Roger Belland produces a dozen cuvées from around the southern end of the Côte d’Or, including from famous vineyards in Chassagne, Puligny, and Volnay. But it’s the wines of his hometown Santenay that often appeal to us most. Belland’s style is plump and juicy, with approachable tannins and beautiful aromatics – they never last long in our cellar or on a dinner table.
Maison Jacques Robin is a tiny family-run grower Champagne house in the Côtes des Bar. This sub region of Champagne, an hour south of the main towns of Reims and Epernay, features soils with a mix of clay and kimmeridgian marl. Pinot Noir dominates the vineyards here, and the clay rich soils produce fuller, more chewy-textured Champagnes.
Poggerino is often cited as a reference point for Chianti Classico. Vinous writes of their Poggerino’s “remarkable purity and nuance,” and Rajat Parr calls their wines “excellent” and “some of the purest expressions of the grape in Italy.”
Michel Gros is best known for his brilliant red Burgundies from towns like Vosne-Romanée, Chambolle Musigny, and Nuits-St-Georges. But he also holds quite a bit of land in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, a patchwork of rolling hills to the west of the Côte d’Or.
Merlot can grow just about anywhere. It’s a high yield grape with low tannin and moderate acidity – it’s grown all over the world and often earns its reputation as underwhelming and bland. But in the right hands and the right soils it can be complex and profound.
It is a paradox of Burgundy today that the warming climate has made spring frosts more of a problem than less, particularly for white wine producers. The problem is that mild winters cajole the Chardonnay buds to break earlier, so tender shoots are near their most vulnerable when the frosts arrive.
We always love our visits with Pascal Bardoux, our philosopher-vigneron in Champagne. Each time we’re treated to a new tasting note that emerges from his giant hardcover French-English dictionary, including such gems as whortleberry and sloe berry. He’s a traditionalist in nearly everything, but his most recent innovation is an exciting one.
The red wines of the Loire Valley always play second fiddle to the region’s whites. But it’s a mistake to ignore them – they’re well balanced, low-alcohol, usually organic, and often exceptional values. Our favorites these days are the unblended, unoaked Cabernet Francs from the central Loire.
It doesn’t take an expert to notice that Guillaume Goujon and Sebastien Dupré are farming organically. Their vines, located in the Côte de Brouilly, share the earth with an impressive array of herbs, flowers, grasses, and wildlife – all in the name of fostering biodiversity and soil health. In the cellar Dupré and Goujon have a similarly light touch – their cuvées are made with whole clusters, ambient yeasts, limited oak and almost no sulfites.
Transition to organics/biodynamics may be trendy in winemaking today, but it’s nothing new at the Domaine Pierre André in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Jacqueline André’s grandfather stopped using chemicals in his vines in 1963, and the domaine has been certified organic since 1980 – the first in the appellation.
Unlike Burgundy, most wines of Bordeaux are distributed through a vast network of resellers – negociant houses with distribution agreements that can stretch back centuries. It can be a confusing place to do business, but also one that offers hidden gems – the sheer volume of wine available means that turning over rocks can result […]
Aside from Champagne, Chablis is perhaps the most versatile food-pairing wine in our cellar. It’s fresh, crisp, dry, and lively – perfect for a wide range of foods, or for nothing at all. Seafood in particular is a perfect match, and we serve Chablis with everything from linguine with clams to grilled halibut to bouillabaisse.
Pouilly-Fuissé has come a long way from the over-oaked buttered popcorn of decades ago. Today the appellation is a hotbed of talent, with passionate young winemakers converting old vines to organics and turning out truly excellent wines. With prices for both land and wine in the Côte d’Or headed through the roof, the Maconnais has become one of the most dynamic corners of Burgundy today.
Bordeaux is best known for its Grands Vins, the famous chateaux whose pricey wines improve for decades. But the varied terroirs of Bordeaux also produce some terrific “petit vins,” which share the same soils and grapes, but are more accessible for both the palate and the pocket.
The Loire Valley continues to be one of the most exciting corners of winemaking in France. Organic viticulture, balanced wines, and affordable prices are the rule here rather than the exception. We find ourselves reaching for Loire reds often these days, whatever the occasion – they’re characterful, refreshing, complex and downright tasty.