Sablet is a classic Southern Rhône town. Its 9th century streets are home to 1400 residents, a couple of boulangeries, and a handful of restaurants and wineries. Winemaker Eric Chauvin is a Sablet resident (also a volunteer firefighter), and it’s also the location of his tiny excellent Domaine le Souverain. We usually purchase Eric’s terrific Séguret, made from vines in…
single cuvée of white. Pierre’s grandfather Jean first planted vines here 50 years ago, and identified a single plot as well-suited to Chardonnay. (It turned out later he was proven right when a geological survey showed the vineyard contained a soil composition very similar to nearby Grand Cru Corton-Charlemagne.)
The 2022 red Burgundies arrived about a year ago, and they've quickly become a reader favorite vintage. From the warmest, driest year in recent memory, they are nonetheless vibrant and beautifully balanced, sporting low alcohol and classic Burgundian finesse. It’s a magnificent vintage, and one we expect to enjoy for many years to come.
The Viré-Clessé from Forces Telluriques has become one of the most popular white Burgundies in our portfolio – and not for lack of competition. It’s magnificent, unoaked, biodynamic Chardonnay, and while you won’t find the Forces Telluriques label on any CellarTracker accounts (except Ansonia customers), but the wine in the bottle is from an iconic Mâconnais source with an exclusive…
Master of Wine Jasper Morris writes that “Cyril Gautheron is a superb producer making wines in a crisp cool classically Chablis style, which is now really quite hard to achieve in these warmer seasons.” Much Chablis has gotten riper and rounder in the last decade, but for something steely, stony and crisp, we always reach […]
Wine lovers who follow the great white Burgundies of the Côte de Beaune have long looked to the side valleys – one coming in between Chassagne and Puligny, and another between Meursault and Volnay – for top quality at good prices. Sofie Borhmann has several plots up both valleys, and they’re responsible for some of her best value wines.
Stop us if you’ve heard this before: another year, another flat out delicious wine from Poggerino – and still a bargain. Italian wine represents a tiny corner of our portfolio, but Piero Lanza’s impeccably balanced wines are some of the most popular in our store. They drink well young, age beautifully, and provide exceptional value.
Many famous chateaux in Bordeaux produce a “second wine,” a bottling of juice from younger vines or less favored corners of the vineyard. The quality of this cuvée varies greatly depending on chateau and vintage, but at its best it can be an early maturing wine with excellent pricing, and a careful consumer can find tremendous value.
Alsace is a gorgeous winegrowing region – bucolic hillsides of vines surround fairytale villages on a sunny, east-facing ridge. Its wines can be similarly charming: expressive and delicate with beautiful fruit and vibrant textures. Our source here, the Domaine Charles Frey, is a family of committed biodynamic vingerons, producing wines of freshness and balance.
Wine writer Lettie Teague once described Sancerre as a wine that delivers “pleasure not profundity.” We think this is an excellent description – sometimes a moment calls for a grand, majestic wine, but other times all you need is something crisp, refreshing, and reliable.
For years St-Aubin was a white Burgundy collector’s hidden gem. Today it’s no longer hidden – many writers put in on par with Chassagne, Puligny and Meursault – but it’s still a gem. Tucked away down a valley running west from the Côte d’Or, St-Aubin’s vineyards average higher elevation than many towns, a boon in warm climates.
Chassagne-Montrachet is a town synonymous with opulence and richness. Its wines combine weight without heaviness – everything you want in a top class white Burgundy – but usually comes with a hefty pricetag. Roger Belland’s Santenay 1er cru “Beauregard” blanc is not quite as complex or long-lived as a Chassagne premier cru, but for half the price it does an…
In most corners of France, the 2022 vintage was the hottest and driest on record. While this might not portend positively for the future, some wines have undoubtedly benefited. Particularly on the margins – regional level cuvées and lesser-known appellations – the extra heat has made ordinary wines quite impressive.
The 2021 vintage was a tough one in Burgundy. A severe spring frost lowered yields dramatically, and the rest of the season was cool and wet. From a vigneron's perspective, it was a year to forget – tons of work, for a small crop of limited aging potential.
It’s easy to forget just how big Bordeaux is. The region produces more than a quarter of the wine made in France – more than Burgundy, Champagne, the Loire and Rhône Valleys, and Alsace combined. The top Bordeaux chateaux get most of the press, but there’s an ocean of wine, much of it quite interesting, in a far more reasonable…