Flatiron Wines & Spirits NY

The first time we encountered Thibaud Boudignon’s Savennières ‘Clos de la Hutte’ it clobbered us. We didn’t know anything about Boudignon or his wines, so we expected something typical of the appellation: a wine of opulent, confit fruit flavors, dry but unctuous, maybe even honeyed. Instead, the wine was like a salty lemon laser beam melting our faces: brilliant, explosive, and precisely focused. Amazing out of the gate, it continued to blossom sip by sip, showing the kind of depth and class of a first-rate Grosses Gewächs or Grand Cru Chablis.

Gérard Boulay is a quiet guy. He lets Chavignol do the talking.
 
And with his family’s collection of prime terroirs, the message comes through loud and clear: the wines crackle with energy and crystal-clear expressions of terroir, balancing profound minerality with deliciously ripe fruit.

Thomas-Labaille’s Monts Damnés Sancerre isn’t just any old Sancerre. It’s from, arguably, the best site in Sancerre, crazy-steep and full of Kimmeridgian limestone .

And it's from inarguably one of its best, low-key producers. Jean-Paul Labaille isn’t out there trying to make the next Le Montrachet. He’s farming the old family vines in the old family way and making a wine that is a delicious, classical expression of that terroir.