Everyone needs a pantry wine — something to open without too much consideration or care. Thirsty guests looking for something to wet their whistle? Pantry wine. Back home after a long weekend away, with no energy for anything but takeout pizza? Pantry wine. Football game go into overtime and you need just one more glass of something simple? You guessed it.
For years, Gigondas was a savvy wine collector’s secret: near-Châteauneuf-level complexity and richness, at a substantial discount. But even as its name has spread and prices have crept up, the price-value ratio in Gigondas remains unusually good. As Vinous’s Josh Raynolds put it after tasting several hundred cuvées recently, “in the context of the world’s best wines, almost every Gigondas delivers solid and even remarkable value.”
In a Beaune restaurant two years ago spring we stumbled upon that most elusive of wine merchant targets: an unknown Burgundy domaine. Formed in 2002 with just 1.5 hectares of vines, the Domaine Bohrmann has no other importers, zero critical reviews, and a (very) hard-to-reach winemaker.
Value is subjective when it comes to wine. A $50 bottle of Burgundy might seem a steal to some, an extravagance to others. But nearly everyone agrees that Muscadet is just about the best bargain going.
Some wines just hit a sweet spot between price and quality. All the way back to our brick and mortar days in Dupont Circle in Washington DC, the Goubert Sablet has been among the best sellers in our lineup. When we left it off our order last year, we had half a dozen customers write in to express concern.
The town of Morey-St-Denis exemplifies the small scale of Burgundian winemaking. Wedged between two more famous neighbors, this village of 680 people has a vineyard surface of under 4 tenths of a square mile. It’s delicate, delicious, classic red Burgundy — there just isn’t much of it to go around.
We often say that the only thing wrong with Thomas Morey’s wines is how little of them there are. Morey is based in Chassagne-Montrachet, a Burgundian neighborhood that has seen a catastrophic series of spring frosts in recent years, and his wine is perennially in short supply. Some of the cuvées in our allocation (Batard-Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet) we sell through every year in Futures. His delicious village-level 2019 Chassagne-Montrachet made it to inventory this year, but sold out after just a week.
Like other Old World winemaking cultures, Burgundians mix a healthy dose of superstition and wisdom in with their more modern winemaking practice. One oft-heard saying is that the best vintages end in “9” — and while there’s little statistical basis behind this, the last century has produced a nearly unbroken series of “années neuves.”
Christophe Mestre and his wife are from old Châteauneuf-du-Pape families. Like many such families, they own a number of parcels scattered across the town’s remarkably diverse terroir. About a third is among the famous galets roulés, (pictured above). Another third is in alluvial sandy soils, and the rest is spread among red and brown soils rich in pebbles and calcium.
The Clos du Joncuas might be the most exciting recent find in our portfolio. Based in Gigondas in the Southern Rhône, sisters Dany and Carol Chastan learned their craft from their parents and grandparents, and have themselves been farming organically for 40 years.
Chenin blanc has an enormous range of expression. It can be anywhere from bone dry to very sweet depending on vintage, terroir, and winemaker. Vouvray is the original source for Chenin Blanc, but the surrounding towns in the central Loire Valley produce excellent examples as well.
Most of Burgundy’s vineyards lie in a North-South line between Dijon and Lyon. Chablis is the exception – this satellite region sits an hour and a half northwest of the rest of Burgundy. Culturally, Chablis has been part of Burgundy for over 500 years, but geographically it’s a world apart.
The Loire Valley continues to be the epicenter of natural winemaking in France. We’ve found ourselves opening more and more Loire Valley wines recently, whatever the occasion. Organic viticulture, balanced wines, and affordable prices have all become the default in the Loire, a trend we celebrate enthusiastically.
Thomas Morey is a master of subtlety. Even amid a regional trend towards more tension and less opulence, Morey’s wines stand out as studies in understatement. His family has lived in Chassagne-Montrachet since 1643, and his father Bernard’s wines were considered a reference point for the town. But Thomas’s brand is unmistakable and unique.
Climate change has affected many aspects of winemaking in France. Most changes have proven challenging, such as spring frosts, hailstorms, and overripeness. But others have been beneficial. For instance, in Burgundy the malady-prone Pinot Noir vines have become healthier in warmer, drier weather. (See our Ansonia Journal article for more on climate change and winemaking.)