For the last 30 years, Montlouis-sur-Loire-based François Chidaine has been a pioneering voice in organic and biodynamic viticulture. He has also established himself as one of the world’s premier interpreters of Chenin Blanc.
Chorey-lès-Beaune is a classic insiders village. A bit overshadowed by the more famous terroirs in Aloxe-Corton and Savigny-lès-Beaune, the wines in Chorey just don’t get enough love. Which makes no sense! The vineyards in Chorey are loaded with limestone, and a great vigneron can make wines of great depth, poise, and elegance.
Nozay, like any producer this focused on terroir, is fanatical about their farming (organic and biodynamic) and hands off in the winery (they ferment with native yeasts and without additives). They even experiment with terracotta vessels to try to find the best way to let the wines evolve fully into themselves.
Pierre Péters is one of Champagne’s most recognizable names, and one of its most famous Growers (Check out our handy guide to Grower Champagne). The estate is named after current proprietor Rodolphe Péters’ grandfather, and the family has been working vines in the Côte des Blancs’ best terroirs for nearly two centuries.
At its best, Chablis is about the most nakedly terroir-focused wine in France. And yet, mysteriously, it has remained the last reasonably-priced home of 1er and Grand Cru Burgundy. True, we’ve seen more and more of Chablis’ biggest names rise in price, but there are still great deals to be found — none of them more shocking than Dampt Frères' lineup of Grand Crus.
Luis Seabra has become a true superstar of Portuguese wine. His incredibly pure, elegant wines stand apart from the commercial products that dominate Portugal. But there is another, less discussed, reason to admire Seabra’s life work: his devotion to terroir.
If you love Chianti Classico, you know Castell'in Villa. The estate is run by Coralia Ghertsos Pignatelli della Leonessa, known to the locals as "the principessa" — with perhaps a touch of irony: she's famous for being an uncompromisingly old-school winemaker devoted to preserving and expressing Chianti Classico's traditions and terroir.
Super Tuscans have earned their place among Italy’s greatest wines, but critics often label them “international” — a backhanded compliment suggesting they lack true Tuscan soul. After all, these wines rely on French varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, grown in a warm climate, much like what you’d find in California or Chile.
That’s fair to an extent. But as always with wine, the truth is more nuanced, and not all Super Tuscans chase international appeal. Enter Montepeloso, proving that “Super” doesn’t have to mean “international.”
Jean-François (his friends call him Jef) is a world-class grower making some of the most soulful, energetic and delicious wines of the northern Rhône. His style is the perfect fusion of new-wave and classic with plenty of spicy, ripe, generous fruit delivered with a clear-cut mineral edge. The wines have the raw material to age gracefully for years, but they are so open and effusive it’s impossible to resist them in their ebullient youth.
We were eating steak and roasted mushrooms with some wine-loving (and generous) friends just before the holidays. There were fancy bottles: mature Bordeaux, '99 Dunn and '94 Dominus, and more. And they were singing!
But one lesser-known bottle of Spanish wine was holding its own in that crowd. It had the fruit and complexity of just-mature traditional Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, combining the punchiness you want for pairing with charred meat with the elegance to make you want to keep going back to it, even after the food was done.
Valentine's Day may be the perfect excuse to open a bottle of pink bubbles, but Bruno Dangin's Rosé Crémant de Bourgogne is so good – and also so interesting – you really don’t need any excuse. In fact, if you’re like us, you could find yourself drinking it year-round and for years to come.
Domaine de la Pépière's Muscadet "Clisson" is one of the greatest values in French wine. Year after year, it delivers an invigoratingly crisp, textured, multi-layered wine that drinks beautifully in its youth, and has the ability to age and improve for decades. After frost wiped out the entire 2021 harvest from this site, we are so excited to have the freshly released 2022 to share with you and it’s a total stunner.
