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.
We’ve got the new release of Moreau-Naudet’s baby Chablis. But “baby” doesn’t do the wines justice. These are great and complete wines, faithful expressions of their terroir. While there’s no doubt that Moreau-Naudet’s wines reach their “apogee” with their 1er Cru bottlings, great bottles of Foréts and Montée de Tonerre aren’t exactly rare.
As I said last year, if I were told that I could buy, cellar, and drink only one wine for the rest of my life for under $50/bottle, the Barbaresco from the Produttori could well be my choice. It is consistently excellent. It is fun to drink on release. It becomes seriously impressive after just five years of cellaring, but it can really go the distance if you want it to.
Everything has changed, and nothing has changed. The 2023s from Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon have just landed, and they’re exactly what we hoped for: already delicious, fresh, and totally honest expressions of Mâcon terroir.
Bermejos’ iconic rosé is back, and at least for now, we've snatched up enough to share with all of its devoted fans.
Trediberri, founded only in 2007, is one of the newest producers in the entire Barolo DOC. Yet their wines taste so utterly classical and traditional that you would never guess. The wines feel like they've been around for generations.
Domaine Michel Lafarge is one of Burgundy’s great names, a true superstar in the pantheon of the region’s best estates.
They make very traditional Volnays that last a long, long time, are very limited, and are very expensive. But they also make some less exalted wines, which we affectionately call their “baby” wines.
The first time we tasted Pierre Girardin’s wines, we were floored. They had that rare mix of taut structure, subtle reduction, and soaring energy, all wrapped in a texture that whispered top-tier white Burgundy. When we learned the winemaker behind them was still in his 20s, we were stunned. These were wines with the quiet confidence of a seasoned pro, not a newcomer still finding his voice.
Maxime Magnon’s wines are love letters to the rugged, rocky, high-elevation slopes of Corbières, a tiny village in an obscure corner of the Languedoc. He has an enviable collection of old vines on limestone and schist, from which he makes profoundly elegant, deeply soulful wines that speak clearly of their terroir. They are the definition of deliciousness and an utter joy to drink.
How does Thibault Boudignon, a master of Chenin Blanc, craft one of the Loire Valley's most coveted rosés?
It might seem surprising. After all, pink wine and white wine look pretty different at first glance. But Boudignon makes his rosé much like a traditional white wine. While some winemakers “bleed” a little juice off their red wine while it’s still macerating on the skins (which can make a darker, more powerful rosé), Boudignon works more like he’s making a white wine.
Should the great white wines of Campania be aged? Well, that depends on the grape variety. A top-quality Falanghina can use just a year or two in the cellar to blow off its reductive notes and harmonize its flavors. Fiano, meanwhile, with its coiled minerality and taut structure, is capable of aging beautifully for years.
López de Heredia was founded in 1877 by Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta, a Chilean immigrant of Basque origins, who came to Haro by way of France. After working as a wine merchant, he began purchasing vineyards that today are synonymous with quality Rioja. Like many producers at the time, his goal was to recreate the famous recipes of France with Spanish material — in essence, to make Bordeaux and Burgundy out of a hodgepodge of unfamiliar varieties, most notably Tempranillo.
