We’ve imported Chablis from the Domaine Gautheron for nearly a decade. Winemaker Cyril Gautheron’s precise, elegant, well-priced white Burgundies have become a staple at our warehouse tastings, our kitchen table, and the cellars of many of our readers. Jasper Morris MW is also a fan, writing recently, “I must say that Cyril Gautheron’s wines are climbing up my table of Chablis producers.”
Much of the world’s Merlot is undistinguished. Its default expression is a soft, rounded wine lacking tannin, acidity, and character. “Global” merlot is smooth and easy, but neither distinctive nor particularly interesting. But in Bordeaux, Merlot thrives as an essential component to the region’s most iconic wines.
In our portfolio filled with brilliant, committed and passionate winemakers, there is none more so than Jacqueline André of the Domaine Pierre André in Châteauneuf du Pape. Her family has been a pioneer in organic viticulture, beginning with a grandfather who decided in 1963 that chemicals were bad for vines and gave them up entirely (just as most others were dialing up treatments).
As most of you know already, Poggerino is a top-notch producer from Chianti in Italy. Nearly all of our winemakers are French, but we carve out a small exception for Piero and Benedetta Lanza in Radda. Rajat Parr calls their pure Sangiovese wines “some of the purest expressions of [Sangiovese] in Italy.” Wine Spectator calls their wines “impeccably balanced.”
By Burgundy standards, Nuits-St-Georges is an enormous appellation, stretching nearly four miles end to end. The soil makeup varies widely across the town, and Nuits can best be thought of as three distinct districts: north, middle and south. The northern part that borders Vosne is the most elegant, the middle the boldest and most powerful, and the southern the most mineral.
Roger Belland produces a dozen cuvées from around the southern end of the Côte d’Or, including from famous vineyards in Chassagne, Puligny, and Volnay. But it’s the wines of his hometown Santenay that often appeal to us most. Belland’s style is plump and juicy, with approachable tannins and beautiful aromatics – they never last long in our cellar or on a dinner table.
Wine writer Rajat Parr describes St. Aubin as the “insider’s white Burgundy.” Wedged in a valley between Chassagne and Puligny, this town produces white Burgundy with hints of Montrachet’s golden richness, but a less stratospheric price tag. St-Aubin has become rarer and pricier like everything else in Burgundy, but it’s still far more affordable than its famous neighbors.
Riesling continues to be a severely underrated varietal. Its sweet examples can be transcendent and delicious, but it’s also capable of excellence in dry form. Pound for pound, dry Rieslings make up some of the best values in our portfolio.
The Languedoc is a vast winegrowing area stretching across the south of France between the Mediterranean and Bordeaux, and most of the wine made there is singularly undistinguished. But if one moves into the hills and foothills of its northern border, one can find excellent terroir.
It’s hard to discuss Burgundy these days without talking about prices. Bottles from the region’s iconic domaines can be unaffordable for all but the most well heeled collectors, and their secondary market value means that speculation is commonplace. We don’t play much at this level – even our highest end wines rarely change hands after sale – but prices among our suppliers are rising as well. The wines of Burgundy have never been better or more sought after, and simple economics is at play.
After three consecutive hot, dry vintages in Burgundy, Mother Nature decided to mix in a changeup, throwing just about every possible malady at the long-suffering winemakers of the Côte d’Or. An April frost devastated much of France, with some producers losing as much as 90% of their crop in just two nights. Then the summer turned wet and humid, causing high risk of oidium, rot, and mildew. Harvest in the second half of September was soggy and small.
If we were to pick one thing we look for above all else when evaluating a wine, it would be balance. No matter the grape or region, style or price, a wine with all its elements in at the correct levels succeeds. Achieving balance between ripeness and freshness has become harder in recent hot, dry […]
The Salomon-Undhof estate dates to 1792, and is currently on its 7th and 8th generation winemakers, father and son Bert and Bert Salomon. Their terraced vines overlooking the Danube have long been an excellent source, with the country’s foremost wine guide calling them a “figurehead of Austrian wine history.”
Back in 2018, winemaker Pierro Lanza of the Fattoria Poggerino said goodbye to his “Labirinto” cuvée. The young vines used for this cuvée had finally grown up, gone to college, and moved out of the house. (More accurately they became old enough for inclusion in his base Chianti Classico cuvée.) We were sad to see Labirinto disappear, but happy to see our Classico allocation increase.
Some wine writers will tell you that we’re living in the golden age of Loire Valley Cabernet Franc. Twenty years ago winemakers would struggle to ripen their grapes, and as anyone who’s had one will agree, underripe Cabernet Franc is a particular sort of unappealing. Twenty years from now, if warmer summers and earlier harvests continue, the wines may become unrecognizable. Rejoice, they say, in this window of perfect weather.