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In recent years the profile of Chablis has changed a bit. Most cuvées still show the terroir’s classic stony, mineral intensity; but warm summers have added a bit of extra flesh to the wines. Our favorites still taste like Chablis, but are often a bit easier to approach young or on their own.
We’re delighted to welcome Christian Clerget back into the Ansonia portfolio. Thirtysomething Justine Clerget (Christian’s daughter) is now in charge, and has brought renewed energy, refined techniques, and a passion for organic viticulture. The Clerget wines were always classical, terroir-transparent, old school red Burgundy; Justine has maintained this spirit but added polish and class.
We first met Arnaud Baillot where many great relationships have started – at a bar. This spring, as we enjoyed a terrific meal at La Superbe, a delicious new restaurant in Beaune, we struck up a conversation with the young couple a few seats down the counter. They explained they were local winemakers, we told them about our import business, and by the end of the night we had exchanged Instagram follows, with promises to remain in touch.
Gigondas continues to produce some of the best value southern reds around. At their best they match the complexity and depth of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but at a noticeable discount. Our producer here, the Clos du Joncuas, is described by Josh Raynolds of Vinous as an “insiders’ producer…true, old-school renditions of Gigondas.”
Vincent Boyer lost nearly 90% of his Meursault crop in a single cold night in April 2021. The resulting wines were tremendously successful, but exceedingly rare – indeed we’ve almost sold every bottle already. Somewhat unusually, however, the frost spared Vincent’s regional-level wines: Bourgogne Côte d’Or, and Aligoté.
Stephane Robert of the Domaine du Tunnel is one of the brightest stars in Cornas. He’s humble and quiet in person, but his wines are bold, assertive, and charming. Robert farms an envious collection of old Syrah vines around the tiny appellation, and his wines are well worthy of their hype. Vinous calls Tunnel “among the top producers of Cornas.”
With the summer heat now (mostly) behind us, we’re delighted to announce the restart of our monthly wine club! We’ve made a few changes, and have added to the membership offering. Join the wine club and, like last year, you can expect: 3 bottles delivered monthly; white or red 10-20% off retail value of the […]
Christophe Mestre is from an old Châteauneuf-du-Pape family. Together with his wife and son they craft a single delicious, traditional, early drinking cuvée. In a town where luxury cuvées and single-varietal bottlings have become in vogue, the Mestres stick with the original formula – a single, appellation-wide cuvée.
Sancerre remains among the world’s best known white wines. Sauvignon blanc, a naturally high acid grape, is well positioned to weather today’s hot summers without losing pep and energy. Our source here is the Domaine de la Garenne, an old family domaine of the highest quality, practicing organic viticulture and on track for EU certification next year.
Romain Collet is an innovator. Each time we visit he has a new project – bold new French labels, more clay amphora, a gin (yes, gin!) collaboration with a local friend. And yet his lineup of Chablis remains classical and delicious. In the face of blazing hot recent summers, Romain continues to fashion cuvées that show their terroir with clarity and focus.
After several years of patiently waiting for an allocation, we’re delighted to introduce our newest Champagne source: RH Coutier. The Coutiers are an old family in Ambonnay (there since 1619), and today produce small-batch Champagnes exclusively from their own organic Grand Cru vineyards.
Vouvray is a hard wine to pin down – it ranges from very sweet to bone dry and from sparkling to still. The most famous cuvées from top names will improve for decades, and are among the world’s longest lived wines. We enjoy almost any expression of Vouvray, but our favorite is the simplest – still, fresh, early-drinking, and dry.
The pursuit of freshness is a perennial struggle for white Burgundy vignerons these days. They’ve adapted to warmer, drier summers by delaying pruning, harvesting earlier, and tweaking their cellar work. But Chardonnay loves the sun, and inattentive growers can end up with overripe, high alcohol wines.
In the last few years Michel Gros’s son Pierre has taken over as principal winemaker at the family domaine. His winemaking style is so far indistinguishable from his father’s, and we can’t blame him. Given Michel’s stellar reputation and 45 vintages of experience, we’ll give Pierre credit for seeking wise counsel.
Master of Wine Jasper Morris is an eloquent, experienced, extremely British wine writer, who doesn’t throw the word “superb” around lightly. And so while we at Ansonia have held this opinion of Cyril Gautheron for years, we took note when earlier this year he called him “a superb producer making wines in a crisp cool classically Chablis style, which is now really quite hard to achieve in these warmer seasons.”