Côtes du Rhônes are a dime a dozen these days. They’re cheap, plentiful, and abundant — you’ll find them everywhere from a fine restaurant to your local supermarket. Most are mass produced, with low tannin and lots of fruit — they may lack flaws, but they’re short on character too.
It’s said you can judge a domaine by its simplest wine. Making great wine from a Grand Cru vineyard certainly takes talent, but the raw materials provide a considerable head start. As one vigneron put it to us once, “with the Grand Crus, we just get out of the way.”
The Negrier Family is a bit unusual for Bordeaux: a tiny family winery making small-batch, terrific wines from limited terroirs. Nearly all of their wine is sold to local customers who visit the domaine.
French winemakers have spent centuries perfecting the ideal marriages of grape and land. Each region has its own match: Pinot Noir in Burgundy, Sauvignon blanc in Sancerre, Merlot in Bordeaux, Grenache in the Rhône, etc.
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.
Burgundies are not getting any cheaper. With limited supply and ever-increasing demand, good values are harder and harder to find. But one Burgundian town that continues to deliver far more than people expect is St-Aubin. And we’re not the only ones to notice. Rajat Parr writes writes that St-Aubin “produces some of the best-value Chardonnays […]
Organic viticulture is the future of winemaking — the majority of our winemakers are organic or in conversion. But at some domaines, it’s also the past. The Domaine du Joncuas in Gigondas turned 100 years old this year, and they’ve practiced organic winemaking, as they put it, “depuis toujours” (“since forever”).
Winston Churchill once said of Champagne, “in victory you deserve it, in defeat you need it.” Wherever the country lands this week, and whatever your reaction, we can assure you Champagne is a helpful accessory.
Gautier Desvignes took over his family domaine just a few years ago, but his arrival is already having an impact. He’s rebuilt his winery, replanted with new clones, and tightened up the fermenting and bottling regime. In the last two years Vinous and the Wine Advocate have arrived, calling his wines “superb,” “succulent,” and one of the region’s “five emerging talents to watch.”
Vincent Gross is a fourth generation winemaker just outside Colmar in Alsace. He crafts exquisite, biodynamic cuvées from a handful of grapes, each a precise expression of terroir and technique. Ranging from dry to sweet, and from red to white or orange, Gross’s wines are exciting and bursting with life.
We’re often apprehensive when a new generation takes over a domaine. Young winemakers often implement needed modernization, but sometimes get caught chasing trendiness. No winemaker in our portfolio has more expertly balanced these impulses than Gautier Desvignes.
The soils of Sancerre are famous for their flint. This unusual mineral gives the region’s wines a note of smokiness and stones — a perfect foil for Sauvignon Blanc’s lush grapefruit notes. This unique balance has made Sancerre one of the world’s most popular wines.
After years of searching, we at last found a source for Chambolle-Musigny last spring. With a stellar reputation and miniscule size, it hasn’t been easy to find a domaine without existing importing relationships. But this spring we finally stumbled upon the Domaine Boursot, a humble family of winemakers right in the heart of Chambolle.
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 preeminent wine guide calling them a “figurehead of Austrian wine history.” Their style is what you’d expect after 225 years of history — clean, polished, and refined.
Cornas is a tiny appellation. It covers 145 hectares (compared with Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s 3,000+), and is home to fewer than 50 vignerons. The name comes from the Celtic word for “burnt earth,” and it’s an appropriate moniker: Cornas is pure Syrah like the rest of the Northern Rhône, but the feel is of something sunnier from further South.