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Biodynamic and organic agriculture is everywhere in France these days. Nearly every one of our producers is certified or in conversion, and even few those who aren’t use the lunar calendar to schedule dates for racking and bottling. It’s an encouraging trend: better soils, better environment, and better wines.
The red wines of the Loire Valley always play second fiddle to the region’s whites. But it’s a mistake to ignore them – they’re well balanced, low-alcohol, usually organic, and often exceptional values. Our favorites these days are the unblended, unoaked Cabernet Francs from the central Loire.
On Wednesday we visited Gautier Desvignes, the humble, friendly, thirtysomething winemaker who has transformed his modest family domaine into a top name in the region. William Kelley writes that Desvignes is “one of the leading lights in the Côte Chalonnaise,” and we wholeheartedly agree. His care and precision in the vineyards and the cellar was on display this week, and the results speak for themselves.
We tasted yesterday at the Domaine Gautheron in Chablis. A winemaker’s first task these days – in Burgundy, but particularly in Chablis – is to achieve freshness, and there’s nobody we know better than Cyril. Jasper Morris agrees, writing “Cyril Gautheron is a superb producer making wines in a crisp cool classically Chablis style, which is now really quite hard to achieve in these warmer seasons.”
On Monday we tasted with Pierre Gros, winemaker at the domaine Michel Gros in Vosne-Romanée. The baton has passed gradually and smoothly at this domaine, and while his father Michel and his 45 years of experience are always available, Pierre has unmistakably taken the reins. Neal Martin writes “I detect a change in tack rather than charting a totally different course,” and we tend to agree. If his first few vintages at the helm are any indication, the future at Gros may be even brighter than the past.
Chambolle Musigny’s three most famous terroirs are the Grand Crus Musigny and Bonnes-Mares, and Premier Cru Amoureuses. All three fetch prices north of $500/bot (some well into four figures), and are among Burgundy’s most iconic and long lived wines.
Yesterday we visited Pierre Vessigaud in Pouilly-Fuissé. He’s relatively new to our portfolio, but the tasting confirmed what we already knew — this is a tremendous find. The Vessigaud domaine is Demeter certified biodynamic vigneron (the highest organic classification), and their wines are simply extraordinary in their complexity and sophistication. The 2023s we’ll be offering later this year are outstanding, but the 2022s remaining in Newton are already delicious.
We’ve spent the last few days tasting across the Southern Rhône Valley. In this era of hot, dry summers and abundant ripeness, a winemaker’s primary task is divining freshness. Across the dozens of Rhône reds we’ve tasted this week, it’s clear that some are more successful than others.
Except for Burgundy, most wine regions in France are better known for one wine color or another. But a region’s “non-dominant” wine color is often fascinating and delicious. One of our favorites is white wines from the Rhône Valley.
Vincent Boyer now works with his sister Sylvie, and together they share the viticulture (mostly her) and winemaking (mostly him). They’ve nearly completed their conversion to organic farming, and their always excellent wines have become even better in recent years. They raised prices after their catastrophic 2021 vintage where they lost 90% in some plots from frost, but actually lowered them this year given the healthier crop.
Cornas is a tiny gem of an appellation. It covers 350 acres and is home to just 50 vignerons. The name comes from the Celtic word for “burnt earth,” and it’s an appropriate moniker: Cornas is pure Syrah like the rest of the Northern Rhône, but the feel is of something sunnier from further South.
Having just added two iconic Grand Crus to their holdings (Echezeaux and Richebourg), the Domaine Michel Gros has what Neal Martin of Vinous calls “a portfolio to be reckoned with.” Indeed their vines stretch from Bourgogne to Grand Cru and from Nuits-St-Georges all the way to Gevrey-Chambertin. Michel’s son Pierre has taken over winemaking, bringing new energy and a lower-intervention farming style.
Gautier Desvignes has become well known among our readers (and in the wine press) for his gorgeous, affordable, beautifully crafted Burgundies from Givry. William Kelley of the Wine Advocate calls him “one of the leading lights in the Côte Chalonnaise.” Gautier has raised the bar of his family domaine perhaps more than any other winemaker we work with.
The Northern Rhône is a tiny region. With just ten thousand acres of vines, it’s one sixteenth the size of the Southern Rhône Valley. And yet it’s home to the world’s finest expressions of Syrah. Iconic and ageworthy wines from Hermitage, Côte Rôtie and Cornas get much of the attention, but the lesser-known appellation of Crozes-Hermitage provides tremendous value.
Arnaud Baillot is an exciting new producer in Burgundy. He started just 10 years ago as a micro-negociant, purchasing grapes and making tiny batches from small plots. In the last decade he has acquired 10 hectares of vines around the Côte d’Or, farming organically and crafting beautiful, understated modern Burgundy.