Bordeaux is best known for its serious wines — famous cuvées that fetch thousands of dollars and require decades to reach their potential. But it’s a large region, with lots of affordable, well made wines from excellent terroir.
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.
The Fattoria Poggerino is now considered among the finest sources for Chianti. Vinous writes of their wines’ “remarkable purity and nuance,” and Rajat Parr calls them “some of the purest expressions of the grape in Italy.” Their organically farmed, pure sangiovese cuvées are simply delicious.
Roger and Julie Belland are father and daughter Burgundian winemakers in Santenay, fifth and sixth Burgundian vignerons. Clive Coates calls them “one of the best sources in the village,” and their meticulous vineyard work results in perfectly balanced, easily accessible wines.
The Côte d’Or is home to nearly all of Burgundy’s most famous wines. As monks discovered centuries ago, the region’s combination of soil, exposition, slope, and weather makes it a near-perfect place to grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
There are wines from Bordeaux full of subtlety and finesse — but Chateau Destieux is not one of them. Destieux is the marriage of superb, ancient terroir with sleek, modern winemaking: old-school flavor in a bold, unsubtle package.
Our pantry-stocking wine of two weeks ago sold out in a few hours, and we’ve had lots of interest in a second option. As luck would have it, we just received a restock from our offsite warehouse, including some excellent everyday drinkers.
Morey-St-Denis is a tiny Burgundian town, home to a mere 680 people. Forever ceding the spotlight to its two famous neighbors — Gevrey-Chambertin to the north and Chambolle-Musigny to the south — Morey-St-Denis is nonetheless a source for exquisite red Burgundy.
The Domaine Perrachon has made wine in Juliénas since the 1870s. This small family Beaujolais domaine has caught the press’s eye, garnering acclaim and high scores from Vinous, Wine Advocate, and Burghound. Their style ranges from simple, fruity Beaujolais, to serious, ageworthy red Burgundy.
The Fattoria Poggerino is the lone Italian source in our portfolio. Their careful organic viticulture and unusually pure wines have vaulted them to the top of most lists of winemakers in Chianti. Vinous writes of Poggerino’s “remarkable purity and nuance,” and Rajat Parr calls their wines “excellent” and “some of the purest expressions of the grape in Italy.”
“Oaked” or “unoaked” sounds like a yes-no question, but it really is a range. Most of the wines we import spend some time in oak, but the strength of its influence depends on the age and size of the barrel, the chauffe (how heavily the inside is charred), and time in the barrel.
The town of Maragnes is an underrated source for red Burgundy. Located at the very southern end of the Côte d’Or, it’s often left off regional maps, and its reputation is for rusticity over refinement.
Where much red Burgundy tends towards subtleness and finesse, the Varoilles style is noticeably more intense. They harvest relatively late, and use a long cold soak to extract loads of flavor and texture from their grapes.
Denis Basset is a charming, energetic, fast talking young winemaker with a knack for channeling his terroir. His organic cuvées from Crozes-Hermitage are popular in Parisian restaurants, and it’s easy to see why — they’re balanced, honest, refreshing, and focused.
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.