Newsletter
April 15, 2019 – May 14, 2019
Baudry
2017 Chinon ‘Les Granges’ (Bernard Baudry)
Sale Price $17.99 – $183.50 case of twelve
Baudry is as good as it gets for Cabernet Franc with all its cuvées. If you want a Chinon to age, they have it. Les Grézeaux and La Croix Boissée are brilliantly made wines with long, delicious lives. For immediate consumption there is Baudry’s Les Granges, made from a sandy, gravelly vineyard close to the Vienne River. The 2017 is a beauty with its violet aroma, spicy berry fruit, and an endearingly earthy finish. A fabulous wine for a roast chicken.
Gris
2018 Reuilly ‘Petit Gris’ (Dyckerhoff)
Sale Price $15.99 – $163.10 case of twelve
A warning to those of you in Maine: this may sell out before you get your newsletter. Petit Gris is a delightful oddball. This is Pinot Gris from the village of Reuilly made with some skin contact, resulting in a rust-colored dry wine that we hesitate to call white or rosé. Great for a fish chowder.
Menetou-Salon
2017 Menetou-Salon ‘Morogues’ (La Tour Saint-Martin)
Sale Price $19.99 – $203.90 case of twelve
It has become difficult to keep Sancerre on our shelves, but Menetou-Salon provides a decently priced alternative. Morogues is considered the best vineyard in this small appellation, and the 2017 La Tour Saint-Martin is a crisp, lively Sauvignon Blanc with a deep vein of minerally flavor. Great for a seafood supper and a spring feast of asparagus.
Chenin
2016 Vouvray ‘Les Girardières’ (Bernard Fouquet)
Sale Price $19.99 – $203.90 case of twelve
Vintage after vintage the demi-sec Les Giradières cuvée from Bernard Fouquet is the taste of Vouvray that lingers long on our palates. While neither dry nor sweet, the balance is perfect. The soft chalky soil provides delightful earth aromas and the peachy fruit is just gorgeous. This 2016 is an impeccable Chenin Blanc that could only come from la Loire.
Olga Lives!
2014 Chinon ‘Les Picasses’ (Olga Raffault)
Sale Price $24.99 – $254.90 case of twelve
Vacheron en Rouge
2016 Sancerre Rouge (Vacheron)
Sale Price $39.99 – $407.90 case of twelve
Listed prices are honored through May 14th, 2019. We will not honor mistyped prices. Vol. 43, No. 5
Because we are celebrating wines from the Loire this month, the last thing we were looking for was a Burgundy. But then we tasted this one. As a result, we bought out the wholesaler’s inventory. Don’t let the designation ‘Côtes d’Auxerre’ fool you; this Chardonnay was raised only a few kilometers east of Chablis and in the same chalky soils. Goisot’s vineyards were in fact an official part of Chablis before losing their designation after the late 19th-century phylloxera outbreak. The less prestigious appellation benefits the rest of us, as this wine would definitely be priced much higher as a Chablis. It shares the classic stony aromas and precise finish of Chablis. In between are a lovely waxy texture and flavors of bittersweet lemon pith and crisp pear. It is a complete wine. Considering the amount of labor and financial risk involved in biodynamic winemaking, this wine is the best value we’ve come across in a while. For those who love white wine with their roast chicken, it doesn’t get better than this.
We featured this wine before, but because it was so good and sold out so quickly, we grabbed a bunch more when it came back in stock. The Pfalz winery Koehler-Ruprecht is interesting because they focus on dry wines and excel with Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc. They price their Chardonnay as if it’s Premier Cru Burgundy, but the Pinot Blanc is a terrific bargain. This amazingly food-friendly dry white is wonderful with simple sautéed fish, but also exquisite with spicy Thai food. 
Sicily is Italy’s most compelling wine narrative over the last twenty years. With grape varieties like Nero d’Avola, Frappato, and Nerello Mascalese producers have gone from ignored to in-great-demand in rapid time. We like Frappato for its medium weight, its fresh floral aroma, its berry fruit, and its mellow, dry finish. Vittoria is a highly regarded denominazione for Frappato, and Baglio delle Fate has produced a beautifully balanced, spicy version. Fantastic with a spicy eggplant and pasta dish.
2018 Pays d’Oc Rosé (Le Petit Balthazar) 
2016 Côtes du Rhône (André Brunel) 
Northwest of Barcelona lies the wine region of Costers del Segre, where the Arnó family named their winery Lagravera after the gravel pit that they converted into certified biodynamic vineyards. Their Laltre is a Monastrell-dominant blend with 20% Grenache that is fresh and savory, with complex aromas and flavors that shift from an initial faint and pleasant funk to game and blackberry fruit, with the fruit becoming more ebullient after a slight chill. Three months of aging in French oak adds silkiness and weight. Almost as striking as the wine is the label which features two faces of the same man. As Lagravera’s Sergio Garcia explained in a recent visit, ‘Laltre means literally “the other” as in the Other inside – because we cannot separate who we are from what we do. The “young boy” expresses talent and creativity while the “old man” expresses wisdom going back to the roots.’ A fine partner to flank steak and chimichurri.
2016 Toscana Rosso ‘Citto’ (Volpaia)
The terraced vineyards of Banyuls, with their generous sun exposure, old vines, and naturally low yields, produce powerfully ripe grapes which are perfectly suited for a sweet and fortified ‘Vin doux Naturel.’ Domaine de La Rectorie’s ‘Cuvée Thérèse Reig’ is primarily Grenache with 10% Carignan, fortified to 17% alcohol in a non-oxidative style which preserves the freshness of the fruit. Though rich and dark, with notes of chocolate, dried fig, black pepper, and warm spices, there is enough bright red fruit and acidic lift to create an eminently balanced sweet red wine. Delicious with chocolate, fresh chèvre, and berries for a dessert course.
Jasper Hill Oma (German for “grandma”) is made by brothers Sebastian and Dan Von Trapp and named after their own grandmother, who started the Von Trapp Farmstead in 1959. Oma is a washed rind, tomme-style cheese made with organic, unpasteurized cow’s milk. Produced in small batches on their dairy farm in Waitsfield, Vermont and aged at Jasper Hill’s cellars for 60-90 days, it has a slightly pungent and sweet flavor.
Deb and Doug Erb of Landaff, NH came to cheesemaking as a way to revitalize their second-generation dairy-farm in the wake of declining milk prices. Landaff is a raw cow’s milk farmstead cheese inspired by a traditional Welsh recipe. It has a natural rind and semi-firm paste with aromas of cave and grass, and a mild flavor with a subtle tanginess. A versatile cheese, it pairs with a variety of accompaniments and melts very well. Aged at The Cellars at Jasper Hill Farm. 
Located in the Cadiz mountain range in Spain, Quesos Pajarete have been making artisanal cheeses with the highest quality goat’s and sheep’s milk for over 10 years. Aged about 8 months, this firm goat cheese (100 percent milk from the Payoya breed of goats) is made in a traditional style with a crosshatching on the rind. With a smooth, yielding texture and a clean, bright flavor, this makes a versatile table cheese for an appetizer or dessert course. 
2017 Pays d’Oc Rouge (Aussières) 
2017 Rueda (Naia) 
2017 Chianti (Cetamura) 