Marnes Blanches Molates Chard
$55.99
Domaine des Marnes Blanches was started by Pauline & Géraud Fromont when they were in their early twenties. Barely out of winemaking school, the couple purchased land in Cesancey, a town in the Southern Jura. Named after the area’s most illustrious soil type, they made a wide variety of styles: from ouillé Chardonnays to oxidative Savagnins, and lithe reds from autochthonous varieties. This assemblage comes from several plots around the town of Gevingey. The vines average 35- old and are planted in classic marl and limestone. The grapes are pressed directly to barrel for fermentation and malolactic conversion. No bâtonnage is done during élevage, and the barrels are kept fully topped to prevent oxidation. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal SO2 after 10 months.
Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Calcaire
$54.99
Zind-Humbrecht is a leader in biodynamic viticultuure, and Olivier Zind-Humbrecht explains it as such:
"There is no ideal culture, any culture is not natural. The ideal culture is Nature, which always adapts and survives. Culture is a kind of contradiction, we force something. If we cultivate a plant, let's make sure that its environment is favourable so that it forgets that it is cultivated. Let's make sure that we bring energy to the plant to strengthen it, to favour its vital elements, to make it understand its terroir and the work it has to do, and that above all this work is not perceived as a constraint. We changed our way of looking at things, we observed to try to understand the vine, where it wants to go and what it likes or dislikes to do, to better guide and educate it. We had to find a working method to obtain the grapes that would allow us to make a great wine without torturing the plant. And this working method is biodynamics. An agricultural practice that aims to create an environment that allows the different elements that live there, plants, animals and humans, to develop as harmoniously as possible. And a philosophy of life, a way of thinking, studying, looking differently and understanding. To understand in order to go further in the relationship with the vine, the soil and the wine and to become a writer of his own recipe"
Huber Terrassen Gruner Veltliner
$28.99
In just a few years, Markus Huber has successfully established his winery as a showcase enterprise in Austria as a wine-producing country. His distinctive, top-quality wines, grown on outstanding soils of lime and conglomerate, serve as an example of the very best of the Traisental Valley – full of character, clear in style and site-related minerality. The family’s highest priority is to work without compromise in the vineyards and in the cellar for premium quality. The vineyards are cultivated according to organic guidelines and the entire winery is certified according to the “Sustainable Austria” criteria. As a young winemaker, Markus Huber has already won numerous national and international awards, including the “Falstaff Winemaker of the Year”, the Oscar of the Austrian wine industry
Xavier Gerard Viognier
$49.99
Xavier Gérard is an up-and-coming force to be reckoned with in the Northern Rhône. Having assumed control of his family’s impressive holdings in Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu with the 2013 vintage, Xavier has been steadily honing his craft over the ensuing years; today, his svelte, pure, classicist renderings of Côte-Rôtie’s unique terroir rival anything produced in the appellation. Furthermore, his nimble, acid-prizing touch with Viognier yields Condrieu of appealing restraint and foregrounded minerality.
Michel Rey Pouilly-Fuisse En Buland
$52.99
Eve and Michel Rey produce natural, honest white Burgundy in miniscule quantities from the finest terroir in the Mâconnais. Their “La Roche” vineyards—Mâcon-Vergisson and Pouilly-Fuissé—are not only the highest vineyards in their respective appellations but, we believe, also deliver the purest expressions of Chardonnay in the region, bar none.
The Reys moved to Vergisson in 1988, as Michael was hired as a vineyard manager for a regional winemaker. Bit by bit, the couple saved their money and purchased small yet select parcels whenever they could. From the soil to the cellar, Michel and Eve do everything by hand, and it’s just the two of them—such diligence and dedication is what makes their bottles so special. They don’t have tons of vineyards; they don’t overextend. Through hard work and savvy winemaking, this duo is mentioned now in the same breath with Vergisson’s leading artisans, such as Daniel Barraud (who we also have some wine coming from) and Jean-Marie Guffens.
Their modest winery offers a breathtaking view of the Vergisson valley, and the wines faithfully mirror the majesty just outside their cellar door. While the word “artisan” is so often bandied about in wine, it is winemakers like the Reys who are true artisans, crafting with four hands works of vinous art, each and every vintage.
Huber Vision Gruner Veltliner
$24.99
In just a few years, Markus Huber has successfully established his winery as a showcase enterprise in Austria as a wine producing country. His distinctive, top-quality wines, grown on outstanding soils of lime and conglomerate, serve as an example of the very best of the Traisental Valley – full of character, clear in style and site-related minerality. The family’s highest priority is to work without compromise in the vineyards and in the cellar for premium quality. The vineyards are cultivated according to organic guidelines and the entire winery is certified according to the “Sustainable Austria” criteria.
Il Palagio Bocca Vermentino
$47.99
Sting and his wife Trudie Styler purchased this estate and villa many years ago, a labour of love that has yeilded some very good wines over the years. From the mid-1500s Il Palagio has harvested, fermented and bottled its own wines. Sting and Trudie have gone to great lengths to keep the tradition alive. Using organic farming methods, they have replanted 11 hectares of vineyards since 2000. Resulting in four beautiful reds: Message in a Bottle, Casino delle Vie, Sister Moon and When We Dance.Thewhite Baci Sulla Bocca is made from Vermentino.
L`Enclos Chablis 1er Vaude V
$97.99
Domaine de l'Enclos is 33 hectares of organically farmed vines (Ecocert certification) on the 4 levels of the Chablis designation and notably on some of the most beautiful terroirs of the vineyard. The property is located in the heart of Chablis in a large estate, a former residence of the monk workers of Pontigny Abbey, comprising a large 19th-century building and a partly underground cellar built in 2016.
Most of their work is done in the vineyards. They take the greatest care in their vineyards to extract the best from them: respectful Poussard pruning, organic fertilizers, disbudding, careful trellising, leaf removal, and manual harvesting on all our vintages. We attach great importance to the life of our soils, which we maintain by scratching and sowing. To protect our vines from diseases, they only use products of natural origin, copper, sulphur and plant preparations. The domaine is fully certified in BIO.
Peter Wetzer Weiss
$37.99
The fact that Peter Wetzer makes any wine at all is a little astonishing. Firstly, he is located in Sopron, a small region on Hungary’s boarder with Austria. His absolutely tiny cellar (if you can even call it that) is in the basement of his family house, in a suburb; shockingly, it’s more complete than his newly obtained cellar, several stories under a house built in the 1700s that looked more like a demolition zone than a winery..His determination is bordering on insanity, but after seeing the sites he’s trying to replant, learning about the history of the town and the region, and tasting the wines, we understand how he keeps going. To fund this little project, he works a couple of days each week at a gas station – who said winemaking is glamorous?! With only a couple stainless steel tanks, a manual basket press, and some old barrels, he pushes onwards.