Author: Thomas Wilcox

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2005 Red Burgundies from Michel Gros

The 2005 vintage was about as close to perfect as Burgundy gets. Allen Meadows (Burghound) called it “one of the greatest vintages in the history of modern Burgundy.” Jancis Robinson MW called it a “glorious” and “ revered” vintage; Jasper Morris MW called it “the most uniformly successful vintage I have seen in my career.”

As happens with most great vintages, the 2005s went into hibernation after bottling — over the past fifteen years they’ve shown their intensity and class, but have been missing the richness and complexity you’d expect from great wine.

Today they’re beginning to enter their drinking window. We think it’ll be at least another 5-8 years before the window begins to close, but we’ve decided to let our customers direct their final acts. It’s been a long year — consider treating yourself with something special.

We have two 2005 cuvées from Michel Gros in stock:

 

Michel’s Nuits-St-Georges “Les Chaliots” is from a vineyard on the southern end of the town, not far from the famous “Les St-Georges” vineyard. This is classic Nuits, with rich meatiness, bold intensity, and dark blackberry fruits. Look for cassis, cinnamon, mushrooms, and leather.
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GROS Nuits-St-Georges “Chaliots” 2005:  $125

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The other Nuits-St-Georges cuvée is a blend of four plots near the border with Vosne-Romanée, and this cuvée combines aspects of both villages. There’s the traditional intensity of Nuits-St-Georges, but with an increased layer of Vosne spice and silk. Look for dark berries, earth, pine, and toast.
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GROS Nuits-St-Georges 2005:  $125

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“Golden Fruit, Rippling Intensity:” Premier Cru 2018 White Burgundy

Sofie Bohrmann’s 2018 Bourgogne blanc has been a hit. We increased our order twice over the summer, and now that the wine is here and on readers’ kitchen tables the reviews are pouring in: gorgeous fruit, beautiful tension, remarkable texture and purity for a wine under $40.

Of course Bohrmann’s lineup of White Burgundies only gets better from there. Her premier cru St-Aubin blanc is truly delicious, with all the finesse of the Bourgogne but more depth, more intensity, and more length. In recent years St-Aubin has gone from an overlooked source of value, to a source for serious white Burgundy — one taste of Bohrmann’s St-Aubin and you’ll understand why.

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 “Murgers des Dents de Chiens.” Tucked just over the hill from Montrachet Grand Cru, “Murgers” produces some of St-Aubin’s finest and most perfectly balanced wines.

The 2018 Bohrmann Murgers 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 cru
“Murgers des Dents de Chien” 2018
bottle price: $59

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Smooth, Velvety Pomerol: “Knocks You Off your Feet”

Pomerol is Bordeaux on a Burgundy scale. The small right bank appellation covers less than three square miles, and is home to only 150 winemakers. But the wines of Pomerol are anything but small. In his iconic World Atlas of Wine, Hugh Johnson calls Pomerol “richest, most velvety and instantly appealing form of red Bordeaux.”

Planted in most other locales, Merlot produces soft, flat, undistinguished wines. But in Pomerol, the grape soars, producing some of the world’s most intense and expensive wines. Like Chardonnay in Chablis, Syrah in Côte Rôtie, it’s a persuasive argument for the power of terroir.

Clemence 2016 is classic Pomerol — bold, rich, and smooth. The average vines in the tiny 7 acre vineyard are over 50 years old, and winemaker Christian Dauriac keeps yields low, often near 20 hectolitres per hectare. The result is a mouthfilling wine that ages beautifully.

Decanter’s reviewer Jane Anson found the 2016 “delivering a punch that almost knocks you off your feet with tight black coffee on a hugely concentrated palate with big tannins.” It’s a bold, mouthfilling, wintery wine perfect for a rich stew or a snowstorm.

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Chateau la Clemence Pomerol 2016
bottle price: $99

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Pitch Perfect 9-Year-Old Grower Champagne

The Domaine Jacques Robin is a tiny source in the Côtes des Bar, a southern satellite subregion of Champagne. We’re among their first US importers, and found their wines charming and extremely well priced.

All four of their cuvées are now in stock, but we’re singling out their finest today: the 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. It was disgorged (final corking) a few months ago and is simply magnificent today.

Made from 100% pinot noir, the wine spends 7+ 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 brûlée, 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 — if there’s room in your budget, this wine is simply a delight. It’s been a long year, we recommend treating yourself to some bubbles.

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Robin Champagne “Kimmeridgiènne” 2011
bottle price: $75

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Dark, Cozy Wintery Syrah: New Organic Crozes-Hermitage

With outdoor fun limited and daylight dwindling, we find ourselves indoors more these days. We’ve found a bit of effort toward coziness goes a long way in lifting the mood — candles, Christmas trees, and fragrant baking stews are some of our favorite winter comfort hacks.

Another tool chez nous (no surprise here) are wintery wines. And perhaps no wine better suits the season than the dark, spice-filled Syrahs from the Northern Rhône. We’ve already written about Bonnefond’s exciting VDP Syrah, certainly the best they’ve ever made.

In the same theme we’re excited today to release Denis Basset’s Crozes-Hermitage “Fleur Enchantée” 2018.

Denis Basset is a talented and passionate young winemaker in Crozes-Hermitage, an appellation near the southern end of the Northern Rhône. His pure-Syrah 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. When the weather turns dark and frightful, this is a cozy delight.

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St-Clair Crozes-Hermitage “Fleur Enchantée” 2018
bottle price: $28

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Perfect Everyday White Burgundy: New $25 Unoaked Macon-Villages

The white Burgundies of the Maconnais are some of our favorite expressions of Chardonnay. Grown in a region known as “la France Profonde” (“deep France”), the best cuvées are unoaked, mouthfilling, vibrant, and crisp.

Our source here is Nicolas Maillet, a passionate, animated winemaker whose passion for his work shows through in every glass. His wines are pure chardonnay; he owns no oak barrels, and farms his vineyards organically.

His Pouilly-Fuissé is magnificent; his Macon-Verzé is terrific. Today’s cuvée, his simplest, is humble and charming — a perfect aperitif white Burgundy.

Maillet’s 2019 Macon-Villages has just arrived, and it bursts with classic Maconnais notes. Look for honey, chalk, herbs, and lime zest in the nose. The mouth is smooth and round — it has more richness than in vintages past, but draws its weight from from concentration and purity of fruit rather than oak.

In a warm year, Nicolas has balanced the wine perfectly, with fruit, acid, minerals and texture all working in perfect harmony. Serve this before a meal with goat cheese on crackers. Or a weeknight chicken dish with lemon and mushrooms.

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Maillet Macon-Villages 2019
bottle price: $25

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Dark Chocolate & Black Pepper: New Wintery Syrah

Praise continues to pour in for the Domaine Patrick & Christophe Bonnefond. Their Northern Rhône reds are pure syrah, and display an exquisite balance of texture, fruit, subtlety and depth. The wines continue to improve each year — Josh Raynolds of Vinous declared his tasting this year “the single most impressive set of bottlings I have had here.”

Bonnefond’s Côte Rôties and Condrieus are magnificent — they’re not cheap, but we think they’re worth every penny. But luckily for us the Bonnefonds also make a humble VDP Syrah as well — a way to sample their excellent winemaking at an affordable price.

The 2019 Bonnefond Syrah has just arrived and it’s a delight — dark, spiced, elegant wintery red.

Syrah grown in most of the world is bold, rich, mouthfilling and voluminous. In the Northern Rhône the grape takes on a different style: lower alcohol, less mouthfilling, more spice, more energy. The dark berry complexion remains the same, but with more definition and intricacy.

Bonnefond’s Syrah is classic Northern Rhône. Raynolds awarded 91 points, finding “blueberry, dark chocolate and a hint of black pepper” in the wine, and praising its “good depth and touch of olive.” The bottle we opened this week had a cool berry intensity with notes of smoke, earth, licorice, and plums.

Serve this with lamb stew, or sheep-milk cheese on crackers. It’s a cozy, dark, balanced red for the winter.

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Bonnefond Syrah 2019
bottle price: $25

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“Beautifully Detailed,” “Outstanding” 2018 Premier Cru White Burgundy

Winemaker Thomas Morey is as much a part of Chassagne-Montrachet as the bell tower or the fields of vines — his family has lived in the village since 1643. His father Bernard’s wines were considered a reference point for the town, and Thomas’s reputation has grown steadily since he started his domaine in 2007.

His style is one of precision — the wines show the golden intensity for which Chassagne is known, but Morey’s channels a bit of neighboring Puligny’s neatness and detail. His judicious use of oak and careful vinification mean that his wines are more sophisticated and less showy than other wines from Chassagne.

We’re excited to release his premier cru “Embrazées” today, a magnificent wine full of quiet brilliance.

Morey’s Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru “Embrazées” is located on the southern border of Chassagne. The vines here were planted by Thomas’s grandfather in 1961, and now, well past 50 years old, produce grapes with exceptional complexity and intensity. The name “Embrazées” roughly translates to “aglow” or “aflame,” and the wine indeed glows with a smooth sophistication.

The 2018 Embrazées is beautiful — rich and smooth but with Morey’s signature tension and energy. Jasper Morris awarded 91-94 points, finding “sensual ripe fruit perfume.” Burghound called it “outstanding” and noted its “rich and beautifully detailed flavors.”

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Thomas Morey Chassagne-Montrachet
1er cru “Les Embrazées” 2018
bottle price: $85

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Delicious, Refreshing New 2018 Bourgogne Rouge: $25

Vigneron: The Domaine Ravaut is an old-school Burgundy domaine. Family-run for centuries, they sell much of their wine to local clientele and restaurants, and make delicious, well-priced cuvées (white and red) from humble appellations. The Wine Advocate’s William Kelley recently made his inaugural visit, reporting that he “found plenty to admire,” and calling the 2018 reds lineup “hearty, characterful wines with plenty of stuffing.”

Vintage: The 2018 vintage was among the warmest in a century, and Ravuat’s reds carry the hallmarks of a sunny growing season. The wines show intense ripe fruit, concentrated textures, and pretty notes of spice and earth. Winemaker Vincent Ravaut deftly avoided the overripeness trap set by the vintage, and his signature mineral tension and energy balance these wines beautifully.

Wine: The 2018 Bourgogne rouge bursts with fruit and life. It carries Ravaut’s signature dark intensity, but delivers this on juicy, perfectly ripe red fruit. Look for currants, anise, cinnamon, and earthy violets in the nose. The mouth delivers beautiful texture, with crisp red fruits playing of mouthwatering tannin and a clean distilled finish.

The wine is also a striking bargain. It’s hard to find quality red Burgundy under $30 these days, and this well overperforms its $5/glass pricetag. Pair it with simple chicken thighs with mushrooms and mustard in cream. For everyday red Burgundy, it’s hard to think of a better value.

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Ravaut Bourgogne rouge 2018
bottle price: $25

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Fruit and Earth: Gulpable, Organic 2019 Rhône Red. $19

Côtes du Rhônes are a dime a dozen these days. They’re cheap, plentiful, 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. They drink more like a Gigondas of Vacqueyras than their Côtes du Rhône pricing suggests. And after nearly half a year of being out of stock, we’ve finally got his Séguret back in the warehouse.

Chauvin’s 2019 Séguret is just beautiful. 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 2019
bottle price: $19

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Extraordinary New Meursault-Like White Burgundy under $40

It’s said you can judge a domaine by its simplest wine. Making great wine from a Grand Cru vineyard certainly takes talent, but the raw materials provide a considerable head start. As one vigneron put it to us once, “with the Grand Crus, we just get out of the way.”

But an exceptional regional level wine is a mark of true winemaker skill. And today’s Bourgogne blanc is as good as they come. Sofie Bohrmann’s fancier wines are extraordinary, and worth every penny. But pound for pound, her humble Bourgogne blanc might be her most impressive cuvée.

It’s a buck or two more than some standard Bourgogne blancs (and quite a bit less than those from the big names), but we think it’s a tremendous value, and couldn’t be more excited to release it today.

Domaine Bohrmann isn’t a typical source. Formed in 2002 with just 1.5 hectares of vines, they have no other US importers, zero critical reviews, and a (very) hard-to-reach winemaker. Sofie splits her time between Burgundy and her native Belgium — we’re not sure where she’s been hiding, or why no other American importers have found her. But her wines are simply delicious.

Today’s 2018 Bourgogne blanc comes from 40 year old vines, giving the wine an intense, distilled mouthfeel and excellent length. The nose is chalky, floral, and elegant, and calls to mind Meursault — indeed the vines are not far from the famous town. The mouth bursts with yellow fruit, tension, crème brûlée, sucrocité and depth.

In short, we think this drinks like a $50 white Burgundy from a far fancier appellation. For those in search of white Burgundy value, look no further.

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Bohrmann Bourgogne blanc 2018
bottle price: $35

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Perfect Bistro Bordeaux: New Cru Bourgeois, $5/glass

Vigneron: The Negrier Family is a bit unusual for Bordeaux: a tiny family winery making small-batch, terrific wines from limited terroirs. Nearly all of their wine is sold to local customers who visit the domaine.

Vintage: The 2018 vintage produced rich, excellent reds in Bordeaux. After a rainy start, the growing season was hot and dry, and the resulting wines are bold and muscly, with punch tannins and lots of concentration.

Wine: Made from 50/50 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Moulin de Blanchon is a perfect bistro red — a wine for weeknight consumption without fuss or hassle. The nose shows raspberry jam, tobacco, fresh leather, and forest floor. The mouth is intense and vibrant, punchy and dry — juicy tannins that are enticingly approachable already. The palate is long and inky with fresh fruits and delicate chalky finish.

Pair this with takeout pizza on a winter weeknight. It’s hardly the fanciest wine to come out of Bordeaux, but for an uncomplicated evening it’s a perfect fit.

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Moulin de Blanchon Cru Bourgeois 2018
bottle price: $25

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Nectar of the Northern Rhône: Stunning New 95-pt Condrieu

French winemakers have spent centuries perfecting the ideal marriages of grape and land. Each region has its own match: Pinot Noir in Burgundy, Sauvignon blanc in Sancerre, Merlot in Bordeaux, Grenache in the Rhône, etc.

One particularly happy union is that Viognier and Condrieu, perched on the steep slopes of the Northern Rhône valley. Grown elsewhere, Viognier can be heavy and flat — in Condrieu, it reaches magnificence. We’ve just received our small allocation of the Domaine Bonnefond’s extraordinary 2019 Condrieu, and we’re excited to share it with you today.

Condrieu is a tiny appellation — just over half a square mile of vines. But it produces one of the world’s great white wines, as complex aromatically as it is elegant and mouthfilling on the palate. Bonnefond’s is a masterpiece, achieving soaring balance between minerals, fruit, freshness, aromas and texture.

Josh Raynolds of Vinous was just as enthusiastic. Awarding 95 points, he found it “vibrant,” and “shimmering,” with notes of “fresh nectarine pear, orange and pungent flowers.” He continued, “the mineral note repeats emphatically on a strikingly long, focused finish.”

Condrieu needs only a big glass (our new Crus would be perfect) and a friend to enjoy it with. But if you get hungry, takeout sushi.

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Bonnefond Condrieu 2019
bottle price: $58

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Refreshing, Exuberant Loire Cabernet Franc Returns

The Loire Valley continues to be the epicenter of natural winemaking in France. We’ve found ourselves opening more and more Loire Valley wines recently, whatever the occasion. Organic viticulture, balanced wines, and affordable prices have all become the default in the Loire, a trend we celebrate enthusiastically.

Winemakers Celine and Didier Sanzay are fifth generation growers in Saumur-Champigny in the central Loire. Their reds are pure Cabernet Franc, and fit modern Loire style — small batch, organic, limited oak, concerned with balance and freshness rather than extraction and muscle. They use all wild yeasts, neither fine nor filter, and produce complex, natural expressions of the charming central Loire.

We sold out of their 2018 Saumur red back in the spring, and were delighted to find they still had some available. It arrives back in stock today.

This is exactly what you want Loire Cab Franc to be: pure, joyful, unoaked, and refreshing. Clean, juicy fruits burst from the glass on the nose — think wild cherries and fine gravel. The mouth is clean, fruit forward, inky, and intense, like a juicy Beaujolais with more serious texture.

We think it far outperforms its modest pricetag, and offers a juicy, crackling alternative to your everyday, catch-all Rhône red. Pair with crackers and goat cheese, coq a vin, or a fresh pizza.

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Sanzay Saumur-Champigny 2018
bottle price: $22

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“Perfectly Balanced” & “Mouthwatering”: Delicious 2018 White Burgundy

Burgundies are not getting any cheaper. With limited supply and ever-increasing demand, good values are harder and harder to find. But one Burgundian town that continues to deliver far more than people expect is St-Aubin. And we’re not the only ones to notice.

Rajat Parr writes writes that St-Aubin “produces some of the best-value Chardonnays in the world,” and Jancis Robinson says it “should now be regarded as virtually the equal” of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet.

Our source here is Gérard Thomas, a small family domaine has lived and made wine in St-Aubin since the 1940s. Their 2018s are beautifully balanced —  rich, electric, and bursting with life.

Thomas’s Bourgogne blanc is as good as entry-level white Burgundy gets; their St-Aubin 1er cru “Murgers des Dents de Chien” is elegant, overperforming and classy. Today’s wine is their village-level St-Aubin, sitting beautifully between the two.

Jancis Robinson’s reviewer loved this wine, finding “spicy citrus on the palate and on the nose. Lovely richness of pure lemon and just-ripe apricot fruit perfectly balanced by mouth-watering acidity. Persistent and pure.”

From a warm year and a terrific domaine, this unusually good value white Burgundy for under $50.

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Thomas St-Aubin 2018
bottle price: $42

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