Creamy in a roasted sweet root, light and frothy caramelized parsnip. Mystery and an element of flint. Accessible with a slight reductive edge that says, “Look at me!”
Étienne Courtois shares the Quartz vineyard with his father Claude. Their vines are mostly older, own-rooted, protected from phyloxera by the area’s ultra-sandy soils. This is an exuberant, elegant drink.... read more →
Only 500 bottles of this were made and none of it landed in the USA. So look out for it on your travels. From the hands of Sylvie Augereau, the... read more →
We arrived to see a weary Jean Louis Dutraive on the Sunday morning after battling a roof fire in his winery. It didn’t faze him. He took the appointment and... read more →
Julien lives right next to his Avenas winery and cellar, high above Morgon. He makes three cuvée: Régnie, Morgon and this Fleurie. All are handled the same way: semi-carbonic, whole... read more →
From the Côte Chalonnaise comes a classy little number from good old Dominique. First off, all of his 2014s are marvelous. Even the basic Le Ban Saint-Aubin. This delivered a... read more →
The Roussillon is rising. May I offer you one of the hits of the lovely Vivent de Vins Libres event. A head-turner of elegance from schist and marl. Destemmed. Perfumed.... read more →
When I was falling for wine I was a sucker for old world grenache. In the past decade getting that flavor and spicy, bloody aromas were so very difficult, even... read more →
Eric never destems, and the full cluster shows delicacy here in 2012. He takes his time with this, aging it for 30 months in 10-year-old demi-muids. The vines in the... read more →
From the middle of nowhere, about 50km south of Grenoble in the Isère department of France, comes a most unusual single malt from agronomist Frédéric Revol, who decided to distill... read more →