The Languedoc is one of the world’s oldest winegrowing regions, tracing its history back to 125 BC. For many years it has been known for abundant, cheap, and largely uninteresting wine, but in the past few years the region has seen a renaissance. There is a new wave of small scale winemakers, many committed to low-intervention, “natural” styles of winemaking. Our clear favorites in this category are the winemakers of the Mas Foulaquier.
No town in France is more celebrated for its wines than Vosne-Romanée. Home to some of the world’s finest and most sought-after bottles, Vosne is undoubtedly the most famous Pinot Noir village on earth. Michel Gros is a lifelong resident. His family has made wine there for centuries, and his mother was once the mayor.
Hot weather can make it hard to enjoy wine. Bottles with high alcohol or dark and woodsy comple xions are hard to match with summer temperatures. In July and August, we like wines that are straightforward, refreshing, and inexpensive.
Francis Muré’s Alsatian Riesling has long been one of our most popular wines. We’ve used this wine to cure dozens of tasters of their “Riesling fear” — it’s bone-dry, crisp, and as refreshing as a Sancerre or Chablis. There’s plenty of sweet, flat, uninteresting Riesling around, but after one taste of this and you’ll want to reexamine the grape.
We are delighted in July Futures to offer exciting wines across a wide range of prices. For those in search of value, we have excellent options from Chablis, Beaujolais, Bordeaux, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. For those looking further up the price scale, July Futures includes exciting, age-worthy wines from Gevrey-Chambertin, Chassagne-Montrachet, and the slopes of Côte Rôtie.
Most people consider the white wines of Burgundy to be among the world’s finest wines of any color. Nowhere else does Chardonnay achieve the same balance between fruit, minerality, acidity, richness, and elegance. With production limited and ever increasing demand, the prices of white Burgundy have risen almost as quickly as those of red.
It’s difficult to find new winemakers in Burgundy. Supply is very limited and most producers work with other US importers. Finding high quality additions to our portfolio involves lots of research and tasting, along with good timing and a healthy dose of luck.
We’d bet that many readers have garages bigger than the Domaine Malmont’s winemaking space. We work with some small-production winemakers, but even by our standards Malmont’s winery is tiny. The small space attached to winemaker Nicolas Haeni’s house in Séguret looks more like a large tool shed than a winemaking operation.
Bordeaux is much larger than Burgundy. The region covers nearly ten times as much land, and the wineries themselves are usually far larger. For example Burgundy’s most famous vineyard, Romanée Conti, produces about 450 cases per year; Châteaux Margaux and Haut Brion are closer to 12,000 each.
If Vosne-Romanée is the paragon of Burgundian sophistication, then neighbor Nuits-St-Georges has the humbler charm of a country gentleman. Spread across five miles of varied terroir, the wines of Nuits-St-Georges range from spiced and elegant to meaty and rich. Wines from plots near the Vosne border can borrow a bit of spice and silk from their neighbor.
“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.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape dominates the south of France. No other town is more famous or produces more widely respected wines. But the relative anonymity of the surrounding towns belies the high quality of wine they produce. And while Châteauneuf-du-Pape will always be a more recognizable purchase, Gigondas often provides more bang for your buck.
We try not to be too beholden to seasonal drinking patterns. With certain dishes, red works best in the summer and white in the winter. But it’s hard to deny the appeal of a summertime rosé. Our criteria for rosé are threefold: dry, inexpensive, and refreshing.
For most people, the summer is rosé and white wine season. We’re thrilled to help in both categories (look for the Goubert Rosé release on Friday), but for something smoky off the grill, or for a cool midsummer evening, it’s helpful to have some red around.
The Loire Valley is a pastoral land of magnificent chateaux and humble goat cheese makers. The range of wines across its 250 mile expanse is just as dramatic: sparkling and still, dry and sweet, and everything from almost-clear Muscadet to deep purple Chinon. There’s a wine here for almost every taste.