Author: Thomas Wilcox

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Exquisite New Bourgogne Blanc from Meursault

Vincent Boyer is among the most talented of our winemakers, and his family owns some the Côte d’Or’s finest white wine terroir. With his increasing recognition and impressive critical scores, you might expect him to be content with the renown he has achieved. But Vincent is an innovator.

He’s adopted a longer aging process — one year in neutral wood barrels, and then another year in concrete eggs — and has converted nearly his entire vineyard surface to organics. His already impressive wines have improved across the board, and we predict their upward trajectory will only continue.

Today we’re excited to release his Bourgogne blanc for the first time — humble in classification only.

Boyer is best known for his delicious Meursault and Puligny cuvées, which rank among some of most impressive Burgundies of either color in our cellar. For years we’ve brought in his Bourgogne-Aligoté, a delicious, affordable wine made with Burgundy’s other white grape. But we’re excited at last to have his entry-level Chardonnay in stock.

The 2018 Bourgogne is as serious as Bourgogne blanc gets — it shows the classiness and polish typical of Vincent’s skill, but with less complexity and a friendlier pricetag. The nose is clean and fresh, with barely a whisper of oak alongside the baked lemon fruit. The mouth is concentrated and intense — far deeper than a typical Bourgogne blanc — with excellent density, a fine, chalky finish.

Another example of top notch winemaking from modest terroir.

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Boyer-Martenot Bourgogne blanc 2018
bottle price: $36

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Bold, Vibrant New 2018 Michel Gros Bourgogne. $34

The 2018 vintage was a hot one across France, and in Burgundy it produced bold wines with broad shoulders and impressive density. The wines may be light on Burgundy’s signature elegance and precision, but they more than make up for it with gusto and pluck.

Great winemakers make excellent wines from even the humblest terroir. Michel Gros is famous for his fine, high-end red Burgundies, and we can’t recommend them enough. But for everyday enjoyment, Gros’s simpler wines show the class of much fancier bottles.

Gros’s Bourgogne 2018 is bold, muscly and delicious. It’s richer than usual — lots of dark smoky fruit over present nicely integrated tannins. There’s far more complexity here than most reds at the Bourgogne level. Look for raspberry and plum, and an earthy, complex palate. Vinous found “bright red cherry, bilberry and light black olive” with “chalky tannins” and “vivid blueberry and strawberry fruit.”

We expect Gros’s 2018s to make lots of friends over the coming years. But this one requires no patience, with its juicy texture and dense, mouth filling fruit. Gros’s fancier wines are certainly worth your time, but for an entry level red Burgundy, it doesn’t get classier than this.

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Gros Bourgogne 2018
bottle price: $34

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Pantry Restock: $16 Côtes du Rhône Returns

We’re big fans of “pantry pasta.” You know the type — al dente spaghetti, parmesan, garlic, olive oil, butter, and some combination of pepper flakes, anchovy, lemon, etc. Sometimes we love spending hours in the kitchen working on a multistep gustatory masterpiece — other times, we make this.

And today we’re suggesting this dish’s vinous equivalent — Goubert’s Côtes du Rhône. It’s gulpable, crowd-pleasing (remember dinner parties?), and delightfully affordable. The 2019 is as good as it’s ever been — a warm year with generous richness and excellent texture.

At $3.20 a glass, you’ll probably spend more on the parmesan for your pasta.

A Côtes du Rhône should be three things: refreshing, dark, and inexpensive. Goubert’s is all three. The relatively low alcohol, keeps it fresh and lively on the palate. The blend of six grapes classic Rhône grapes forms a rich, hearty, dark wine. And it’s inexpensive enough to pull out at a moment’s notice.

Winemaker Florence Cartier has improved this cuvée perhaps more than any other since she took over a few years ago. The nose is expressive and surprisingly refined, showing dark wild cherries, raspberries, and a hint of menthol. The mouth is both jammy and refreshing, with notes of white pepper, licorice, raspberry and plums.

It’s a by-the-glass wine for your kitchen, something to enjoy before and during your meal. When your eyes glaze over from too much Zooming, give this a try.

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Goubert Côtes du Rhône 2019
bottle price: $16

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Beautiful New Chassagne-Montrachet from a Master

Winemaker Caroline Lestimé is a remarkable talent. For over thirty years she has steered her family’s prestigious winery Domaine Jean-Noël Gagnard to new heights. She strikes a delicate balance between tradition and innovation, converting to organic viticulture a decade ago, but continuing to produce rich, classic cuvées from Chassagne-Montrachet.

Much of the Côte de Beaune has experienced devastating spring frosts over the last six years, with some growers losing 75% of their crop before the summer even begins. Caroline has combated these losses by establishing a small “negociant” business, buying grapes from other growers and vinifying the wine herself.

We always knew she was a great winemaker, but these two cuvées really show off her skill in the cellar.

We’re excited to introduce our first wine from the Maison Caroline Lestimé — a village-level Chassagne-Montrachet from “Champ Derrière.” From a small plot at the edge of the village, Caroline has produced an excellent Chassagne cuvée — it’s sophisticated and smooth, with admirable freshness given the warm year.

The nose is dry and serious, with notes of white pepper, pear, white tea and coconut. The mouth is similarly dry, with excellent thickness and a savory, saline finish. It’s a sophisticated cuvée, made by a masterful winemaker. Serve it with a fine dish, like Blanquette de Veau.

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Lestimé Chassagne-Montrachet
“Champ Derrière” 2018
bottle price: $85

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Reliably Outstanding: Wintery 2017 Gigondas from Goubert

The Domaine les Goubert is among the most consistent winemakers in our portfolio. No matter the vintage – warm or cool, sunny or wet, easy or difficult — the Goubert wines are reliably outstanding. The winemakers allow the vintage to influence the character of the wine, but never the quality.

A case in point is their excellent 2017. The vintage was problematic for Grenache in the Southern Rhône, and many cuvées rely more heavily than usual on Syrah. At Goubert in 2017, winemaker Florence Cartier decided to eschew barrels — the Syrah grape picks up oak notes more quickly, and she wanted to preserve the lovely floral fruit.

The resulting cuvée is distinct and as delicious as ever. We’ve stocked this vintage for over a year, and it just continues to get better.

Goubert’s 2017 Gigondas is perfect wine for cold weather. It’s rich and mouthfilling, showing far more intensity and depth than you expect from a sub-$30 bottle. The syrah provides elegant violets, laid over a muscular, black-fruit intensity that carries through a long and beautifully balanced finish. The last year in the bottle has done wonders, smoothing and melding the flavors into something sophisticated and delicious.

The Wine Advocate awarded 90-92 points, finding “raspberry and stone fruit,” and suggesting a drinking window of 2020-2030. Goubert doesn’t get caught up in fads or winemaking trends, and they’re not reinventing the winemaking wheel. They turn out solid, reliably delicious red wine that drinks well above its price point.

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Goubert Gigondas 2017
bottle price: $29

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Delicious New 2018 Red Burgundy from Michel Gros. $36

The Domaine Michel Gros is best known for its magnificent red Burgundies from famous towns in the Côte de Nuits. But for decades the domaine has also farmed a wide swath of vines in the hills to the west of “la Côte.” The neighborhood isn’t quite as posh and the terroir not quite as perfect, but the “Hautes-Côtes,” as they’re called, have long provided excellent value.

In recent years, this investment has proved Buffet-esque in its precience. Perched a full hundred meters higher in elevation than the rest of Burgundy, grapes in the Hautes-Côtes ripen on average a week later. In recent scorching summers this extra time has given them a real advantage in the search for freshness and balance, allowing grapes to achieve skin (phenolic) ripeness without also meaning over-ripeness of sugars.

Gros makes three excellent cuvées from the Hautes-Côtes, and today we’re suggesting the 2018 “Au Vallon.”

The “Au Vallon” cuvée comes from a south-facing plot of vines, which get excellent sun exposure. The very hot, dry summer in 2018 produced excellent ripeness nearly everywhere in Burgundy, and only careful vignerons were able to find balance. Gros succeeded beautifully — Jasper Morris MW called this cuvée “a bundle of energy,” with a “fresh and exciting nose, ripe clean fruit.”

The nose shows raspberry, cherry and cassis, with a hint of anise. The mouth is juicy and rich, with great freshness, notes of cocoa powder and raspberry, and Gros’s signature polish and class. It’s gourmand rather than gourmet — fruit, earth and energy all in perfect harmony.

Serve this with chicken in a creamy mustard sauce.

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Gros Hautes-Côtes “Au Vallon” 2018
bottle price: $36

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Easy, Juicy, Smooth: New $16 Côtes-du-Rhône

Some of the wines in our portfolio are “high-maintenance.” Pricey Burgundies require patience, timing, careful food pairing, and decanting to realize their potential. In the right context, they’re extraordinary — but to a more casual drinker, they might be described as “fussy.”

Today’s wine is the opposite. It’s a simple, well-made southern Rhône blend. It makes humble promises and doesn’t disappoint. There’s a place in the world for extraordinary wine that stops you in your tracks; but there’s also a place for a straightforward, easygoing glass.

Today’s wine is easy, smooth, and tasty. And it’s a bargain.

We’re thrilled to welcome the Coulange Cuvée Mistral back into stock. Made from an 80/20 blend of Grenache and Syrah, it’s pure southern fruit — no oak, no earthiness. Even for the ever-sunny Southern Rhône Valley, the 2019 growing season was unusually hot and dry. The resulting wines burst with ripe fruit and juicy textures. They may not hold up well over the long term, but they’re a delight today.

In the nose the 2019 Mistral shows fresh spring flowers, with strawberry jam, roses, and violets. The mouth is right and smooth; not long or complicated, with a soft finish. Serve it with burgers, stir fry, pizza, or a hearty salad. Don’t overthink it and it won’t let you down.

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Coulange Mistral 2019
bottle price: $16

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[Advance Order] Outstanding New 2018 Chianti Classico, $250/case

French wines have long been the focus of the Ansonia portfolio. Of the 45 winemakers we work with, about half are from Burgundy, and all but a few are French. Our longtime exception to this rule is the Fattoria Poggerino.

Poggerino’s wines are all pure sangiovese — dark, delicately balanced expressions of an intense, powerful grape. We’ve worked with Poggerino for almost 15 years, but recently their star has risen dramatically. In his recent book Rajat Parr calls their wines “some of the purest expressions of [Sangiovese] in Italy.”

As usual, the entire Poggerino lineup will appear in next Sunday’s January Futures release. But we’re singling one of our favorites out today to review in a bit more detail.

Poggerino’s 2018 Chianti Classico bursts with intensity and energy. It’s at once expansive and well defined — it shows strawberry jam, anise, and a pleasant dustiness on the nose. The ripe fruit carries seamlessly across the palate, which is pleasantly mouth filling — but neither hot nor flabby — and the tannins are fine-grained and attractive. Look for notes of cherries and dried roses. This is beautifully made wine without pretense, and it is a remarkable value.

We seem to say this often, but once again we found this among the finer vintages of Chianti Classico that Poggerino has made. The Riserva, a few magnums, and a surprise new wine will be included in the January Futures. We’ve reserved a bunch of this wine, but it’s among our most popular, so readers interested are encouraged to reserve.

If you’ve got Poggerino in your cellar already, this vintage is an excellent opportunity for replenishing your stock. And if you’re new to the wine, Futures offers a discounted way to try it out.

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Poggerino Chianti Classico 2018

Ansonia retail: $300
January Futures: $250/case

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Electric New Dry Riesling from Mosel Valley

Riesling still has an image problem. Among sommeliers and wine professionals, the grape is lauded for its value, its ability to communicate terroir, and its ability to age. But many wine drinkers still associate it with a sweet, insipid style of wine with little balance and no complexity.

Their bad rap is partially deserved — cheap sweet Rieslings and extremely confusing labels cause many wine drinkers to throw up their hands and avoid them entirely. But these chronically overlooked wines are some of the best values in our cellar. If you’ve got $20 and a willingness to change your mind, we’ve got a wine for you.

Weingut Franz Dahm is in Bernkastel, an ancient town perched on the steep banks of the Mosel River. Dahm’s vines are located next to the famous Bernkasteler Doctor vineyard, considered among the best in Germany. Today’s wine is a bone-dry riesling from 2014.

The nose is bright and stony with notes of lime rind, slate, dried melon, and saffron. The mouth is exquisitely dry, with a Muscadet-like core and pleasant notes of smoke and faintly browned apple. It’s drier and crisper than most of the white Burgundy we import, and at 9.5% alcohol, it’s the lightest wine in our cellar. Pair it with sushi or other raw seafood like oysters or scallops.

If you’re a dry Riesling fan, this is a classic. If your cellar’s full of Sancerre, Chablis, or Muscadet, you might make a bit of room for this one.

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Dahm Mosel Riesling Kabinett trocken 2014
bottle price: $19

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Superb, Inky Red Burgundy under $30

Vigneron:  Gautier Desvignes took over his family domaine just a few years ago, but his arrival is already having an impact. He’s rebuilt his winery, replanted with new clones, and tightened up the fermenting and bottling regime. In the last two years Vinous and the Wine Advocate have arrived, calling his wines “superb,” “succulent,” and one of the region’s “five emerging talents to watch.”

Appellation:  Gautier believes his family’s terroir in Givry is undervalued. For centuries the vignerons of the Côte Chalonnaise planted for quantity over quality. Today a new generation of winemakers has begun to replant and implement modern winemaking, and the power and subtleties of Givry’s terroir has emerged.

Wine:  Perhaps no wine in the Desvignes lineup has improved more than their village-level Givry. In 2018, the richness of the vintage pushes the wine to new depths, matching beautifully with Gautier’s deft touch. It’s delicious today, showing cherries, roses, briary berries, and earth. The clean, fine tannins present the young Pinot fruit with precision and grace.

Pairing:  A bistro classic — Skirt Steak and Cold-Oil Fries

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Desvignes Givry 2018
bottle price: $29

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Smooth, Earthy, Wintery 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 2018 has just arrived and it’s delightful, dense and gorgeous. 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 oak.

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. Serve on a wintery weeknight.

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Goubert Beaumes-de-Venise 2018
bottle price: $22

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Brilliant New Old-Vine Sauvignon Blanc. $22

Winemaker Frederic Michot is as brisk and energetic as his wines. He talks (and drives) fast, and sports the same no-nonsense attitude found in a glass of his Pouilly-Fumé: pure Sauvignon blanc, no oak, clean and crisp.

Michot’s side of the river may be less famous than his neighbor Sancerre, but he isn’t willing to concede it any advantage. His wines are exceptional Sauvignon blancs, full of precision, focus, clean dry fruit, and beautiful tension.

Sancerre deserves its fame and acclaim; but Pouilly-Fumé is its scrappy underdog cousin, with just as much to offer, and at a better price.

Michot’s Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes is refreshing, unoaked, mouthfilling and utterly delicious. His 2019 old vine cuvée has just arrived — even in a sunny vintage Michot has managed to capture a bursting tension underneath the gorgeous fruit. There’s lots of inexpensive Sauvignon Blanc around — most of it isn’t half this good.

The nose shows mango, grapefruit rind, and straw; the mouth shows ripe grapefruit, lime rind, and honey. The wine is at once mouthfilling and electric, with the persistence of richness and freshness found in finest Sancerre.

It’s perfect for seafood: shrimp pasta, pan seared scallops, broiled haddock, etc. Or if fruits de mer aren’t your thing, try a glass with goat cheese on a crusty piece of French bread.

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Michot Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes 2019
bottle price: $22

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Back in Stock: Bold, Muscular 2017 Red Burgundy

Winemaker: Where much red Burgundy tends towards subtleness and finesse, the Varoilles style is noticeably more intense. They harvest relatively late, and use a long cold soak to extract loads of flavor and texture from their grapes.

Appellation: Varoilles is best known (and deservedly so) for their terrific village-level and premier cru Gevrey-Chambertins. They only began making a Bourgogne-level wine two years ago, but it’s an exciting addition to their lineup.

Wine: The nose is big and spicy, with briary blackberry fruit, notes of woods, cinnamon, and a hint of ginger. The mouth is bold and smooth with a solid texture laid under intense masculine fruit.

Suggestions: No need to cellar this — as with all 2017 red Burgundies, it’s chewy, juicy, approachable and delightful. Pair it with roasted meats (duck, if you can find, or a roasted chicken on a Sunday afternoon.

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Varoilles Bourgogne 2017
bottle price: $42

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“Bottled Coziness:” Bold, Mouthfilling 2015 Gigondas

Some wines are esoteric — subtly funky Burgundies; oxidative Jura whites; dessert wines made from moldy grapes, skin-contact orange wines, etc. Like a Rothko canvas or a Philip Glass composition, these wines are best understood with some context.

Other wines offer more straightforward enjoyment: uncomplicated hedonistic pleasure. And today’s wine is firmly in the second camp. The Domaine les Goubert is among our most popular producers, and the special Gigondas “Cuvée Florence” is their finest wine. It’s not subtle or traditional, but it’s pure, cozy delight — and sometimes, after a long day (or year), that’s just what we need.

That’s not to say the wine lacks complexity. The 2015 Florence blew tasters away at a Zoom tasting we did last month, and the longer it’s open the more its complexity builds. Made from 50/50 Grenache and Syrah, the wine spends several years in oak barrels, developing depth and spiciness.

Today the 2015 is coziness in a bottle — the nose shows stewed raspberry jam, thyme, and a hint of lavender. The mouth is intensely concentrated, with a chewy blend of chocolate, plum, blueberry jam, and pan drippings. The finish is long, with a dose of wood that should carry this wine for many years.

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Goubert Gigondas “Florence” 2015
bottle price: $52

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Rich, Mouthfilling Grower Champagne under $10/glass

We’re excited about our newest source for grower Champagne: the Domaine Jacques Robin. Robin is in the Côtes des Bar, a sub-region of Champagne located near Chablis and known for its Pinot Noir-heavy cuvées. All four of their wines are well priced, easy to like, and hard to put down.

Today’s Champagne cuvée from Robin is 100% Pinot Noir, grown in soils with more clay than the rest of Champagne. The resulting wines sport a broader, richer palate than many Champagnes from further north. It’s gourmand rather than gourmet — rich, welcoming, and mouthfilling.

Robin’s “Secret de Sorbée,” pure Pinot Noir from a single terroir. It’s fermented partially in barrel and left on the lees for over two years. The resulting wine is toasty and fresh with lovely apple fruit and floral notes. The Guide Hachette awarded a star, and called it “at once round and tart,” with a “pleasant, intense fruit expression.”

At a bottle price under $50 this is delicious grower Champagne that won’t break the bank. Whether you’re toasting the end of 2021, the start of 2021, or just need an elegant glass of wine the end of a long day on Zoom, here’s a perfect companion.

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Robin Champagne Secret de Sorbée NV
bottle price: $49

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