Mixed Case: Springtime Sampler
Author: Thomas Wilcox
Advance Order: At Last, Cornas.
For years we’ve searched for a Cornas producer to add to our portfolio. The appellation is tiny (only 145 hectares, compared with Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s 3,133) and a wave of popularity in recent years has made it difficult to get an appointment. But luck was on our side last week, and we’re excited to report that we’ve found not one Cornas source but two.
The name Cornas (pronounce the “s”) comes from the Celtic word for “burnt earth,” and it’s an appropriate name. Though only nine miles south of the famous Hill of Hermitage, Cornas is so much sunnier that its grapes often ripen two weeks earlier. The wine is pure syrah like the rest of the Northern Rhône, but the feel is of something from further South.
For years Cornas’s reputation has been for richness and ruggedness. The first quality remains true: these are inky black wines made from hard granite soil. They’re bold and chewy, bursting with character and able to age for decades.
But “ruggedness” needs some revision. A younger generation at both domaines has brought modern winemaking to the ancient vineyards, and the results are more refined than ever before. Cornas hasn’t given up its untamed spirit, but the new wave of winemakers has bought it nicer clothes and taught it some manners.
DOMAINE DUMIEN-SERRETTE
With fewer than 50 growers, there aren’t any real unknowns in Cornas. Our first winemaker, Dumien Serrette, is the lesser known of the two, though they’re hardly newcomers — records show Dumiens living there in 1515. We’re pleased to offer a very small allocation of their 2016 Cornas.
Dumien-Serrette’s Cornas is magnificent — a combination of inky black flavors with unusually refined floral finesse. The nose is deep and rich, showing cherries, cocoa, anise, and pepper. On the palate it’s very fine and silky, with intense, distilled tannic structure and notes of cherry jam, violets, and olive.
DOMAINE DU TUNNEL
The Domaine du Tunnel is far more recent than Dumien-Serrette, but already better known. Often cited as one of the best sources in the town, Tunnel’s wines lived up to their considerable hype. Named for an old railway tunnel that now houses the domaine’s exquisitely designed cuverie, these wines are a highlight of any Cornas collector’s cellar.
Tunnel’s 2016 Cornas is classic and excellent. The nose shows inky, woodsy flavors — violets and blackberry mix with underbrush and mushrooms. The fruit is clean, and dense and pure and the finish unimaginably long. Josh Raynolds of Vinous awarded 92 points, finding “fine-grained tannins,” and “sharply focused black and blue fruit flavors.”
We were thrilled to discover both of these producers last week, and we’re excited to share them with you. If any allocation remains, both producers will be featured in next Sunday’s May Futures Issue, but we’re opening up the bidding early on these two wines. They’re available in our usual case and half-case lots, as well as a special 6-bottle sampler, 3 bottles of each wine. Orders are first come first served — click below to reserve by email.
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Dumien-Serrette Cornas 2016
Domaine du Tunnel Cornas 2016
Ansonia Retail: $750/case
Futures price : $575/case
Available by the case and half-case
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Cornas Sampler, 3 of each wine
Ansonia Retail: $375
Futures price : $295
Crisp, Vibrant, Old Vine Sauvignon Blanc: Charm and Freshness in a Glass
Yesterday afternoon we visited Frederic Michot, our winemaker in Pouilly-Fumé in the Loire Valley. After our tasting he took us on his tour of his vines, all Sauvignon blanc planted on the banks of the Loire.
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. His side of the river may be less famous than his neighbor Sancerre, but Michot isn’t willing to concede it any advantage.
Nor should he. Michot’s Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes has become a frequent presence on our summertime dinner table. It’s refreshing, unoaked, mouthfilling and utterly delicious. The 2017 we tasted yesterday will be in stock later in the year, but the end of our 2016 stock is still available. With summer around the corner this is a perfect everyday glass of white.
The 2016 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. Grilled shrimp, pan seared scallops, broiled haddock, steamed Maine lobster are among the many pairings for this wine. 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 VV 2016
Ansonia Retail: $26
6+ bottle price : $22/bot
FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES
Scenes from a Tasting Trip: April 19
Tasting Trip Video Blog: Day Eight
Local Celebrities in Morey-St-Denis: 92 point 2015 Premier Cru
Morey-St-Denis is a tiny town. After our tasting yesterday at the Domaine Amiot, we strolled a few hundred yards down the town’s main street to lunch with Chantal and Jean-Louis. In a four minute walk we paused half a dozen times to exchange greetings with neighbors and friends, and then got waves and handshakes from nearly everyone in the restaurant. There may be only 680 inhabitants in the town, but everyone knows the name Amiot.
Amiot’s 2016 are all excellent, but one in particular grabbed our attention yesterday. The Morey-St-Denis 1er cru “Ruchots” vineyard lies a mere 10 feet from the iconic Clos de Tart (see photo; Clos de Tart at left, Ruchots at right). While you might not mistake one wine for the other, it’s easy to see why many consider Ruchots the best premier cru in the town. It’s a wine of unusual depth and intensity for its class.
The 2016 Ruchots, along with Amiot’s other 2016s, will be in the May Futures offering in just over a week. But the magnificent 2015 Ruchots is sitting in our warehouse awaiting your corkscrew. Clos de Tart deserves its praise and acclaim, but at $250 a bottle it’s nice to have a more affordable neighbor at the ready. For those in search of a special red Burgundy from an exceptional location, we offer “Ruchots.”
From an acre of vines, the Amiot family makes just 200 cases of this wine per year. Their vines, planted in the 1950s, produce concentrated, intense red Burgundy. Allen Meadows (Burghound) awarded the 2015 92 points, finding it “suave and velvety,” “highly seductive,” and with “very fine persistence.”
This wine is enough to prove that Morey-St-Denis is much more than just a stop between Chambolle-Musigny and Gevrey-Chambertin. Its nose is dark and spicy, with hints of earth and smoke. The mouth is ripe, rich, and long, with blackberry and woodsy flavors. There’s enough structure to keep this aging beautifully for a decade, but like most 2015s, it’s a mouthful of juicy, very fine Burgundy today.
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Amiot Morey-St-Denis 1er cru “Ruchots” 2015
Ansonia Retail: $86
3+ bottle price : $78/bot
FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES
“Seductive,” “Utterly Delicious” 2015 White Burgundy from Michel Gros.
Yesterday afternoon we visited Michel Gros, our best known winemaker for Côte de Nuits reds. We barrel-tasted his 2016s, which are exceptionally good — this vintage will be far better than critics’ early predictions. At the end of a long tasting, Michel poured us tastes of his only white wine, from the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, in both 2015 and 2016.
The 2016 (available this fall), is great — lively and rich with tension and lots of character. The 2015 (in stock now), was just delightful. From a year with perfect ripeness and medium acidity, it was rich and round with lovely young freshness and a terrifically long finish. It drank like a wine from a far fancier zip code.
We try to handicap our tastings for context — everything tastes better in the morning, and at the end of a long day of tasting it’s far harder to detect nuance. So yesterday afternoon, after eight hours of tasting more than 60 wines, that Michel’s 2015 blanc must be the real deal to have been so impressive.
There aren’t (yet) any premier crus in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, but Michel’s would almost certainly be among the first. The vines grow in a small plot called “Fontaine Saint Martin,” a vineyard whose soil matches the mix of marl, clay, and limestone found in the vineyards of Corton-Charlemagne a few miles away. The wine may not match the richness or longevity of a Corton-Charlemagne, but its smooth floral quality readily calls to mind the famous Grand Cru.
From a rich year with perfect ripeness, the 2015 Fontaine-St-Martin blanc is a wine to enjoy immediately. It’s open, approachable, and will fit perfectly into your spring white wine lineup. Burghound found “fine richness” and “round and utterly delicious flavors.” The nose is floral, showing gardenia, white pepper, pears, toasted lemon. The mouth is intense and smooth, at once mouthfilling and fresh.
It’s a perfect cocktail white — don’t tell your guests it’s not from the hill of Corton, and they’ll never know how little you paid for it.
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Gros Hautes-Côtes “Fontaine St-Martin” blanc 2015
Ansonia Retail: $38
3+ bottle price : $32/bot
FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES
Tasting Trip Video Blog: Day Five/Six
Weeknight 2015 Premier Cru Red Burgundy: Charming and Affordable
The 2015 reds continue to be the favorite child here in Burgundy. The wine lists of the local bistros and restaurants are bursting with juicy, delicious 2015s, and there’s little left at the domaines.
The winemakers will tell you they are prouder of their 2016s or 2017s — years that require judgment separate the skilled vignerons from the ones who depend on luck. But they all readily admit that 2015 a charmer of a vintage. “If you didn’t make great wine in 2015,” they say, “find another job.”
Having tasted Gautier Desvignes’s 2016s and 2017s, we can confirm that he’s a gifted winemaker in any year. But as it is everywhere, his 2015s are simply delightful. After releasing his three other 2015’s, we’re pleased to arrive at his fourth and final cuvée: the Givry 1er cru Clos du Vernoy.
The Clos du Vernoy is the Desvignes monopole — a classic, juicy, surprisingly polished expression of the family’s terroir. The red Burgundies of the Côte Chalonnaise are less serious and less expensive than those from more famous zip codes, but they’re no less Burgundian. They capture the region’s friendly, welcoming spirit, trading elegance for rusticity, and polish for vigor.
The 2015 Givry 1er “Clos du Vernoy” is a delight. It combines the rugged energy of the Côte Chalonnaise with a smooth ripeness and unusually refined character. After a half-hour in a decanter this wine is hard to put down. The nose shows dark plum jam and beautiful complexity — look for pan drippings, mushrooms, and earth. The mouth is lively and smooth, with great density, and a long, clean, cherry compote finish.
If you’re a fan of red Burgundy and like to drink Chambolle every night, give us a call — we can help. But for everyone else, this is delicious and affordable weeknight red Burgundy, with an extra dose of bonheur.
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Desvignes Givry 1er “Clos du Vernoy” 2015
Ansonia Retail: $38
3+ bottle price : $32/bot
FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES
Tasting Trip Video Blog: Day Four
Vibrant, Inky, and Rich: Extraordinary 2015 Northern Rhône Syrah. $25
We visited Denis Basset yesterday at his Domaine Saint Clair outside Tain l’Hermitage. He’s a friendly, energetic winemaker making truly excellent wines. (They’re a lot of flavor for 9:30 in the morning, but they wash the toothpaste right off your palate.)
We tasted Basset’s excellent 2016s from bottle and 2017s from barrel — both show clean pure fruit and loads of depth and energy. But the famous 2015s continue to get better and better. We expect them to have very long lives (decades if you have the space and patience), but they’re awfully hard to argue with today.
The brilliance of Basset’s wines comes from the marriage of a dark, rich southern grape varietal with a cooler northern climate. Particularly in 2015, the wines show an exquisite balance between an inky meatiness and a brisk fruitiness. Even in a crowded field, Denis Basset’s old-vine Crozes-Hermitage “Fleur Enchanté” is a favorite.
The wine shows dark blackberry and cassis fruit in the nose, with violet and cloves alongside. The mouth is remarkably dense and fine, with a balanced mouthfeel and an extremely long finish that shows peppercorn, plum, and wild cherry jam. From nearly 50 year old syrah vines and aged carefully for a year and a half before bottling, this is an extraordinarily mouthfilling Syrah.
It would be an impressive wine at $40/bot, and no one would be disappointed. At $25, it has to be among the best buys in the lineup.
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Saint Clair Crozes-Hermitage “Fleur” 2015
Ansonia Retail: $30
3+ bottle price : $25/bot
FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES
Scenes from a Tasting Trip: April 18, 2018
Video Travel Blog, Day 2: Southern Rhône
“Outstanding” 2015 Rhône Blend: an Explosion of Springtime Flavor.
We spent an enjoyable few hours on Nicolas Haeni’s charming backyard terrace yesterday. Haeni runs the Domaine Malmont, a tiny source in the Southern Rhône whose entire winemaking operation fits inside a small garage attached to his house. Under clear skies and a warm Provencal sun we tasted through Malmont’s recent cuvées.
Haeni’s operation may be small and relatively new, but his wines are exceptional. The Wine Spectator’s James Molesworth recently called them “particularly outstanding,” and our tasting today only confirmed our recent conclusions: Haeni is an unusual talent, and he’s getting better every year.
Nicolas farms grenache and syrah in an extraordinary polycultural environment in the hills east of Séguret. Wild herbs and grasses surround the organically-farmed vines, and the gently sloping terraced rows buzz with life. His wines explode with a natural energy and a diversity of flavors to match their origin.
We tasted 2016 and 2017s yesterday, but we’re pleased to have some of Nicolas’s excellent 2015s still in stock at the warehouse. The 2015 Séguret is unusually expressive grenache/syrah blend. The nose is dark and spiced, with notes of cassis and violets. The mouth is very rich and long, but balanced by a pleasant freshness and sturdy tannins — look for notes of lavender, cherry, black pepper, and raspberry jam.
Haeni’s reds are deep and inky, but always retain excellent balance and freshness. They’re the perfect wines for the transition from winter to spring.
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Malmont Séguret 2015
Ansonia Retail: $35
3+ bottle price : $29/bot
FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES
