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.
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.