Flatiron Wines & Spirits NY

Who's Peter Max? And why is his name on a South African Pinot Noir that enthralls anyone who tastes it?

It's actually two guys: Peter and Max are the names of the growers whose fruit went into the first vintage of this wine, a multi-vineyard blend that's meant to encapsulate everything good about South Africa's misty, cold Walker Bay region and its coastal neighbors. There's also Peter as in winemaker Peter-Allen Finlayson, who founded Crystallum in partnership with his brother Andrew.

When Rebecca Gibb, MW, tasted Joguet’s single vineyard 2019 Chinons she couldn’t help but wax poetic. They’re the kind of wines that do that to even the most technically adept tasters. They’re also wines that get high points and that can age for decades.

And yet, Chinon (generally) and Joguet (specifically) remain a bit of an insider’s wine. Charles Joguet may be one of the appellation’s benchmark producers, and an early proponent of both single vineyard Chinon as well as organic farming.