Bordeaux is best known for its Grands Vins, the famous chateaux whose pricey wines improve for decades. But the varied terroirs of Bordeaux also produce some terrific “petit vins,” which share the same soils and grapes, but are more accessible for both the palate and the pocket.
The Loire Valley continues to be one of the most exciting corners of winemaking in France. Organic viticulture, balanced wines, and affordable prices are the rule here rather than the exception. We find ourselves reaching for Loire reds often these days, whatever the occasion – they’re characterful, refreshing, complex and downright tasty.
Michel Gros tends vines in some of Burgundy’s most famous towns: Vosne-Romanée, Chambolle-Musigny, Nuits-St-Georges, etc. But he also makes terrific wine in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, a hilly sub-region just west of the famous Côte d’Or. The terroirs are more varied and the grapes ripen a bit slower, but Michel coaxes terrific wine from these less famous hillsides, and their pricetag is far friendlier
The South of France has always been hot, but like everywhere else, it’s getting hotter. Even with grape varietals adapted to warm climates, winemakers often struggle to achieve freshness in their wines. One winemaker who doesn’t struggle is Nicolas Haeni of the Domaine Malmont in Séguret.
The 2020 white Burgundies have been almost universally terrific. The drought caused many chardonnay vines simply to shut down mid-season, stalling the production of their sugars and in the end producing wines with both a ripe concentration and tremendous energy. We’ve bought just about all the 2020s we could get our hands on, and they’ve rightly disappeared from the warehouse at quite a clip. We’ve just added what’s likely our final cuvée from the vintage.
Chablis continues to be a haven of terrific value Burgundy. After several scorching hot vintages in which the crisp, piercing soul of old-school Chablis seemed temporarily offstage, 2021 provided a return to traditional form. A cooler, wetter, trickier growing season pushed harvest into late September, and the wines are effortlessly tasty in a vintage that was anything but.
Much of the world’s syrah is rich, velvety and mouthcoating. But in the Northern Rhône Valley, syrah draws its strength from subtlety. Here delicate aromas of violets, perfume, smoke and stones combine with fresh mouthfeel and vibrant texture. Northern Rhône Syrah is a marriage of dark-fruited complexion with elegance and pep.
Our first two vintages with the Forces Telluriques have been wildly popular. The magnificent, unoaked, biodynamic white Burgundy has quickly become a reader favorite. It shouldn’t surprise anyone, really – you won’t find the Forces Telluriques label on any CellarTracker accounts (except Ansonia customers), but the wine in the bottle is from an iconic Mâconnais source with an exclusive importer for the primary label.
Christophe Mestre and his wife are from old Châteauneuf du Pape families. Like many such families, their vines are in plots scattered across the town’s remarkably diverse terroir. The Mestres makes a single red cuvée from these terroirs, seeking an expression of the appellation as a whole. It’s always delicious, and always well priced.
Every January we search our lineup for an early bird Futures offer that isn’t Poggerino’s Chianti Classico, and every year we come up short. It’s simply one of the best values in our portfolio, and somehow seems to get better every single year. This year’s sample is even more packed with flavor than usual, and its many (many!) fans will be delighted.
Philippe Cheron is one of the most exciting winemakers in our portfolio. He’s not new to the job – indeed he’s spent his life making wine around the Côte d’Or. But his newly created Domaine du Couvent, a combination of his family plots and the old Domaine des Varoilles, is an outstanding collection of properties, and Cheron himself is a master.
The style of winemaking in Chablis is somewhat in flux these days. Recent hot summers in Chablis have meant a departure from the stony, crystalline expression of old. These richer, rounder wines can handle more oak, and some winemakers have extended their elevage, creating wines with richness and complexity to rival those of the Côte d’Or.
Roget Belland’s wines are too tasty. His wines age well, but they’re so delicious and approachable young that most don’t last long in our cellar. He uses a long, slow fermentation to produce wines with ripe fruit and beautiful aromatics.
The Clos de Vougeot is one of Burgundy’s great landmarks. First planted with vines in the 11th century, the wall around the vineyard dates to 1336, and the majestic Chateau to 1551. It’s a Burgundian icon, both of culture and viticulture.
Lots of wine drinkers will tell you they don’t drink Merlot; but we bet far fewer would turn down a glass of this wine. After seven years in the bottle, the Chateau Destieux’s 2016 Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé is pure, hedonistic pleasure. It may not be as complex as Ausone or as long lived as Cheval Blanc — but it’s proof that in the right terroir, Merlot can profound and outstanding.