The Northern Rhône valley is a dramatic landscape. From a look up the dizzying slopes it seems last place in the world suited for viticulture. So steep are the hillsides that all fieldwork — planting, pruning, treating, harvesting, etc — must be done by hand. But winemaking here dates to Greek colonies in the 6th century BCE, several hundred years before even the Romans arrived.
Of the three great white Burgundy villages, Puligny-Montrachet most rewards patience. The other two — Chassgane-Montrachet and Meursault — produce wines with a richness that makes many of them drinkable early. But Puligny’s signature minerality makes longevity its strong suit.
Bordeaux is a large, diverse winegrowing region on France’s southwestern coast. Its annual production is nearly ten times that of Burgundy, and its expensive, long-lived red wines from famous chateaux dominate the region’s headlines. (We even have a few in this month’s Futures). But for the careful drinker, Bordeaux’s enormous range of wines offers some affordable, early maturing gems as well.
Most wines taste better with a meal; some really require food food to reach their full potential. But other wines are complete glasses on their own. One of our favorites in this “aperitif” category is the Auxerrois from our friends at the Domaine Mersiol in Alsace. Whether you’re welcoming guests to a dinner party, or looking for something refreshing on a late Saturday afternoon in spring, this is the perfect standalone glass of white.
Most coverage of the wines of Burgundy focuses on premier crus and grand crus, the region’s top two classification levels. But for the savvy Burgundy enthusiast, there’s no shortage of interesting wines at the village level. Often pulling from several plots inside a single town, these wines provide excellent opportunities to appreciate the character of a single village.
Much of New England has slipped behind a veil of rain this week, and the May sun feels a long way off. But the warm weekend weather drove more than a few green shoots from the soggy ground and the air seems to have turned a corner towards spring. It’s not quite rosé season, but it’s not far off either.
A properly aged bottle of wine is one of the great culinary pleasures. As the world moves at a frenetic pace and winemakers adapt to the demand for early-drinking wines, such bottles become increasingly rare. Patience and cellar space are in short supply.
Prices in Bordeaux have never been higher, fed by increasing global demand, particularly from China. With next month’s en primeur release of the highly anticipated 2015s, the trend upward will likely continue. With value on the mind, we often seek out second wines of famous vineyards, or secondary properties from famous winemakers.
Vine age is important in determining the taste of wine. As a vines ages it yields fewer grapes: the quality of the fruit improves, but the quantity decreases. Winemakers face an important and difficult decision of when replant, sacrificing quality for quantity.
Burgundy isn’t always the most accessible of wines. The classification system is confusing, many bottles need cellaring, food pairing can be tricky, and there’s often a hefty entry fee. So we’re are always on the lookout for entry-level Burgundy — wine that drinks well young and that won’t break the bank.
Some wines we import are meant for grand occasions. These are the famous wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne — bottles to pull from the back of the cellar when the moment is significant. We think there’s no better accompaniment to a special moment than a special bottle of wine.
The Northern Rhône is best known for its classic all-syrah reds from Côte Rôtie and Hermitage. These spiced, inky wines age well for decades, and are precise expressions of a unique marriage of grape and land. Nowhere else does syrah taste quite like this. Most bottles from Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, however, require diligent cellaring and come with a starting price around $50.
Meursault is a village stuck in time. Its narrow crooked streets and pointed steeple perch on a hill above fields of weathered vineyards first planted by monks in 1098. The golden product of these fields has been known for centuries, and today it is as sought-after as any wine in the world. Remove the trucks parked along criss crossing vineyard tracks, and it could just as easily be 1616 as 2016.
The Loire Valley is a pastoral land of magnificent chateaux and humble goat cheese makers. The range of wines made across its 250 mile expanse is just as dramatic: sparkling and still, dry and sweet, and everything from almost-clear Muscadet to deep purple Chinon. There’s a wine here for almost every taste, and our new Loire Sampler showcases the impressive range of wines from the region.
Sommeliers often tell us of their search for a by-the-glass Chardonnay to please everyone. Chardonnay is both easy to like and ubiquitous, but the styles range widely from soft and buttery to crisp and mineral. “A glass of Chardonnay” can mean a dozen things to a dozen people.