Author: Thomas Wilcox

Michel Gros is best known for his brilliant red Burgundies from towns like Vosne-Romanée, Chambolle Musigny, and Nuits-St-Georges. But he also holds quite a bit of land in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, a patchwork of rolling hills to the west of the Côte d’Or.

His Hautes-Côtes reds here are excellent and exceed the reputation of their humble homeland. But the hilly terroir is also well suited to chardonnay, and home to Michel’s only white wine — Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Fontaine-St-Martin” blanc. This is a perennially underrated cuvée chez Gros, and a terrific value for those in on the secret.

The soil in this special plot is the same mix of marl, clay, and limestone found on the Hill of Corton, and Gros’s white echoes the famous floral and chalky qualities of Corton-Charlemagne. The 2021 is excellent, unwinding beautifully in the glass over a half hour. There’s gardenia and magno in the nose, with a vibrant mouth full of dry fruit and beautiful mineral tension. Jancis Robinson’s reviewer found it “impressive and classy.” Serve this blind and your guests will call Santenay or Chassagne.

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Gros Hautes-Côtes de Nuits blanc
“Fontaine-St-Martin” 2021
bottle price: $45

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Merlot can grow just about anywhere. It’s a high yield grape with low tannin and moderate acidity – it’s grown all over the world and often earns its reputation as underwhelming and bland. But in the right hands and the right soils it can be complex and profound.

On Bordeaux’s right bank in the towns of St-Emilion and Pomerol, Merlot finds its finest expression in clay-rich soils. Particularly in the winter, we love the smooth velvety texture and firm shape of Pomerol, and we’re delighted to introduce our newest find in Pomerol: the Château Bel-Air, from 2016.

Now 8 years on from harvest, this wine is simply a delight – it was a hit at our warehouse tasting on Saturday. The nose is beautiful and deep with inky violets and plums in the nose – perfume and lush fruit abound. Antonio Galloni of Vinous gave 91 points, calling it “powerful, explosive Pomerol” with “plenty of immediacy and sheer appeal.” Drink this now from a decanter with a cassoulet or wintery stew, or age it another few years for a softened, velvety delight.

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Chateau Bel-Air Pomerol 2016
bottle price: $58

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It is a paradox of Burgundy today that the warming climate has made spring frosts more of a problem than less, particularly for white wine producers. The problem is that mild winters cajole the Chardonnay buds to break earlier, so tender shoots are near their most vulnerable when the frosts arrive.

The 2021 growing season had this problem in spades, and we were shocked to see the near-empty barrel rooms in the white-centric Côte de Beaune during our visits last-year. The consolation, if there is one, is the terrific quality and intensity of the tiny quantity of the little wine produced.

Sofie Bohrmann typically makes three St-Aubin premier cru cuvées, but the dramatic loss (on average 85% down across her whole domaine) meant she only had enough for a single cuvée. The blend of three of St. Aubin’s best vineyards – Le Puits, En Remilly, and Murgers des Dents de Chien – is very impressive. We certainly wouldn’t wish it on her every year, but we applaud what she managed to turn in.

The 2021 St-Aubin 1er cru is sophisticated and gorgeous. It’s low on sucrocité, that sense of sweet young fruit often found in young white Burgundy – instead there’s a beautiful savoriness that mixes with dry lemon and pear notes. The signature 2021 freshness joins a smooth, waxy texture to create a wine of real elegance and precision.

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Bohrmann St-Aubin 1er cru 2021
bottle price: $75

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We always love our visits with Pascal Bardoux, our philosopher-vigneron in Champagne. Each time we’re treated to a new tasting note that emerges from his giant hardcover French-English dictionary, including such gems as whortleberry and sloe berry. He’s a traditionalist in nearly everything, but his most recent innovation is an exciting one.

Champagne undergoes two fermentations – a first in tanks (like any other wine), and then a second in bottle under bottlecap. After the second fermentation finishes, the winemaker may choose to disgorge (remove yeast and insert a cork) promptly, or hold for longer “on the lees.” For his terrific new “Reserve” cuvée, Pascal leaves a batch of his house cuvée “Traditionnel” on the lees for an extra five years.

This extra hibernation transforms the wine into something really special, more akin to his vintage champagne than the non-vintage Traditionnel. “Reserve 2014” shows an exquisite array of chalk, fruit, earth and toast. The mouth is subtle and long, with a delicious, vinous finish. Treat this like a white wine – serve it with fresh fish or oysters or a lemon pasta. Some things can’t be rushed.

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Bardoux Champagne Brut “Reserve 2014” NV
bottle price: $75

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The red wines of the Loire Valley always play second fiddle to the region’s whites. But it’s a mistake to ignore them – they’re well balanced, low-alcohol, usually organic, and often exceptional values. Our favorites these days are the unblended, unoaked Cabernet Francs from the central Loire.

Winemakers Celine and Didier Sanzay are fifth generation growers in Saumur-Champigny in the central Loire. Their reds are pure Cabernet Franc, and fit modern Loire style — small batch, organic, wild yeasts, no fining or filtering. They’re lovely on their own, but it’s the freshness and vibrant texture that makes them perfect food-paring reds.

Sanzay’s just-arrived Saumur-Champigny is exactly what you want Loire Cab Franc to be: pure, joyful, unoaked, and refreshing. Clean, juicy fruit bursts from the glass on the nose — think wild cherries and graphite. The mouth is fresh, fruit forward, inky, and intense, with a bold and vibrant attack and a quick clean finish. Picture a juicy Beaujolais with more serious texture and darker fruit.

Consider it an alternative to your everyday, catch-all Côtes-du-Rhône red. Pair with crackers and goat cheese, coq a vin, or a fresh pizza.

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Sanzay Saumur-Champigny 2022
bottle price: $22

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It doesn’t take an expert to notice that Guillaume Goujon and Sebastien Dupré are farming organically. Their vines, located in the Côte de Brouilly, share the earth with an impressive array of herbs, flowers, grasses, and wildlife – all in the name of fostering biodiversity and soil health. In the cellar Dupré and Goujon have a similarly light touch – their cuvées are made with whole clusters, ambient yeasts, limited oak and almost no sulfites.

The resulting wines are remarkably complex, and yet immaculately crafted – no funk or off notes to be found. Our favorite cuvée is their “631” Côte de Brouilly, and we weren’t alone – customers told us they didn’t know it was possible for so much depth and elegance to be packed into a bottle of gamay. The texture is refreshing and thirst-quenching, but the underlying fruit is detailed and very fine. William Kelley agreed with our enthusiasm, calling the wines “supple and charming” and labeling it “an estate to watch.”

The 2020 “Cuvée 631” keeps getting better. The nose shows perfume of violets and roses, with a fruit profile somewhere between Pinot and Syrah. The mouth is sturdier and more complex, with perfectly coated tannin and a dark, crackling finish. Kelley awarded 92 points, finding “Aromas of sweet berries, spices and loamy soil [in a] fleshy and lively wine framed by sweet, powdery tannins.”

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Dupré-Goujon Côte de Brouilly “631” 2020
bottle price: $35

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Transition to organics/biodynamics may be trendy in winemaking today, but it’s nothing new at the Domaine Pierre André in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Jacqueline André’s grandfather stopped using chemicals in his vines in 1963, and the domaine has been certified organic since 1980 – the first in the appellation.

As it turns out, he was onto something — some plots of the André family wines are now over 140 years old, and still producing gorgeous fruit. Pierre’s daughter Jacqueline now tends these ancient vines (she calls them her “grand dammes” or “old ladies”) with the love and attention usually reserved for family members. In his excellent “The New French Wine” published last year, Jon Bonné writes, “Jacqueline André has quietly been upholding the extraordinary quality of her family’s domaine in a manner that legitimately earns the word “artisan.”

Groundhog predictions notwithstanding, there’s clearly a bit of cold weather left this season, and at our house we’re firmly “cozy red” mood – wines with mouthfilling textures, dark inky fruit, and long, layered finishes. So today we’re suggesting Jacqueline André’s magnificent Châteauneuf, the very definition of coziness. The 2020 is lush, round, and beautiful – it has the capacity to cellar much longer, but it’s extraordinarily lovely today.

Come taste it at this Saturday’s CassouletFest at the warehouse in Newton, or pick up some for our own cellar.

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André Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2020
bottle price:$65

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Unlike Burgundy, most wines of Bordeaux are distributed through a vast network of resellers – negociant houses with distribution agreements that can stretch back centuries. It can be a confusing place to do business, but also one that offers hidden gems – the sheer volume of wine available means that turning over rocks can result in real discoveries.

Our favorite recent discovery is the Chateau de Malleret, whose 2016 Haut-Médoc is quietly
excellent. Of the 249 estates given Cru Bourgeois distinction, it’s one of only 14 elevated to “Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel.” The blend is roughly 60/40 Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon, and the wine punches well above its weight.

We opened the 2016 last night and found it terrific. The nose is deep and intense without a hint of evolution – look for notes of blackberry, leather, and cocoa. The mouth shows slightly softened tannins (but with enough left to keep it clean-cut), excellent concentration, and a perfectly coated, surprisingly long finish. Neal Martin of Vinous, a notoriously tough grader, gave 91 points, finding an “intense bouquet” with “superb delineation” on the palate, concluding “this is definitely worth seeking out.”

Serve this with steak this winter and your guests will guess you paid twice what you did.

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Chateau de Malleret Haut Médoc 2016
bottle price:$35

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Aside from Champagne, Chablis is perhaps the most versatile food-pairing wine in our cellar. It’s fresh, crisp, dry, and lively – perfect for a wide range of foods, or for nothing at all. Seafood in particular is a perfect match, and we serve Chablis with everything from linguine with clams to grilled halibut to bouillabaisse.

Our two Chablis producers make excellent, ageworthy premier and grand crus, but their entry level wines are just as good for the price. Today we’re suggesting Cyril Gautheron’s old-vine Chablis, a wine we think well overperforms its humble billing. We loved this wine and stocked our cellar enthusiastically – turns out we weren’t the only ones to notice.

Writing last week in Vinous, Neal Martin heaped praises on this wine, finding a nose of “crushed stone and pressed white flowers” and “citrus peel, orange rind, fine weight and quite a cohesive finish.” He concluded “there is a breeze quality to this Chablis that is very appealing. Worth seeking out.”

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Gautheron Chablis VV 2021
bottle price:$32

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In most corners of France, the 2022 vintage was the hottest and driest on record. While this might not portend positively for the future, some wines have undoubtedly benefited. Particularly on the margins – regional level cuvées and lesser-known appellations – the extra heat has made ordinary wines quite impressive.

Christophe Bonnefond’s Syrah is one of the only wines in our portfolio with a “Vin de Pays” appellation, the broadest category in France. It’s always carried Bonnefond’s signature elegance and tension, most famously found in their terrific and well known Côte Rôties, but with less complexity and aging potential. It’s exactly the type of wine you’d expect to shine in a vintage like 2022…

…and you’d be right. The 2022 Syrah is downright delicious – bursting with cool blueberry and raspberry fruit, the tannins are juicy and delicious. At only 13.5% alcohol it’s not a bit flat or heavy – a gorgeous vibrant texture underlies the dark fruit and savory spice, making it as hard to put down as a bag of potato chips. Serve with takeout pizza on a weeknight.

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Bonnefond Syrah 2022
bottle price: $25

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Pouilly-Fuissé has come a long way from the over-oaked buttered popcorn of decades ago. Today the appellation is a hotbed of talent, with passionate young winemakers converting old vines to organics and turning out truly excellent wines. With prices for both land and wine in the Côte d’Or headed through the roof, the Maconnais has become one of the most dynamic corners of Burgundy today.

One of our most exciting discoveries here is Sebastien Giroux, a thirtysomething winemaker farming just 6 hectares (14 acres) with care and precision. Since their introduction last year Giroux’s wines have quickly become some of the most popular white Burgundies in our portfolio, each presenting low oak, vibrant fruit, refined mouthfeels, and remarkably friendly pricing.

The 2020 Giroux Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes is extremely classy white Burgundy. The oak is perfectly integrated – if you didn’t know it was there you might miss it. Leading Burgundy critic William Kelley awarded 93 points, finding “golden orchard fruit, buttery pastry, lemon curd and white flowers,” and calling it “ample and satiny, with lively acids and a vibrant, fleshy profile.” The concentration from the old vines unwinds slowly and gracefully in the glass – use your biggest red Burgundy glasses and sit with this for a while. It’s understated perfection.

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Giroux Pouilly-Fuissé VV 2020
bottle price: $39

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Bordeaux is best known for its Grands Vins, the famous chateaux whose pricey wines improve for decades. But the varied terroirs of Bordeaux also produce some terrific “petit vins,” which share the same soils and grapes, but are more accessible for both the palate and the pocket.

Fleuron de Liot is a tiny, Burgundy-sized domaine run by the Negrier family. Their Saint-Estèphe is 50/50 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, a humble, traditional, simply delicious Left-Bank Bordeaux. It doesn’t carry the prestige or airworthiness of Cos d’Estournel or Montrose, but that’s not its game.

The 2019 Fleuron de Liot is a delight – with notes of plums, tobacco, pencil shavings, and gravel in the nose, the mouth remains sturdy and juicy, perfect for a weeknight plate of steak frites. Pour it into a decanter a few hours before your meal, and let it come to room temperature. Nobody will guess you paid less than $50.

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Fleuron de Liot St-Estèphe 2019
bottle price: $32

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The Loire Valley continues to be one of the most exciting corners of winemaking in France. Organic viticulture, balanced wines, and affordable prices are the rule here rather than the exception. We find ourselves reaching for Loire reds often these days, whatever the occasion – they’re characterful, refreshing, complex and downright tasty.

Our favorite source for these delicious reds is the Domaine des Sanzay, an organic fixture of Saumur-Champigny in the central Loire. Their unblended Cabernet Franc wines have become highly popular in our warehouse, with their simple Saumur red and old-vine cuvée opening tasters’ eyes to a new expression of the grape. But today we’re focused on their most impressive wine, an old-vine single parcel cuvée – a Cab Franc with real presence.

With 60+ year old vines and giving small yields and very intense fruit, Sanzay’s 2018 “Dares” cuvée has taken a few years to settle down. But today it’s magnificent and is only beginning to show its character. Vinous’s Loire Valley reviewer Rebecca Gibb MW found “masses of well-handled tannins, fruit depth and classy vanilla oak…powerful and well-made.” Well-aged Cabernet Franc can rival Burgundy for subtlety and depth, and this is a perfect example.

This isn’t quite to the level of its iconic neighbor Clos Rougeard, but at $32 (rather than $320), it might be a better buy.

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Sanzay Saumur-Champigny “Dares” 2018
bottle price: $32

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Michel Gros tends vines in some of Burgundy’s most famous towns: Vosne-Romanée, Chambolle-Musigny, Nuits-St-Georges, etc. But he also makes terrific wine in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, a hilly sub-region just west of the famous Côte d’Or. The terroirs are more varied and the grapes ripen a bit slower, but Michel coaxes terrific wine from these less famous hillsides, and their pricetag is far friendlier

Gros’s finest wine from the Hautes-Côtes is “Fontaine-St-Martin,” a cuvée from perfect soils that in good vintages offers the complexity and elegance of his village wines, if perhaps a bit less site specificity. Today we’re offering up our last few cases of the 2016 Hautes-Côtes “Fontaine-St-Martin,” a wine at peak maturity, and one to be had for under $50.

The 2016 Fontaine-St-Martin punches well above its weight. It sports the vintage’s intricate, fine-grained tannins, with dark blue fruit, and floral notes of violets and roses. Now 7 years on from harvest, it shows delicate dried red fruits and a beautiful patinated palate.Master of Wine Julia Harding (via JancisRobinson.com) called it, “Dry, tight and fresh, elegant and refined … just a lovely, complete wine and well priced.”

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Gros Hautes-Côtes “Fontaine-St-Martin” 2016
bottle price: $45

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The South of France has always been hot, but like everywhere else, it’s getting hotter. Even with grape varietals adapted to warm climates, winemakers often struggle to achieve freshness in their wines.

One winemaker who doesn’t struggle is Nicolas Haeni of the Domaine Malmont in Séguret. Haeni’s vines lie on a terraced slope in the hills above Séguret, perfectly positioned to offset the blazing hot Provencal sun. The Malmont terroir is cooler and breezier, enabling the grapes to reach maturity without becoming baked or dried out.

Now with a few years in the bottle, Nicolas’s 2019 Séguret “Petit Rouge” is simply delightful, and a real bargain. It’s 70/30 syrah/grenache, raised in stainless steel, and alcohol clocking in at a cool 13.5%. The nose is dark and complex with classic syrah notes of violets and blackberry — by nose you might mistake it for a Northern Rhône pure syrah. But in the mouth the grenache shines through a bit more, with beautiful depth a splash of red fruit and cinnamon.

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Malmont Séguret “Petit Rouge” 2019
bottle price: $22

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