Final Pickup Hours: Tuesday 11/23, 5-6:30pm
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 | Sebastien Giroux is a quiet and meticulous winemaker making superb wines of understatement and… More (+) Sebastien Giroux is a quiet and meticulous winemaker making superb wines of understatement and precision. If some Maconnais whites can verge into overripeness in warm years, Sebastien’s are entirely devoid of heaviness. His careful winemaking – low sulfur, minimal oak, extremely long elevage – results in minimalist wines of precision and grace. Think Thomas Morey Puligny an hour south.
The Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes 2022 is outstanding. It’s entirely barrel raised, from vines planted mostly in the 1940s. They’re at 250m altitude, so offer intensity from their age but fineness from their elevation. South facing and just next to the premier cru “Vers Cras,” this is a special plot of vines, and so is the wine it produces. The nose is gorgeous and deep, with floral intensity and savory spice. The mouth continues the theme with and adds a dollop of ripe yellow fruit and a burst of acidity. This is a delicious mouthful, and if it said premier cru on the label, nobody would raise an eyebrow. Less (-) Free US Shipping | |
 | Sébastien Dupré and Guillaume Goujon’s superb cuvées of Beaujolais from the 2022 vintage are… More (+) Sébastien Dupré and Guillaume Goujon’s superb cuvées of Beaujolais from the 2022 vintage are like no other Beaujolais you have tasted, unless you were lucky enough to taste the same wines from 2020. Pavé is a smaller parcel than Héronde, but in 2022 the wine is just as successful. Its interplay of red and black berry fruit, minerals, and earth well justifies the presence of a musical score on its label. The many elements play against each other across a broad, persistent palate. Elevage for this wine was mostly en cuve, with a small part in demi-muids, so there is barely any sense of oak.
Overall, there is a lacy character to the tannins and a glass of this wine will pair beautifully with many fine dishes. Look for notes of peony, chalk and wild cherries. Suckling’s reviewer writes: “A hypnotically beautiful Cote-de-Brouilly. Mouth-filling red and black berries are almost perfectly interwoven with concentrated fine tannins on the medium-bodied palate. Expands dramatically in the extremely long finish without losing its delicacy or precision. And even these words don’t quite grasp what makes this wine so great.” Less (-) Free US Shipping | |
 | Sébastien Dupré and Guillaume Goujon’s superb cuvées of Beaujolais from the 2022 vintage are… More (+) Sébastien Dupré and Guillaume Goujon’s superb cuvées of Beaujolais from the 2022 vintage are like no other Beaujolais you have tasted, unless you were lucky enough to taste the same wines from 2020. They offer a beautiful combination of density, complexity and persistence that more resembles the reds of the Côte d’Or more than any other wines made from Gamay. The growing season 2022 was exceptionally hot and dry, but their vines did not suffer excessive heat stress, and they were able to bring in grapes with full phenolic ripeness but potential alcohol in the range of only 12.5% to 13%.
Héronde is their largest parcel, on the slope just below the winery, where the dense grass growing between the rows reminds us that theirs is organic viticulture. Elevage was ⅓ in cement vats, ⅓ in demi-muids (500L barrels), and ⅓ in barrique (225L barrels). Sebastien explained to us that it is a delicate business to use barrels to raise Gamay, and that they employ them to enrobe the tannins, not to add to their prominence. In the glass, Heronde 2022 is indeed a serious wine, and already particularly attractive. Floral notes of violets mingle with the ripe fruit, and the wine fills the mouth despite its relatively low alcohol. Less (-) Free US Shipping | |
 | The 2018 Forces Tellurique Viré-Clessé features clean, pure, lemony fruit, along with remarkable freshness… More (+) The 2018 Forces Tellurique Viré-Clessé features clean, pure, lemony fruit, along with remarkable freshness and energy from such a sunny vintage. On the palate it’s unctuous and smooth with a long finish that would outlast many a Meursault. The nose bursts with yellow orchard fruit and notes of tangerine and honey. Reviewing the 2018 under its primary label, Kelley awarded 93 points, finding notes of “honeycomb, orange oil, and elderflowers,” calling it “layered and succulent… with a charming core of fruit and a saline finish.”
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 | Of the 2020 Jasper Morris MW writes: “ This has a most beautiful bouquet… More (+) Of the 2020 Jasper Morris MW writes: “ This has a most beautiful bouquet, just the right degree of ripeness, the lightest of peaches but no honeysuckle. Just the right acidity too, drink this unsparingly across the summer months." 5/5 Stars Less (-) Free US Shipping | |
 | Romain Collet took over as principal winemaker not long ago, and he has transformed… More (+) Romain Collet took over as principal winemaker not long ago, and he has transformed the winemaking. He is both a very talented winemaker and an innovator — for proof one need only walk through the cellar, where the stainless steel tanks and large foudres are now joined by cement eggs, demi-muids, and most recently, amphorae.
Forêts 1er cru is particularly elegant in the 2020 vintage. This lieu dit is actually at the top part of Montmains, and the farming has been certified organic there since 2018. Its élevage is more complicated, with 90% raised in cement eggs (whose shape fosters natural circulation of the lees over the lunar cycles). The last 10% is raised in Burgundy-sized barrels, bringing a soupçon of oak into the mix. The result is extra refinement and complexity, the sort of hard-to-explain quality that will cause a taster to add an asterisk to the margin of his tasting note.
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 | The Chastan family has been making wine in the same style for two generations… More (+) The Chastan family has been making wine in the same style for two generations. They were among the earliest in the region to farm organically (they were certified in 1980!), and their winemaking is simple and straightforward. Vinification for all the wines is cement vats, followed by an elevage in either vats or neutral oak foudres. The wines are neither fined nor filtered.
The Clos du Joncuas Gigondas 2019 has more structure and more prominent tannins than the 2020, but it is also very round, and also eminently drinkable already. There’s a bit more minerality mixed in with the ripe fruit here, and the wine may have a longer drinking window; but both wines are generous and fleshy, and will be easy to match with food. Less (-) Free US Shipping | |
| The nose is extraordinary, hitting high notes and low notes simultaneously in a symphony… More (+) The nose is extraordinary, hitting high notes and low notes simultaneously in a symphony of fruit and earth. We find notes yellow orchard fruit and notes of tangerine and honey. The mouth is expansive and rich, but with pulsating energy and exquisite balance, with a finish that would outlast many a Meursault.
Reviewing the 2018 under its primary label, Kelley awarded 93 points, calling it “another terrific wine from this address,” and finding “white flowers, crisp melon and orchard fruit,” with “satiny and layered palate that’s racy and precise.” Jasper Morris MW was similarly impressed, predicting the 2020 might “join the very top vintages of the domaine.” Less (-) Free US Shipping |
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Thanksgiving Whites
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Thanksgiving Reds
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Thanksgiving Bubbles
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