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.
Over the weekend we celebrated Oysterfest at our warehouse in Newton. It was a smashing success: our diligent visitors put away over 600 oysters in just four hours, not to mention polishing off a few cases of Champagne, Chablis, Muscadet, Sancerre and more.
There’s something irresistible about the combination of well-browned, juicy steak and a glass of red wine. For subtler meats like duck or tenderloin, we love Burgundy; for lamb or anything spicy, send us Côte Rôtie. But for something hearty – a ribeye perhaps – our pick is usually Bordeaux.
We spent a lovely morning tasting with Sofie Bohrmann last month in Meursault. She’s warm and welcoming, quick with a smile, and very friendly – by the end of the tasting she was talking us into staying for a beer (she is Belgian, after all). Her wines also happen to be outstanding. Together with her […]
We’d bet that many readers have garages bigger than the Domaine Malmont’s winemaking space. We work with some small-production winemakers, but even by our standards Malmont’s winery is tiny. The space attached to winemaker Nicolas Haeni’s house in Séguret looks more like a large tool shed than a winemaking operation.
New winemakers in Burgundy are hard to come by. It’s a tiny region, and between small harvests, ever increasing demand, and well-established importers, it can seem there’s nothing new to discover. Which makes us even gladder of our most recent Burgundian find: the Domaine Boursot in Chambolle-Musigny. Neal Martin of Vinous writes of a “foundation […]
With baseball here, the thermometer pushing 70, and the Marathon around the corner, it’s finally starting to feel like spring here in Boston. (This is New England, of course, and even typing those words probably risks an April snow storm.) But we’ve turned over the season in our minds and cellars, and eventually Mother Nature will catch up.
Burgundian harvest dates in August were unthinkable only decades ago, but they’re quickly becoming common. In many locations, early harvests make it far more difficult to produce balanced wines; but in parts of Burgundy, at least, there are silver linings.
St-Aubin may not be the secret source for white Burgundy it once was, but it’s not because of the quality. Soaring prices for Burgundy from its famous neighboring towns of Puligny, Chassagne, and Meursault mean that the spillover demand has nudged prices for St-Aubin well. But the quality has more than kept pace, and despite the demise of its anonymity, it’s still a source for exceptional value.
The 2019 vintage is a terrific red Burgundy vintage, producing wines with extraordinary balance between ripe fruit, acidity, and tannin. As Neal Martin puts it, “they unexpectedly offer freshness and richness that were once thought to be mutually exclusive.”
The Côtes des Bar and Chablis have a lot in common. They’re both satellite appellations of their respective areas (Champagne and Burgundy), and both produce wines of a slightly different style than their parent region. Chablis is a steelier, stonier, less-oaked version of Burgundy; the Côtes des Bar is a more Pinot Noir-focused Champagne, from more clay-rich soils. And though historically both have suffered a bit from their location off center stage, these days they’re both enjoying a moment in the spotlight.
Last week’s visit to Sebastien Giroux in Pouilly-Fuissé was a masterclass in deliberate, exquisite winemaking. Gone are the days of Pouilly-Fuissé meaning a glass of buttered popcorn and cream – Giroux’s wines are barely-oaked, sleek, chiseled, and pulsating with energy. They’re easily the most exciting new white Burgundies in our portfolio.
On Tuesday we spent the day tasting in the Côte de Nuits, sampling wines from Nuits, Vosne, Chambolle, Morey-St-Denis, Gevrey, and more. We’re no terroir skeptics, but it was a stark reminder of the unmistakable power of terroir. Across various producers and vintages, the appellation and villages shone through as clear as day.
We first visited the Domaine Dupré-Goujon last spring, and were delighted to return this past Thursday. Winemakers Guillaume Goujon and Sebastien Dupré are redefining what’s possible from the Beaujolais. Their vines, located in the Côte de Brouilly, share the earth with an impressive array of herbs, flowers, grasses, and wildlife – all in the name of fostering biodiversity and soil health.
Friday we spent the morning tasting in the Maconnais. This sub-region at Burgundy’s southern end is impossibly picturesque – quaint stone farmhouses and Charolais cattle dot a rolling countryside that lazily switches between lush green pastures and fields of vines. The wines coming from this region have never been better, and we’re thrilled to have […]