Yvon Metras has long been Beaujolais' elusive man of mystery. To French winemakers (and drinkers) he is, along with neighbors Lapierre and Foillard, one of the "fathers of natural wine".
La is Lara Rochetti, Lu is Luisa Sala. Together they are Lalu, and today they make extremely sought-after Nebbiolo and Barolo. We have the Nebbiolo for you today.
Camus-Bruchon's 2022 Savigny-lès-Beaune "Aux Grands Liards Vieilles Vignes," shows how beautifully old vines translate classic terroir and Guillaume Camus did an exemplary job letting his vines sing in 2022. Despite the heat and stress of the vintage, he has managed to capture wines with incredible precision and balance with generous, juicy ripe fruit balanced with unstoppable freshness and lift.
To celebrate the end of 2024, we are offering an even more delicious version of one of 2023's most popular sparkling wines. We're talking about Bruno Dangin's blanc de noir called "Cuvée Blanche" — a Crémant de Bourgogne you could easily mistake for a great Grower Champagne.
Located in the small village of Boca, Le Piane is one of our favorite Alto Piemonte producers. Swiss-born Christoph Kunzli purchased the cellar and a tiny clutch of vines from octogenarian vigneron Antonio Cerri soon after arriving in the region in the late 1980s. If — like us — you find a hypothetical cross between the traditional wines of Barolo and the Savoie quite enticing, then these wines are must-trys.
Provence is known for rosé, but in a hidden limestone amphitheatre not far from Aix, the Rougier family has been quietly making some of France's most profound wines — in all shades — for nearly 200 years.
Château Simone's wines are favorites in top restaurants in France, yet in America they’re still barely known outside of a small legion of hardcore fans — even though they’ve forever been on the cusp of being “discovered.”
Grower Champagne-quality sparklers are starting to pop up in unexpected locales. We've seen them appear in places you’ve heard of, like California (Ultramarine). Now we are seeing them in a place you’ve never heard of: Plešivica. That’s just a few miles southwest of Zagreb, in Croatia.
When we got the chance to visit, Patrick Bize of Domaine Simon Bize was still a culty magician in Savigny les Beaune (not yet the widely acknowledged master he became), making wines that transcended the (then) grossly undervalued village. What a chance to learn about the ins and outs of Burgundian farming and winemaking!
It’s hard to believe that there’s a Burgundian style of wine that could be considered under-appreciated, but in our opinion, the humble passetoutgrain is exactly that. It’s an easygoing blend of Pinot Noir (naturally) and Gamay, a lingering reminder of that grape’s long history in the region (until Philip the Good, very dramatically, banished the variety in the 14th century, and it found a new home in Beaujolais).
There’s a little-known spot in the middle of Sicily with incredible viticultural treasures. Feudo Montoni's vines are isolated from the rest of the island's viticulture, a small oasis of vineyards surrounded by a sea of golden wheat and ancient olive groves. This isolation has worked like magic to keep the phylloxera pest away. And no phylloxera here means no grafting necessary: these vines are own-rooted and some are hundreds of years old. Scientists believe this is the birthplace of Nero d'Avola.
Rote Erden comes from the Zellertal am Schwarzen Hergott, a cold parcel on pure limestone soils. Keller farms the vines, but Julian calls the harvest, and the fruit is trucked back to Piesport to be vinified and aged in Julian’s cellar. The wine is whole-cluster pressed and vinified and aged in large neutral barrels for 10 months before bottling.
In 2022, Domaine Lafarge-Vial produced simply sensational Cru Beaujolais. These are deep, finally balanced wines with a deliciously rich fruitiness that makes these a lot of fun to drink now. But they are made in a Burgundian style and have a sneaky amount of structure for Gamay-based wines, so they are also unquestionably ageworthy. If you are a fan of Lafarge, or of great Beaujolais, these are must-tries:
