Author: Thomas Wilcox

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“Rustic and Elegant:” Inky Syrah, Wild Yeasts, and the Ancient Craft of Winemaking.

Natural.  Winemaking began in the Languedoc around 125 BC, and over the last two millennia, little has changed in the basic chemistry. Though the past century has seen the advent of new chemicals and measurements, winemaking is still the combination of grapes, yeast, and time.

The winemakers at the Mas Foulaquier return to this simple alchemy. Their pesticide-free vineyards are archetypes of polyculture, with wildflowers and insects at home amid the rows of vines. And it’s from these vibrant vineyards that the winemakers obtain both elements of the winemaking process — untreated grapes from the vines, and wild yeasts from the skins and ambient air.

This is winemaking in its purest, most original form, and the results are wines of remarkable complexity and grace.

 

En Plein Air.  Winemaking without much vineyard treatment or controlled yeast strains is not easy, and the results can be variable. But the winemakers at Foulaquier are deeply dedicated to their craft and their wines are proof that the hard work and care pay off. These are some of the finest and most consistent biodynamic wines we import.

Today we’re releasing the 2014 “ Calades,” a syrah-based wine of a beautiful dark, inky hue. In the nose this wine could almost be mistaken for a Northern Rhône Syrah, showing the grape’s signature black pepper, blackberry, and dark chocolate. But in the mouth this is unmistakably Foulaquier — a symphony of cool, earthy, jammy notes like plum and lavender — at once mouthfilling and carefully balanced.

This wine perfectly captures the northern Languedoc’s ruggedly beautiful landscape, a blend of silky elegance and rustic earthiness. Wherever you are, open this outside if you can — take a sip, close your eyes, and reconnect with the natural world.

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FOULAQUIER Calades 2014
Ansonia Retail: $30
6+ bottle price: $25/bot

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AVAILABLE IN    6-    AND   12-  BOTTLE LOTS

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Email Tom to place an order.
or call Tom: (617) 249-3657

 

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Terms of sale. Ansonia Wines MA sells wine to individual consumers who are 21 or more years of age, for personal consumption and not for resale.  All sales are completed and title passes to purchasers in Massachusetts.  Ansonia Wines MA arranges for shipping on behalf of its customers upon request and where applicable laws permit.

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Elegant, Vibrant, and Intense: Golden 2014 Puligny-Montrachet

Elegance. “Puligny-Montrachet is where Burgundian Chardonnay is at its most complete,” writes Clive Coates MW. The tiny town, covering over less than one square mile, has made highly sought-after wine for nearly a thousand years. Today many consider it, as Coates puts it, “the greatest white wine commune on earth.”

What makes this tiny corner of Burgundy so special? On the ground, it’s a combination of soil content (limestone, clay, and other minerals), slope, and exposition. Nearly every white Burgundy from the 2014 vintage has impressed us — the year produced wines with a perfect balance of richness and acidity — but the 2014s from Puligny-Montrachet are nothing short of exceptional.

 

Famous.  Vincent Boyer is a young winemaker who has gained wide critical acclaim in recent years. His remarkable skill and excellent terroir hide behind his shy and humble personality. Boyer’s domaine and most of his vines are in Meursault, but today we’re offering his village-level 2014 Puligny-Montrachet, from the Reuchaux vineyard. It’s a winemaking success as great as any Vincent has achieved.

The 2014 Puligny-Montrachet Reuchaux is elegance personified — the nose is very expressive, showing lime rind, chalk dust, white flowers, herbs and lemon. The mouth is concentrated and rich, but beautifully vibrant and very long, with an exceptional balance of fleshiness and mineral freshness. Look for notes of peach, spring flowers, straw, and white pepper. Burghound was similarly enthusiastic, awarding 90 points, and citing “generous flavors,” “excellent intensity,” and calling it a “very fine Puligny villages.”

Puligny’s freshness makes it an excellent food wine, and this will add unrivaled elegance to your dish of veal, chicken, or fish. Vincent himself likes scallops with his Puligny — this three-ingredient preparation is one of our favorites. It’s an extraordinary wine from an exceptional year.

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BOYER-MARTENOT Puligny-Montrachet “Reuchaux” 2014
Ansonia Retail: $68
3+ bottle price: $59/bot

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AVAILABLE IN   3-    6-    AND   12-  BOTTLE LOTS

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Email Tom to place an order.
or call Tom: (617) 249-3657

 

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Terms of sale. Ansonia Wines MA sells wine to individual consumers who are 21 or more years of age, for personal consumption and not for resale.  All sales are completed and title passes to purchasers in Massachusetts.  Ansonia Wines MA arranges for shipping on behalf of its customers upon request and where applicable laws permit.

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“Exceptionally Rich” 2015 Premier Cru Red Burgundy, 90 points.

Perfection.  The 2015 vintage in Red Burgundy has been called one of the best in decades. Ideal growing conditions produced perfectly ripe fruit, resulting in wines that are full bodied, deeply colored, and simply delicious. We tasted over a hundred during our tasting trip last month, and the vintage is undoubtedly one of the best we’ve seen.

Many of the wines, however, will require aging to reach their potential. Ripe, sturdy tannins should carry these wines well into the future, and some of the finest cuvées will seem young for several years to come.

But not all of them. Winemakers like Roger Belland in Santenay make wines for the much shorter term. They’re drinkable young every year, and in a vintage like 2015, they are already delightful. If you’re eager to get your hands on this legendary vintage, but don’t have the patience or cellar space to hang on to them, today’s wine is for you.

Drink-Now.  Roger Belland and his daughter Julie are 5th and 6th generation winemakers in Santenay, at the southern end of the Côte d’Or. They have avoided pesticides for decades, and create ripe, delicious wines year in and year out. Their 2015 Santenay 1er cru “Beauregard” shows everything that is great about this vintage: perfectly rounded tannins, abundant ripe fruit, and a mouthfilling, sturdy finish. It’s further evidence that the 2015 vintage added its prestige to wines at every level.

Wine Critic Allen Meadows (Burghound) awarded this wine 90 points, citing “exceptionally rich flavors,” “liqueur-like aromas of plum and earth,” and a “delicious, sappy, and palate-coating finish.” We agree, finding notes of currants and minerals, with a particularly complex and silky mouthfeel that is both lively and long.

There are certainly more age-worthy red Burgundies from the 2015 vintage. But right now, you can enjoy an expertly made red Burgundy from an exceptionally fine vintage — and one that doesn’t require a cellar.

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BELLAND Santenay 1er cru red 2015
Ansonia Retail: $42
3+ bottle price : $35/bot

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AVAILABLE IN    3-    6-   AND  12-   BOTTLE LOTS

 

 

Email Tom to place an order.
or call Tom: (617) 249-3657

 

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Terms of sale. Ansonia Wines MA sells wine to individual consumers who are 21 or more years of age, for personal consumption and not for resale.  All sales are completed and title passes to purchasers in Massachusetts.  Ansonia Wines MA arranges for shipping on behalf of its customers upon request and where applicable laws permit.

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May Futures: Introduction

It’s always a pleasure to arrive in France for a tasting trip. We do so often enough now that we know which way to go for the luggage, where to grab a quick coffee, and whether we need to hustle for the TGV when the plane is late. (Making the TGV was a near thing this time thanks to a late flight out of Boston, and we were pretty relieved to see the bags spill onto the belt. The next three trains south were all booked up, and had we missed ours the whole schedule would have been thrown out of whack).

Rolling south on the train to Avignon is a preview of sorts. We push through early gray Paris skies and the vast agricultural plain south of the city; then through the familiar rolling hills of Burgundy with its mosaic of stone hedgerows and tile roofs; then we turn past Lyon into the Rhône valley and the eventual bright sun of Provence. It’s an outline of the days to come, when we retrace our route back north, sampling what France offers in each of its winegrowing regions.

There’s always a mix of the familiar and the new. By now we have a list of places we like to eat (and to avoid eating), and for many visits the routine is easy and the welcome warm. But for every trip we also have a list of possibilities accumulated since the last trip. And every vintage offers something new, as we learn the particularities of the past growing season and taste its impact on the wine.

We much enjoy the restaurants, assuring ourselves (and the IRS, if it asks) that we must eat well to stay in touch with the cuisine for which our wines are made. In that respect, France mixes the traditional and the new. There is something to the claim that France has lost its place at the forefront of the world’s cuisine. The old regional favorites still dominate the menus in many places, and while we love those dishes (foie gras being among our mandatory opening tastes), we find the most inventive and interesting dishes in non-traditional places. These days we’re more likely to consult Le Fooding than Le Michelin.

But traditional or experimental, the French both respect and enjoy the central place that food and wine have in the culture. As Americans, our instinct is to grab a sandwich jambon-gruyere for lunch and head to the afternoon’s business without much fuss; but more often now we accept the midday pause and simply order the plat du jour, which always comes with a bit of ceremony, plus a salad, a dessert, and a coffee. The evening meal, even more of an event, allows careful pairings of food and wine and a greater appreciation for their place in everyday life. We’re too American to do this the year round, but the rhythm of life in France provides much enjoyment for a couple of weeks. And, of course, we find wines to get excited about.

The May Futures include the wines of the Domaine Pierre Amiot, our first offering of Côte de Nuits reds from the superb 2015 vintage — something everyone is rightly excited about. There are summer favorites from the Alsace; wines in both colors from the upper Loire, and some very attractive wines from the Southern Rhône. Finally, there are three new wines from Bordeaux. In short, there is something for everyone.

Read the rest of the May Futures brochure here.

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5-Year-Old Red Burgundy from Michel Gros. $29

Vigneron over Terroir.  In Burgundy as in real estate, it’s said that location is everything. But while it may be the most important thing to know about a wine, it’s not the only thing: sometimes the winemaker can be just as important. We’ve had disappointing wines from some of the finest Grand Cru vineyards in the world.

But the corollary is also true, and often a highly skilled producer can create brilliant wines from lesser terroirs. A case in point is the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits rouge from Michel Gros. Gros is a world class winemaker who brings his remarkable talent to every vineyard he works, and his Hautes-Côtes wines are every bit as well made as his fanciest Vosne-Romanée.

We served the 2012 at a family party over the weekend, and it was more popular than the Châteauneuf-du-Pape open alongside. Even amid a field of richer wines, varied foods, and no small number of cocktails, the Gros charmed our guests late into the night.

 

“Among the Best…”  We can’t claim to be the only ones to recognize how good this wine is. Critic Allen Meadows (Burghound) was effusive about this 2012 Hautes-Côtes de Nuits rouge, including it in his regional list of the best values of the vintage. Citing a “beautifully well-layered nose of plum, cassis, and violets,” Meadows went on to call it “among the best that I have seen from him.”

Burghound penned that note two years ago, and we’re pleased to report that today it’s drinking better than ever. On Saturday the wine showed juicy wild cherry fruit, a pleasant cool earthiness, and a textured, delicious mouthfeel. It’s a great Burgundy to have around when you’re not feeling the need for Chambolle-Musigny, and it comes in at less than half the price.

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GROS Hautes-Côtes de Nuits rouge 2012
Ansonia Retail: $35
6+ bottle price : $29/bot

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AVAILABLE IN    6-   AND  12-   BOTTLE LOTS

 

 

Email Tom to place an order.
or call Tom: (617) 249-3657

 

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Terms of sale. Ansonia Wines MA sells wine to individual consumers who are 21 or more years of age, for personal consumption and not for resale.  All sales are completed and title passes to purchasers in Massachusetts.  Ansonia Wines MA arranges for shipping on behalf of its customers upon request and where applicable laws permit.

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Small-Batch Grower Champagne: Quietly Extraordinary

Glam.  Champagne is unlike any other region in France. For a century winemakers have built their product into a worldwide brand associated with celebration, wealth, and opulence. The glitz and glamour of Champagne is in stark contrast to regions like Burgundy, where winemakers often arrive for our tastings with mud on their boots and dirt on their hands.

All of which makes our Grower Champagne producer Pascal Bardoux seem out of place. On Wednesday Bardoux welcomed us into his cozy, dimly lit office, with shelves of old books and a dusty stone fireplace. None of the bottles we tasted had labels, just hand scrawled vintage numbers. But for the bubbles in the glass, it could have been a quaint country farmhouse in Burgundy.

Class.  Though Pascal’s personality may be out of place in Champagne, his wines are classic and delicious. They’re truly wines first and sparkling second, with as much complexity and elegance as the finest wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy. Pascal is as thoughtful about describing his wines as his about making them, and our visits average more than half an hour per wine.

Today we’re offering Bardoux’s Champagne Rosé – it’s as delicate and delicious as his other wines, with just a hint more fruit. The nose shows strawberries, crème brûlée, and apple pie; the mouth is crisp and dry but full of springy fruit. As you might guess, it’s a lovely glass to look at; but its pretty and carefree appearance belies a depth and complexity you’d expect to find in serious wine.

We can’t think of a better way to welcome your guests to a spring/summer dinner party this year – it’ll set a tone of both refinement and ease.

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BARDOUX Champagne Rosé NV
Ansonia Retail: $54
3+ bottle price : $45/bot

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AVAILABLE IN    3-    6-   AND  12-   BOTTLE LOTS

 

 

Email Tom to place an order.
or call Tom: (617) 249-3657

 

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Terms of sale. Ansonia Wines MA sells wine to individual consumers who are 21 or more years of age, for personal consumption and not for resale.  All sales are completed and title passes to purchasers in Massachusetts.  Ansonia Wines MA arranges for shipping on behalf of its customers upon request and where applicable laws permit.

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Mixed Case: Natural Wine Sampler

“Natural wine” is a popular buzzword these days, one with varied definitions and no lack of controversy. Whatever you take it to mean — biodynamic, no sulfites, organic, unfiltered — the goal is the same: to create wine with little intervention between grape and glass.

At their best, natural wines show vivacity and energy often lacking in conventional styles. These wines leap from the glass, full of exuberance and life, trading polish for gusto, neatness for verve. Here’s a mixed case — two whites and two reds — from four winemakers working in some interpretation of a natural style.

SAINT CLAIR Crozes-Hermitage 2015
This lively pure Syrah wine is the creation of Denis Basset, a passionate young winemaker in the Northern Rhône Valley. Look for notes of black pepper, cloves, blackberries, and violets.

FOULAQUIER Petit Duc 2014
Petit Duc is Foulaquier’s pure Grenache, grown and produced biodynamically in the Languedoc. Look for notes of wild cherries, rose petals, and garrigue with a silky, very fine mouthfeel.

MERSIOL Auxerrois 2014
Grown in a charming hill town in Alsace, the Mersiol brothers farm their Auxerrois (a variation on Pinot Blanc) organically. Look for a soft, smooth mouthfeel with notes of spring flowers and lime.

MAILLET Pouilly-Fuissé 2014
This pure chardonnay shows the, rich, opulent side of the grape. Nicolas Maillet credits organic viticulture with this wine’s cool freshness, balancing notes of golden honey and straw.

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NATURAL WINE SAMPLER

3x   Saint Clair Crozes-Hermitage 2015:   $26
3x   Foulaquier Petit Duc 2014:   $34
3x   Mersiol Auxerrois 2015:   $18
3x   Maillet Pouilly-Fuissé 2014:   $40


Ansonia Retail: $360
offer price: $295/case

free East Coast shipping    |    save $65

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Terms of sale. Ansonia Wines MA sells wine to individual consumers who are 21 or more years of age, for personal consumption and not for resale.  All sales are completed and title passes to purchasers in Massachusetts.  Ansonia Wines MA arranges for shipping on behalf of its customers upon request and where applicable laws permit.

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The Pinnacle of Pinot Noir: Exquisite New Vosne-Romanée

Terroir.  People sometimes ask why we’re so drawn to Burgundy. Partly it’s nostalgia — we lived here for a year two decades ago, and have a fondness for the place and its people. But our goal at Ansonia is to find wines that reflect their origin, and no region does this better than Burgundy.

Burgundian winemakers use only two grapes — one white and one red — to find expressions of a singular plot of land. And because a wine is only as good as the earth from which it’s made, the finest Burgundies in any cellar are often from the hallowed town of Vosne-Romanée.

Centuries ago, a monk wrote that “there are no ordinary wines in Vosne;” this continues to be true. There’s a unique floral character to the best wines from Vosne, a blend of silky finesse with pure intensity. It is the pinnacle of Pinot elegance.

History.  Our winemaker in Vosne-Romanée is Michel Gros, a vigneron who has lived his entire life in the town. Michel’s family has made wine there for nearly 200 years, and for a long time his mother was the mayor. Today Michel’s domaine is world famous as a top source for red Burgundy, and the wines from Vosne are at the heart of his lineup.

We had lunch with Michel Gros and his family yesterday, and while in person he’s modest and shy, his wines are not. They are among the most consistently excellent red Burgundies in our cellar, year in and year out, and his 2014s represent another year of excellence.

The 2014 Vosne-Romanée is beautifully expressive in the nose, with violets and dried roses, redcurrants and a bit of spice. The mouth is young and lively, with silky ripe tannins in perfect balance with the dark pinot noir fruit. Drink one of these next weekend (decant up to an hour), one in a year, and one in five years — you’ll enjoy them all, but by the third we’re pretty sure you’ll wish you had more.

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MICHEL GROS Vosne-Romanée 2014
Ansonia Retail: $74
3+ bottle price : $65/bot

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AVAILABLE IN    3-    6-   AND  12-   BOTTLE LOTS

 

 

Email Tom to place an order.
or call Tom: (617) 249-3657

 

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Terms of sale. Ansonia Wines MA sells wine to individual consumers who are 21 or more years of age, for personal consumption and not for resale.  All sales are completed and title passes to purchasers in Massachusetts.  Ansonia Wines MA arranges for shipping on behalf of its customers upon request and where applicable laws permit.

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Advance Order: Grand Cru White Burgundy, 35% off

Weather. We spent yesterday morning in Chablis, where winemakers were just finishing a difficult week. After eight consecutive nights fighting damaging frosts, the Chablisiens were sleepy but tentatively optimistic that the worst was behind them.

It has been a tricky few years in Chablis. 2015’s challenge was the opposite of 2017 — plentiful sun and dry conditions produced grapes so ripe that some lacked acidity. But while some 2015 whites we’ve tasted have been flat or overripe, those from the best winemakers remain in balance.

Young winemaker Romain Collet has been at the helm of his family’s domaine for five or six years now, and he continues to hone his considerable winemaking talent. The Chablis from Collet seems to get better each year, and indeed the 2015s are some of his best. Most will appear in our July 2017 Futures Issue, but we’re advancing one wine in short supply to the May Futures (out next week).

Exceptional.  Grand Cru is the highest rung of Burgundy, reserved for the top 1.3% of wines from the region. Grand Cru white Burgundy readily soars past $100 a bottle, and the best-known can cost several times that. But Chablis remains a source of value in white Burgundy, even at the highest level.

Though wines like this usually need several years to reach their peak, the 2015 Chablis Grand Cru Valmur is delicious already. It’s an exceptionally powerful wine. The nose shows gardenia, pear, and baked lemon flavors, with a bright chalky stoniness that enhances the fruit. The mouth is packed with flavor — it’s rich and very long, with notes of mango and green tea, but vibrant and lively in texture.

In short, after tasting this wine yesterday, we can’t imagine the first half of the summer without it. If there is grilled fish, fruits de mer, sushi, or roast chicken in your future, we can’t recommend this enough. This isn’t a weeknight bottle, but after all that’s what the weekend is for.

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COLLET Chablis Grand Cru “Valmur” 2015
Ansonia Retail: $780/case
Futures Price : $495/case   ($41.25/bot)

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AVAILABLE BY THE CASE AND HALF CASE

 

NOTE: This is an advance order, part of our upcoming May Futures Issue — we expect it to arrive in mid-late June.

 

 

Email Tom to place an order.
or call Tom: (617) 249-3657

 

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Terms of sale. Ansonia Wines MA sells wine to individual consumers who are 21 or more years of age, for personal consumption and not for resale.  All sales are completed and title passes to purchasers in Massachusetts.  Ansonia Wines MA arranges for shipping on behalf of its customers upon request and where applicable laws permit.