dry but full of fruit, and the texture is at once lush and crisp. This is accessible, affordable, downright tasty Champagne – full of character, flavor, and life.

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Coutier Champagne “Tradition” NV
bottle price: $52

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Vouvray is a hard wine to pin down – it ranges from very sweet to bone dry and from sparkling to still. The most famous cuvées from top names will improve for decades, and are among the world’s longest lived wines. We enjoy almost any expression of Vouvray, but our favorite is the simplest – still, fresh, early-drinking, and dry.

Our source in Vouvray is the Domaine de la Fontainerie. Catherine Dhoye-Deruet has run her small 6-hectare estate for the last 30 years, and it’s been in her family for centuries. We introduced her refreshing, affordable Vouvray Sec (dry) cuvée last year, and it was an easy hit. This is Chenin blanc in its purest form – classic, refreshing, and vibrant, raised in steel (no oak) and fermented fully dry.

Fontainerie’s just-arrived 2022 Vouvray Sec is a delight – perfect for late summer and early fall. The nose is lush and beautiful with exotic fruits alongside notes of chalk, apple, quince and pear. The mouth is rich, smooth and delicious with a bursting apple attack and a crunchy, stony dry finish. Serve with crumbly goat cheese, garlic-ginger shrimp from the grill, or pre-season football.

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Fontainerie Vouvray 2022
bottle price: $25

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The pursuit of freshness is a perennial struggle for white Burgundy vignerons these days. They’ve adapted to warmer, drier summers by delaying pruning, harvesting earlier, and tweaking their cellar work. But Chardonnay loves the sun, and inattentive growers can end up with overripe, high alcohol wines.

Aligoté has always been Chardonnay’s distant understudy. It’s been part of Burgundian winemaking for centuries, but has never been responsible for the region’s famous white wines. But warmer drier summers have meant that this naturally bright grape varietal has taken on added depth and complexity. Winemakers are now taking the grape more seriously, and the results are really exciting.

Our favorite so far is Vincent Boyer’s, a superstar winemaker crafting classic white Burgundies in Meursault and Puligny. He gives his Aligoté the same extended elevage (nearly two years in old barrels and concrete eggs) as his Chardonnays, and the resulting wine is simply exquisite. Burghound found the 2021 “exceptionally fresh” and “very well-detailed” with notes of “lemon rind, green apple, and spice.” He awarded it his “outstanding” designation, and concluded simply, “good stuff.”

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Boyer-Martenot Aligoté 2021
bottle price: $29

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In the last few years Michel Gros’s son Pierre has taken over as principal winemaker at the family domaine. His winemaking style is so far indistinguishable from his father’s, and we can’t blame him. Given Michel’s stellar reputation and 45 vintages of experience, we’ll give Pierre credit for seeking wise counsel.

Whoever’s calling the shots, the 2021s from Gros are an unmitigated triumph, and even more impressive given the difficult vintage. Abundant rain and a cooler summer produced wines with less concentration than the last few scorching hot years – a welcome relief from the chewy, syrah-like Pinots of recent memory. Across the board Gros’s 2021s are elegant, refined, and middle weight, with subtly extracted tannins and beautiful length.

Their lighter touch has meant they’re more charming young than we expected. We opened this village level Chambolle a few months ago at the warehouse and it was strikingly good. Drawn mostly from a plot abutting Musigny Grand Cru, this overperforms it’s village-level billing by a mile.

Neal Martin of Vinous found “an enticing nose with pressed violet and iris,” with “supple tannins, velvety smooth, and fine depth.” This is always a top cuvée at Gros and the 2021 is no different. It’s elegant and classy, full of tension, precision, and the domaine’s signature smoky polish. We think the 2021s will age a decade with ease, but it’s already a tremendous glass of red Burgundy today.

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Gros Chambolle-Musigny 2021
bottle price: $135

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Master of Wine Jasper Morris is an eloquent, experienced, extremely British wine writer, who doesn’t throw the word “superb” around lightly. And so while we at Ansonia have held this opinion of Cyril Gautheron for years, we took note when earlier this year he called him “a superb producer making wines in a crisp cool classically Chablis style, which is now really quite hard to achieve in these warmer seasons.”

Among the best wines from Gautheron’s exquisite lineup of 2022s is his village-level old-vine Chablis. The 2022 is a bundle of fleshy energy – everything you want from Chablis. The wood is nearly impossible to detect, adding depth, sophistication, and unusual refinement for its level. We found notes of oyster shells, lemon pulp, and chalk.

Morris gave this wine his 5-star distinction, awarded to less than 10% of the wines he tastes, and signifying “outstanding wine in its category.” He found old-vine “flesh apparent even on the nose” with “excellent tension behind” and “a searing chiseled white fruit.” We’d struggle to find a more impressive white Burgundy at this price point.

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Gautheron Chablis VV 2022
bottle price: $32

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The lone Austrian source in our catalog is the Weingut Salomon-Undof, a centuries old domaine overlooking the Danube river. They’re best known for their Grüner Veltliner, a humble grape that’s synonymous with Austrian winemaking. But we’re very fond of their Rieslings – dry, stony, piercing interpretations of the grape that are the perfect defense against a hot muggy summer evening.

Salomon Undhof’s Riesling “Terrassen” is simply beautiful this year. The nose is bright and clean with notes of white stone fruits, lime zest, and a hint of slate. The mouth is pretty and concentrated with dried apple fruits and a lemon-saline finish. There’s an electric, vibrant quality to the wine that makes it refreshing and awfully hard to put down.

Serve with a cool goat cheese salad.

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Salomon-Undhof Riesling “Terrassen” 2022
bottle price: $25

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Climate change has made most winemakers’ jobs more difficult, but in some sectors it’s brought more good than harm. One area basking in the abundant sun these days is the Côte Chalonnaise, a sub-region of Burgundy just south of the Côte d’Or. Vignerons here do have to manage drought, powerful storms, and other new challenges, but the struggle for ripeness is largely a thing of the past.

One of the most exciting towns in the Côte Chalonnaise is Givry, where we’ve worked for many years with the terrifically talented Gautier Desvignes. His excellent 2022s are in our July Futures pre-order, scheduled to arrive this fall. But for those who can’t wait, our new Givry producer’s wines are already in stock. Nicolas Ragot’s wines have made many friends since their introduction earlier this year, and we’re delighted to introduce a third wine today.

Ragot’s Givry 1er cru “Grand Berge” is seriously classy red Burgundy at a remarkably friendly price. It shows refined tannins and a dusty, beautiful fruit profile. The nose is more serious than his village level Givry, and the mouth is fleshier and more complex. Look for notes of violets, cassis, and bursting dark red cherries.

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Ragot Giry 1er “Grand Berge” 2022
bottle price: $45

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Weeknight Burgundy is not an oxymoron. Yes, pricing for the famous names in Burgundy has gone a bit nuts of late – and while the wines have never been better, many cuvées now occupy the “special occasion” tier for most consumers. But we’re happy to report that with legwork and a bit of patience, there’s still value to be found.

The 2022 vintage in Burgundy produced quantity and quality for the first time in years – the wines are low in alcohol, full of ripe fruit and excellent freshness, with terrific concentration and appealing textures. We’ll have several dozen 2022 Burgundies of both colors in next week’s July Futures release – from Bohrmann, Desvignes, Couvent, Giroux and more – but as usual we’re singling out two to highlight early.

Both will offer delicious early drinking, honest Burgundian character, and friendly sub-$30 pricing.

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Bohrmann Bourgogne blanc 2022
This is our fifth vintage buying from Sofie Bohrmann, a domaine in Meursault whose wines we discovered in a Beaune restaurant. Her wines are quietly brilliant, many hailing from well-known vineyards in St-Aubin, Puligny and Meursault. But it’s her outstanding everyday Bourgogne blanc that has become a staple of many readers’ cellars.

From vines near Meursault, this cuvée offers more than a little of the golden, opulent quality of the famous town. The 2022 is simply beautiful, with a sleek core of yellow orchard fruit with lemon peel and minerals. The nose shows very light toast, and the texture is dense and sophisticated. This well outperforms its regional-level billing, and we’d struggle to find a better value white Burgundy in our portfolio.

Ansonia Retail: $456
July Futures: $350/case

 

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Desvignes Givry “Champ la Dame” 2022
Regular readers will know Gautier Desvignes, the humble, friendly, thirtysomething winemaker who has transformed his modest family domaine into a top name in the region. William Kelley writes that Desvignes is “one of the leading lights in the Côte Chalonnaise,” and we wholeheartedly agree. Gautier’s 2022s show a talented winemaker firing in all cylinders.

His village-level Givry “Champ la Dame” is a punchy, characterful, flat out delicious red Burgundy. It bursts with dark Pinot fruit, friendly tannins, and a sturdy core. The 2022s are classic Burgundy, juicy and ripe but with 13.5% alcohol and beautiful, understated detail. This wouldn’t be out of place in the Côte d’Or, and with a humble appellation like Givry on the label, we think provides tremendous value.

Ansonia Retail: $456
July Futures: $350/case

 

To order this wine, email Tom.

Chassagne-Montrachet is a town synonymous with opulence and richness. Its wines combine weight without heaviness – everything you want in a top class white Burgundy – but usually comes with a hefty pricetag. Roger Belland’s Santenay 1er cru “Beauregard” blanc is not quite as complex or long-lived as a Chassagne premier cru, but for half the price it does an admirable impression, and we think it’s a steal.

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 2022 Beauregard blanc is magnificent – real freshness to support the lush fruit, a mix of orchard and citrus. There’s a hint of wood rounding out the concentrated, supple fruit flavors.

Burghound found it “Outstanding,” calling it “opulent yet punchy,” concluding “This is really quite lovely and worth checking out.” White Burgundies under $75 have become harder and harder to find of late, (see our recent expansions in the Maconnais). But this $62 white Burgundy is the real deal – particularly in 2022, we think most blind tasters would easily place it over the border in Chassagne.

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Belland Santenay 1er blanc “Beauregard” 2022
bottle price: $62

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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. Our Sancerre producer, the Domaine de la Garenne, makes several delicious wines – but their flint-heavy cuvée is our favorite.

If you like your Sauvignon Blancs zippy, dry, and mineral, it doesn’t get more exciting than this. Garenne’s “Silex” cuvée (originally called “Infidèle”) is grown in the flint-rich soils that make Sancerre famous. This special terroir produces wines with a distinct smoky element, a perfect foil for the brisk freshness and ripe fruit of Sauvignon Blanc.

In the nose the 2022 Sancerre “Silex” is delicate and lovely — a combination of dry grapefruit, straw, oyster shells, and a hint of gunflint smokiness. In the mouth it’s extraordinary, packed with layers of flinty minerals, notes of chalk, grapefruit and lime rind, and smooth, tension-filled texture. Garenne only makes 200 cases a year — but it’s back in stock and ready for action.

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Garenne Sancerre “Silex” 2022
bottle price: $42

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Pierre Vessigaud is our newest white Burgundy source, and he’s among our most exciting finds in years. A committed, Demeter certified biodynamic vigneron (the highest organic classification), Vessigaud’s wines are extraordinary in their complexity and sophistication. He’s brand new to our portfolio, but his wines have already stolen the show at several Depot tastings.

Vessigaud’s commitment to organic viticulture translates to chardonnay of superb purity and clarity, with vibrant texture and perfect balance. His winemaking style is understated and regal – he uses no new oak in any of his cuvées, opting instead to give the wines long, careful elevages in steel tank and older barrels. As William Kelley puts it, “succulent but serious, any bottle bearing Vessigaud’s label is worth seeking out.”

His Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes cuvée is a combination of twenty plots around the appellation with an average age of 60 years. The wine sees 18 months of elevage (20% in tank, 80% in oak between 7 and 15 years old), and shows terrific balance of fruit, stones, and wood. The nose is expressive and pure, with a hint of exotic fruit joining the classical Chardonnay notes. It’s a remarkable amount of flavor and class packed into a sub-$40 bottle. Serve cool, outside, on a warm summer afternoon.

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Vessigaud Pouilly-Fuissé VV 2022
bottle price: $39

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If you know anything about Margaux, it’s probably about the iconic Chateau Margaux. But there’s lots to the appellation besides the famous First-Growth chateau. Margaux’s sandy, gravel-filled soils produce some of the Left Bank’s most elegant red wines; Jancis Robinson cites their “haunting perfume,” and “silky texture.”

One of our favorite discoveries from Margaux is Chateau Larrieu-Terrefort. We’re not claiming it competes with its famous neighbor, but with Chateau Margaux running $750 per bottle, this sub-$50 cuvée is a comparative bargain. Margaux has exceptional terroir – don’t limit yourself to experiencing it only as a splurge.

This is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, and offers affordable refinement and class. The terrific 2019 vintage is at work here, with perfectly structured tannins and exquisite balance. The nose is sophisticated and pretty with notes of sweet spice and oak; the mouth is fine and long with a delicate balance and very long finish. We had pegged this for the back of the cellar, but opened a bottle at a Depot tasting this month and it was a surprise hit. Throw this into a decanter for an hour and you’ll swear you paid more than you did.

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Chateau Larrieu-Terrefort Margaux 2019
bottle price: $48

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Burgundy’s Côte d’Or produces most of the region’s iconic red wines. They can exquisite, other worldly expressions of Pinot Noir, but they often come pricetags to match their famous appellations. In recent years we’ve found ourselves spending more time in Burgundy’s other corners, in particular the Côte Chalonnaise and the Maconnais – the names are less recognizable, but the bills are much friendlier.

Our latest discovery in this category is Nicolas Ragot, an 8th generation winemaker in the Côte Chalonnaise town of Givry. His pure pinot noir wines are classic and delicious, bursting with inky fruit and beautiful tension. Ragot uses amphora to give his wines an appealing patina and terrific freshness. William Kelley reports “supple, flavorful reds… that still fly under the radar.”

Ragot’s village-level 2022 Givry Vieilles Vignes comes from a small plot with an average vine age of 50 years. Ragot uses 20% whole clusters, and the density of the old vine fruit is apparent and attractive. This is a beautiful introduction to the Ragot style: a deeply perfumed and spiced nose, with perfectly coated tannins and excellent freshness. Serve this all summer long.

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Ragot Givry Vieilles Vignes 2022
bottle price: $39

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