Author: Thomas Wilcox

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A Masterpiece in Chñteauneuf-du-Pape: “Uniformly Outstanding”

There’s no better match for wintery weather than Chñteauneuf-du-Pape. The best Chñteauneufs all contain a splash of southern sunlight, combining the region’s rugged, sunbaked earthiness with rich, mouthfilling fruit.

On the 2016 vintage, Josh Raynolds of Vinous wrote recently: “If exuberant ripe fruit, harmonious tannins and an overall impression of generosity and lushness are what you’re after 
 then 2016 has plenty to offer. But the best wines also display real energy, making this a standout vintage.”

Today’s 2016 ChĂąteauneuf-du-Pape comes from one of the appellation’s foremost producers. Jacqueline AndrĂ© tends her ancient 140-year-old vines with the care and attentiveness of a loving parent. The original organic and biodynamic domaine in ChĂąteauneuf, André’s wines are a standard for elegance and clarity.

Even from a warm vintage with perfectly ripe fruit and rich deep material, Jacqueline André’s wines retain vibrancy and life. She’s a master of balance, a consistent quality in her wines she attributes to biodynamic viticulture, and careful choice of harvest dates.

André’s 2016 ChĂąteauneuf-du-Pape is a masterpiece. Though it’s lush, intense, and enormous, it achieves it all without becoming flat or dry. Look for notes of plum, licorice, raspberry jam, and tapenade in the nose — the mouth is dense and extremely long, with bold flavors of cherry jam and wood bolstered by rich, voluptuous tannins.

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André Chùteauneuf-du-Pape 2016
bottle price: $58

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Dazzling New Unoaked 2018 White Burgundy. $25

The 2018 vintage was a warm one in Burgundy. The grapes were ripe and full, and the harvest began in September in 86 degree heat. We visited France around harvest time in 2018, and wondered aloud whether the wines would be warm and missing balance.

At least in the Maconnais, we needn’t have worried. The whites may be fleshier than usual, but, particularly at naturally-inclined domaines, they’re blessed with a delightful freshness and zip. Master of Wine Christy Canterbury wrote of the 2018 vintage, “I’ve never tasted so many enticing MĂąconnais wines.”

Our Maconnais source is Nicolas Maillet, an extremely talented winemaker with a passion for organic viticulture. His 2018 Macon-Villages has arrived and it’s a stunner — pure classic Chardonnay, with no oak to obscure the gorgeous, perfectly pure golden fruit.

This makes a persuasive case for the new best-value white Burgundy in our cellar. The nose is explosive and charming, with white flowers, honey, lime and herbs. The mouth is round and smooth with an electric core of tension. Serve this on its own or with comté on crackers.

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Maillet Macon-Villages 2018
bottle price: $25

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2017 Michel Gros Bourgogne: “Supple, Round, and Delicious”

Experienced collectors often say that Burgundy’s best values come from a great winemaker’s simpler wines. Today’s winemaker, Michel Gros, is world famous for his exquisite, high-end red Burgundies – several older vintages of his finer cuvĂ©es are listed here.

But Gros also makes some “petits vins,” and none is more delightful or approachable than his Bourgogne rouge. In Burgundy the 2017 vintage brought bountiful quantities, healthy grapes, plenty of sun. The reds feature ripe fruit and relatively low acidities, and the resulting wines are accessible and delicious.

Gros’s always-pleasant Bourgogne is even more so in 2017 — a sub-$35 red Burgundy that drinks far above its class.

Gros’s Bourgogne 2017 is refined, juicy, toasty, and polished. There’s far more complexity here than most reds at the Bourgogne level. Look for silky tannins, notes of raspberry and plum, and an earthy, complex palate. Burghound found a “fresh and distinctly earthy nose,” and called it “supple, round and delicious.”

All of our 2017 Red Burgundies are delicious — the French call them “restaurant wines,” a reference to their abundance, approachability, and charm. But Gros’s 2017 Bourgogne rouge adds an extra level of class. Most was reserved through Futures — the last few cases are available today.

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Gros Bourgogne 2017
bottle price: $32

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Velvety 2015 Pomerol: Merlot at its Finest

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 landmark 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 worlds most intense and expensive wines. Like Chardonnay and Chablis, Syrah and Cîte Rîtie, it’s a persuasive argument for the power of terroir.

This spring we discovered an excellent new source in Pomerol, and one offering surprising value. The 2015 Feytit-Lagrave Pomerol impressed us with its depth and polish. At 80% Merlot (the rest is Cabernet Franc), the wine is very Pomerol: generous, rich, and round, with an attractive mouthfeel. The nose offers ripe dark fruit, cassis and blackberries.

The 2015 vintage produced legendary wines on the Right Bank of Bordeaux, and this Pomerol will certainly improve for a decade or more. But today it opens steadily in the glass over a half-hour, offering earlier drinking than you might expect. Pair it with a roast — duck, beef tenderloin, grilled steaks — something to match the hearty, audacious spirit of Pomerol.

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Feytit-Lagrave Pomerol 2015
bottle price: $55

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Perfect Grower Champagne under $50

Amid Champagne’s glitz and glamour, winemaker Pascal Bardoux stands out. His cuvĂ©es are quietly exceptional — his tasting room is his small untidy office, where we taste slowly and thoughtfully from an old beat-up leather sofa. “Le marketing” is nowhere to be seen.

And Bardoux’s wines, humble and delicious, are comparative bargains. Much mass-market Champagne that gets to the US fetches between $75 and $100 a bottle; Bardoux’s small-batch Brut Traditionnel doesn’t even crack $50 — twice the wine at half the price.

The Guide Hachette calls Bardoux’s non-vintage brut cuvĂ©e, “a champagne for all occasions.”

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

We can’t recommend this wine highly enough. There’s plenty of opportunity to enjoy Champagne as we close out the decade this month. But it’d be a shame to limit yourself to just the celebratory moments. Try pairing with sushi, creamy cheese (Delice de Bourgogne or Brillat-Savarin for example), or gougùres.

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Bardoux Champagne Brut Traditionnel NV
bottle price: $49

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“Why is this so drinkable?”: Superb Declassified 2014 Gevrey-Chambertin

This April, during a tasting at Domaine des Varoilles with owner Gilbert Hammel, he left the room suddenly, saying “I think I have something you might be interested in.” He returned with a bottle of 2014 Gevrey-Chambertin, but a cuvĂ©e we didn’t recognize from his price list or vineyard map.

He explained it was a special cuvĂ©e made from slightly younger vines in one of his famous premier crus. This mystery cuvĂ©e was dynamite in the glass — floral, open, serious but accessible. (One line in our notes from April says simply, “why is this so drinkable?”) And when Monsieur Hammel finally quoted the price, we knew we had a find.

The Gevrey Chambertin 1er cru “Les Moniales” comes from vines in “Clos des Varoilles,” a large premier cru vineyard that dates to the 12th century. The name “Moniales” (“nuns”) refers to the domaine’s main building, originally a convent centuries ago. Hammel separated the slightly younger (still 40+ year old) vines from his vineyard in 2014, and dialed back the extraction.

The result is a cuvĂ©e with less tannin, perhaps less future, and a 25% discount from the regular Clos des Varoilles. At $65, we think it’s a bargain, and one you can enjoy today. The nose shows deep cherry spice, licorice, and earth, with perfectly integrated oak and cherry fruit leather. The mouth presents dark, fine tannins, and juicy, mouth-staining, inky fruit. It finishes with cinnamon, black pepper, and spice: rugged and refined, masculine and concentrated.

At most other domaines this would be a top grade Gevrey: old-vines, bold, classic terroir, a superb vintage. At Varoilles, it’s their declassified cuvĂ©e with junior-varsity pricing. Lucky us…

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Varoilles Gevrey-Chambertin
1er cru “Moniales” 2014
bottle price: $65

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Pouilly-Fuissé Returns at Last: New Style, New Status

Pouilly-Fuissé was once the darling of American wine drinkers. Fun to pronounce, rich and voluptuous in texture, it was among the first high-end French wines to gain wide appeal in the US.

Popularity bred overproduction, and quality suffered in the 80s. But in the last few decades local winemakers have begun to reclaim the wine, controlling balance and elevating quality. Nicolas Maillet, our source in the Maconnais, has taken this development to an extreme.

His exceptional Pouilly-FuissĂ© was once the only white in his lineup raised in any oak, but beginning last year he has eliminated oak for this one too. When we asked him about his decision to omit oak from the winemaking, he explained it simply: “I realized the wine is good enough without oak; it doesn’t need it. So why add it?”

Maillet’s Pouilly-FuissĂ© vines are from an extraordinary plot: vines planted in 1945, from one of a handful of terroirs recently elevated to Premier Cru status. (The new status will appear on the label beginning in 2017.) Longtime readers may remember the now-retired Michel Forests’s excellent “Sur la Roche” cuvĂ©e — Maillet’s vines are from the same vineyard.

One taste of this wine and we think you’ll agree: it’s not missing anything. The terroir gives extraordinary complexity on its own — baked lemon, minerals, flowers, and herbs melt into a gorgeous and pulsating texture. The nose is expressive and delicate; the mouth is startlingly long.

But, as with everything else graced by the “Maillet touch,” the balance is impeccable: acidity, richness, length and aromatics all in perfect harmony. It’s elegant, polished, sophisticated white Burgundy; and an overperforming one under $40.

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Maillet Pouilly-Fuissé 2016
bottle price: $38

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8-Year-Old Pauillac: a “Gem” from Bordeaux’s Left Bank

The famous wine writer Hugh Johnson once wrote, “If one had to single out one commune of Bordeaux to head the list, there would be no argument. It would be Pauillac.” Best known for its three superstar chateaux – Latour, Lafite-Rothschild, and Mouton-Rothschild — Pauillac also offers excellent, less famous wines from its storied terroir.

Decanter’s Jane Anson calls Andrien Lagneaux one of “the last little guys of Pauillac.” Indeed his property is tiny — a mere 3000 bottles from just over an acre of vines — but the quality is exceptional. Lagneaux’s high percentage of Merlot (80%) makes it smoother and less austere at this stage than many other wines from the town.

Anson calls Lagneaux’s 2011 Pauillac, “rich, intense, powerful,” and “sexy.” For lovers of Bordeaux, it’s a rare hidden gem from an iconic town.

On a tip from an Ansonia reader with a few bottles in his cellar, we opened this last week and found it has developed gorgeously. The nose is ripe and very deep, with a melange of ripe raspberry, plum, iodine, earth and minerals. The mouth is dense, inky and rich, with juicy plum fruit and a cool woodsiness.

We expect this to age well for another decade or more — it’s dense wine and certainly built to stand the test of time. Give it an hour in a carafe to stretch out its legs. To be clear, Chateau Lafite this is not. But at $780 a bottle, Lafite is 11 times the price, and we’re not sure it’s eleven times better.

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Lagneaux Ă  Pauillac 2011
bottle price: $72

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Honey, Flowers, and Green Tea: Crozes-Hermitage Blanc Returns

For many years at the start of every tasting, Rhîne winemaker Denis Basset would give us small taste of his only white. “Just to set the palate,” he’d explain, before continuing on to his rich, syrah-based reds. The white was always lovely — floral and fresh, beautifully expressive, and a perfect way to start a tasting.

And every year, when we asked how much we could buy, he’d smile and shake his head — already all spoken for. Our allocation has only recently grown enough that we have any left over after futures, and we’re excited to have a few cases of the excellent 2018 available today.

RhĂŽne whites are exotic, unusual, and simply delicious — this $25 Crozes blanc is as impressive (and as well priced) as they come.

Denis Basset runs the Domaine Saint-Clair, which he started several years ago after spending the first decade of his working life in the family’s flower business. He has rapidly gained confidence and acclaim; both Decanter and the Guide Hachette have listed him in a dynamic new generation of Crozes-Hermitage winemakers.

Basset’s white is a Rousanne-Marsanne blend (70/30), in the style of a classic northern Rhîne. The nose is soft and enveloping, with tropical notes of mango, pineapple, and green tea. The mouth is rich and round, but well balanced, showing nectarine and honey notes. There’s so much exotic fruit in the nose you almost expect this to be sweet, but the mouth finishes cool and soft and dry.

This is a perfect winter white wine, with bright citrus to match rich foods, but a cozy, mouthcoating softness that makes it hard to put down. Serve some with a salty triple cream cheese and crusty bread.

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Saint Clair Crozes-Hermitage blanc 2017
bottle price: $25

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Dark, Woodsy CĂŽte de Nuits: Delightful 2017 Red Burgundy

Winemaker:   The Domaine Ravaut is the ultimate local wine source. For 120 years the family has cultivated a loyal clientele of friends, neighbors, and workers at the stone quarry in their tiny hamlet of Ladoix. Today winemaker Vincent Ravaut still sells over half their wine to folks who walk in the front door.

Appellation:   Ladoix sits on the border between the Cîte de Nuits and Cîte de Beaune, and the Ravaut’s farm vines on both sides. Today’s Cîtes de Nuits-Villages is unmistakably from north of the border. The fruits are darker and more briary, with a hint of woodsy animal character from nearby Nuits-St-Georges.

Wine:   Like most of the 2017 red Burgundys, this is simply delightful young wine. It’s ripe and punchy with attractive, crackling tannins and a pleasant mineral finish. Jancis Robinson found “enjoyable redcurrant juiciness,” and “fine, balanced tannins.”

Pairing:   Serve this fruit-forward refreshing red with seared tuna for a terrific (if not perhaps traditional) match. For classicists, go with game, mushrooms, duck, or other wintery meats.

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Ravaut CĂŽte de Nuits-Villages 2017
bottle price: $36

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Perfectly Mature Red Burgundy: 8-Year-Old Morey-St-Denis

These days cellaring wine has become a rarity. Not all wines are meant to age, and indeed the wine world’s style continues to shift toward early maturity. But for wine that rewards patience, the transformation of bottle aging is nothing short of magic.

Today we’re suggesting 2011 Morey-St-Denis 1er cru “Millandes” from Jean-Louis Amiot — it’s proof that ageworthy wine doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Located about ten yards from the famous Grand Cru Clos de la Roche, Millandes is a premier cru that always punches above its weight, but that also needs a few years to reach its potential.

Patience may be a virtue, but in this case someone else has already done the work.

This lot of 2011 Millandes comes with impeccable provenance — it just arrived a few months ago from Morey-St-Denis, having spent the last eight years resting peacefully in the cellar where it was bottled. Burghound awarded 90 points, finding it “delicious, balanced and solidly persistent,” and predicted it would be perfectly mature beginning in 2019.

We think his timing prediction is spot on. Today it’s bursting with dry fruit and secondary flavors — think woodsy notes like tobacco, leather, plums, morel mushrooms, and well worn leather. It’s in an excellent drinking window — carafe for fifteen minutes after opening (not longer).

Serve this with pan seared duck breasts and potatoes in duck fat.

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Amiot Morey-St-Denis
1er cru “les Millandes” 2011
bottle price: $75

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A Favorite Returns: Golden, Shimmering Unoaked White Burgundy. $28

Of all the white Burgundy we import, none is a purer expression of Chardonnay than Nicolas Maillet’s classic Maconnais cuvĂ©es. If the CĂŽte d’Or offers Burgundies of pedigree and refinement, then the Maconnais offers Burgundies of vibrancy and joy.

Maillet takes this idea one step further with biodynamics, vinifying his wines with only indigenous yeasts and a slow, months-long fermentation. The resulting wines show extraordinary complexity and purity. Fruit and flowers dominate the palate, with gorgeous texture and long, supple mouthfeels.

Three new Maillet cuvĂ©es arrive in our warehouse today: 2018 Villages, 2017 VerzĂ©, and 2016 Pouilly-FuissĂ©. All are excellent, but today we’re focusing on the VerzĂ©.

Maillet’s 2017 Macon-VerzĂ© took an astonishing ten months to finish fermentation. Most other winemakers (including his professional oenolog) would have pitched yeast, warmed the tanks, or otherwise catalyzed the fermentation — not Nicolas Maillet. “This one’s taking its time,” he told us calmly when we visited mid-fermentation. “It will get there when it gets there.”

We’re pleased to report that Maillet was right, and the resulting cuvĂ©e among the best he’s made. It’s simply gorgeous unoaked Chardonnay: white flowers and green tea in the nose, with tangerine, pear, and honey in the mouth. The Wine Advocate’s William Kelley awarded 90 points, calling it “satiny and tensile,” with “a ripe core of fruit.”

Drink this pure, golden white Burgundy with on its own or with appetizers — it’s a scene stealer in just about any context.

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Maillet Macon-Verzé 2017
bottle price: $28

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Juicy, New 2017 Red Burgundy: Joie de Vivre in a Glass. $32

The town of Maragnes is an underrated source for red Burgundy. Located at the very southern end of the Cîte d’Or, it’s often left off regional maps, and its reputation is for rusticity over refinement.

But if chosen carefully, Maranges can offer unparalleled value for red Burgundy drinkers. At its best, Maranges is a less subtle but no less charming alternative to the skyrocketing prices elsewhere in the region.

A cheerful, approachable red Burgundy from a plentiful, early-drinking vintage, we think today’s wine well overperforms its $32 pricetag.

Roger Belland is an excellent source for easy drinking red Burgundy. The domaine uses a long, very cool fermentation to retain the fruit in their wines. His 2017s are even more approachable young than usual. The French have taken to calling the 2017 reds “restaurant wines,” a nod to their abundance, approachability, and charm.

Belland’s 2017 Maranges is from a south-facing vineyard and a vintage with excellent ripeness; Burghound called it “nicely vibrant” with an “appealing texture.” In the nose we found intense, juicy, bursting cranberry fruit, with notes of honey and tulips. The mouth is pleasant and punchy with young, approachable tannins, no raspiness, and a clean refreshing finish.

Think of this as somewhere between a Burgundy and a Beaujolais — the refinement of a Pinot Noir, matched with jolliness and joie de vivre of a Gamay.

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Belland Maranges 1er “FussiĂšre” 2017
bottle price: $32

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Everyday White Burgundy from a Master of Meursault. $22

Vigneron:   Vincent Boyer is one of Meursault’s young superstar winemakers. His golden white Burgundies from Meursault and Puligny are among the finest in our cellar. Vinous calls his wines “superb” and “very impressive;” Japer Morris MW writes “Boyer seems to make better wines year after year.”

Appellation:   Chardonnay is responsible for all of Burgundy’s finest white wines. But 10% of white wine vineyards in Burgundy are AligotĂ©, a less celebrated grape that produces simple, refreshing wines. AligotĂ© is seldom magnificent, but in the hands of the right winemaker it can be delicious.

Wine:   Boyer-Martenot’s AligotĂ© is unlike any other we’ve had, with a rich mouthfeel and unusually complex bouquet. Through 45+ year old vines and barrel fermentation, Boyer turns this ordinary grape into a smooth, delightful white with notes of wild honey, herbs, flowers, and classic green apple. Burghound calls it “vibrant, fresh and utterly delicious.”

Pairing:   Pair this with appetizers: cheese (particularly comtĂ©) and crackers. We often use this wine to begin a cocktail party — it’s clean and refreshing, interesting but not intrusive.

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Boyer-Martenot Aligoté 2017
bottle price: $22

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Gamay for your Turkey: Bold, Inky 2015 Beaujolais

Vignerons: From meticulously cultivated old vines and with careful use of oak, the Perrachon creates remarkably delicious and refined cuvĂ©es. Perrachon’s reds are honest, complex, delicious red Burgundies; they just happen to be made from Gamay.

Appellation: Beaujolais is best known for the Beaujolais Nouveau, a cheap insipid red rushed to market a month after harvest. Today’s wine is its polar opposite: Moulin-a-Vent, known as the “King of Beaujolais,” produces the regions most serious and impressive wines.

Wine: Today’s pure Gamay is dense and inky, drawing from vines planted in the 1930s. From a near-perfect vintage, this 2015 is perfectly extracted and carefully aged in oak barrels. With a few years under its belt, today it shows a beautifully dark, brooding nose of violets and anise. The tannins are juicy and full, with crackling texture and crunchy finish.

Pairing: This is an excellent candidate for Thanksgiving dinner — your guests might guess Syrah before Gamay. But between now and then, pair it with a steak in a cast iron pan and cold-oil frites. Close your eyes and you’ll be transported to a Parisian brasserie.

You might also like: Our five other Beaujolais reds, or our Beaujolais Sampler

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Perrachon Moulin-a-Vent Burdelines 2015
bottle price: $28

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