Vignerons: From meticulously cultivated old vines and with careful use of oak, the Perrachon creates remarkably delicious and refined cuvées. Perrachon’s reds are honest, complex, delicious red Burgundies; they just happen to be made from Gamay. Appellation: Beaujolais is best known for the Beaujolais Nouveau, a cheap insipid red rushed to market a month after […]
Burgundians have made wine in Meursault since 1098. Over the last nine centuries the village has proudly earned its glowing reputation, and today is among the most sought after wines in the world. Though it has no Grand Cru vineyards, Meursault’s wines are shimmering white Burgundies at their finest.
To the uninitiated, Riesling is a cheap, insipid wine — rarely interesting, and never noble. But to those in the know, Riesling can be vibrant, dry, and extraordinarily well priced.
Each town in Burgundy produces wines of a distinct character. Some are dark and brooding, others are lightweight and ethereal – but the boldest and most intense is Gevrey-Chambertin.
White Burgundy makes an excellent “by the glass” wine for your house. It pairs with a wide range of foods, and with no food at all — an essential component to a well-stocked cellar. Think of it as wine’s Swiss Army Knife, useful in far more often than predicted.
Most of the world’s Merlot is undistinguished. Its default expression is a soft, rounded wine lacking tannin, acidity, and character. “Global” merlot is smooth and easy, but neither distinctive nor particularly interesting.
The best way to learn a region is to taste its wines. We’ve collected four new 3-bottle samplers from Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Northern Rhône and the Southern Rhône. They’re all $125 and include East Coast shipping.
Chablis is a singular place. Its combination of deep stony soils and cool climate exists nowhere else on earth. These factors produce a similarly unique wine — mineral and crisp, pure and clean.
______________________ 1. Tunnel Cornas 2017 Wine Advocate 91-94 “rich, velvety texture,” “crushed stone, Christmas spices, violets and cassis” Vinous 92 “ Juicy and broad in the mouth, showing very good depth,” “supple tannins build on the finish” Ansonia Retail: $59 2. Tunnel Cornas 2016 Wine Advocate 92 “Can a Cornas be too easy to drink?” […]
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 work with many winemakers with low profiles, but Jean-Marc Monnet might be the least visible. He has no roadside, no website, and no other American importer. We’ve gotten lost trying to find his domaine two years in a row. Jean-Marc himself is as humble as his winery is hidden, but the wines themselves are a wholly different story.
The wines of Chablis are known for their limited oak, piercing minerality, and crystalline elegance. Our favorites are often mid-range bottles that combine everyday pricing and with great energy and beautiful precision.
For the careful shopper, the Languedoc can be an abundant resource. There’s still plenty of bad wine made in the vast region, but if you make good choices, $16 will take you farther here than just about anywhere else. Need proof? Today’s wine.
Perched on a gently-sloping hill twenty minutes south of Beaune lie white Burgundy’s three gems: Chassagne-Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet, and Meursault. The precise mixture of clay and limestone beneath these three neighbors is uniquely and perfectly suited to Chardonnay.
Bordeaux is full of expensive wines that need cellaring — here’s a humble, inexpensive, delicious wine with loads of character that’s ready to drink.