Over the years it feels like we’ve sampled nearly every type of French wine – every color, grape, blend, age, technique, region, etc. But last fall we discovered a wine we’d never before tasted in France: orange wine.
Burgundy can be an intimidating place. Its classification rules are complicated, and its wines often require precise and careful cellaring. Even for experienced collectors it can tricky to time the optimum drinking window, and getting it wrong can be disappointing and expensive.
Organic viticulture has taken hold in France. Well more than half the winemakers in our portfolio now farm organically. Even in Burgundy, where long history and continuing demand make an argument for the status quo, many domaines have converted. “It’s the future,” one winemaker last week put it simply.
Champagne is a complicated place. Since its early days the region has been inseparably linked to a sense of glamour and “le marketing.” It can be easy to lose track of quality and distinctiveness amid Champagne’s glossy promotional haze.
We’re excited about our new Alsatian source. Vincent Gross is a skilled young winemaker making organic wines from classic Alsatian varietals. His vibrant, bone-dry Riesling has already become popular among readers; his orange wines made from Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer are unusual and exciting.
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. Our goal as importers is to find wines that reflect the place from which they come, and there is no better place to find such wines than Chablis.
Even by Burgundy standards, the town of Morey-St-Denis is small. With only 110 hectares of vines (0.4 square miles), it less than a quarter the size of neighboring Gevrey-Chambertin. Neither as elegant as Chambolle, nor as masucline as Gevrey, Morey is perhaps the prototypical Burgundy — a melange of earth, fruit, wood, stones, forest and silk.
Sancerre has always been the star of the Loire Valley. Though recent years have seen interest rise in the region’s other appellations, Sancerre remains the best known and among the best-liked. It’s popular, easy to drink, easy to pronounce, and pairs well with lots of dishes.
Winemaker Frederic Michot is as brisk and energetic as his wines. He talks (and drives) fast, and sports the same no-nonsense attitude found in a glass of his Pouilly-Fumé: pure Sauvignon blanc, no oak, clean and crisp. Michot’s side of the river may be less famous than his neighbor Sancerre, but he isn’t willing to […]
Winemakers here in Burgundy are breathing a bit easier these days. Last week’s damaging frosts notwithstanding, cellars here are fuller than we’ve seen them in some time. In fact there’s even talk of the 2018 vintage (currently in barrel) as a “grand millesime.”
Yesterday morning we drove up to Chablis to visit Cyril Gautheron. He had been up since 2am guarding his vineyards against frost, but somehow managed a warm handshake and a smile for our 9:30 appointment.
We’ve opened a lot of white Burgundy over the past two weeks, and we can confirm St-Aubin remains one of the best values out there. From a forgotten valley wedged between two superstar towns, the wines of St-Aubin can be every bit as good as those from Chassagne and Puligny.
