French Wine

Lower ABV A wildly delicious warm-weather and party white from equal parts Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier from France’s southern Rhone Valley. It’s more fruit-filled than floral, showing Sauvignon’s white and yellow... Read More

Lower ABV Savoie's Jacquere grape inclines to salty stone minerality anyway, but in the village of Chignin that's amped up even more. Fourth generation winegrower Guillaume Quenard captures the minerality in spades and... Read More

Antoine Chevalier’s grandfather and father began planting Champagne vines in 1974 but he is the first of the family to start making and bottling wine. This is organically farmed Chardonnay from the lieu-dit Les Bas du Mont... Read More

An old domaine (founded 1847) that has established itself with a place in the Champagne elite under the leadership of Raphael and Vincent Bereche. A delicious introduction to their work, this is a blend of equal part both Pinots... Read More

Organic/Bio Lower ABV Always one of the more deliciously joyful Cabernet Franc reds from Chinon in the Loire Valley, and especially delicious this year. Done all in cement and from gravelly soils, this is Chinon at its freshest... Read More

Pinot Blanc is often the overlooked grape in Alsace, but – especially in these warming times – its ability to hold onto crisp, refreshing, acidity is prized! Done all in tank, this shows pretty scents and flavors of... Read More

A classy, elegant rose from one of Champagne's most important producers.

We’ve followed this oak-aged Champagne since its first release, and never has it been more luxuriously delicious than in this year’s model.

The Billecart family makes classic Champagne and this is a lovely introduction to the style. It’s roughly equal parts Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay from 2019 and nearly 40% reserve wines going back to 2016 with about... Read More

Organic/Bio Lower ABV Mersault’s Vincent Boyer and Languedoc’s Emmanuel Lucas de Bar created this project to make wine together in both regions. The fruit here is from just outside of Meursault near Volnay, is fully... Read More

Lower ABV Mersault’s Vincent Boyer and Languedoc’s Emmanuel Lucas de Bar created this project to make wine together in both regions. The fruit here is from Languedoc and the winemaking all in steel. It’s restrained... Read More

Organic/Bio Vincent Boyer has moved his old family estate to organic farming and now gives his wines two years elevage – one in 5-8 year-old barrel and a second in concrete egg. This wine, from sites in lower Meursault,... Read More

Organic/Bio Lower ABV What starts off as a round, almost creamy, mouth full of sweet and bitter orange, peach and lemon zest flavors get an electric jolt of energy on the finish that grips to squeeze out every last drop of this... Read More

Organic/Bio What do Cognac makers drink for an aperitif or at lunch? Pineau des Charentes! And this is one of the very finest from Cognac's first organic estate. The wine starts with fresh, unfermented, juice from the Cognac... Read More

Just imagine taking the richest, most mouthcoating, just-pressed wine grape juice and then adding enough high-end VSOP Cognac to it to bring the alcohol up to around 17%. Then put the blend into Cognac barrels for a minimum of... Read More

A delightfully plump and easy Grenache/Syrah blend from this value-oriented Chateauneuf du Pape estate. Done all in tank, the fruit comes first here with enough earthy complexity to hold your interest. As Wine Spectator said of... Read More

Smells great, tastes even better, crazy good price for high quality white Burgundy. That’s really what you need to know here, but we’ll try to give you a little more. It’s from vineyards on the Puligny border... Read More

In this very short harvest, there's a little more oak influence to Sylvain's village Puligny (not more new wood, but more second and third use barrels that needed to be kept full!). It just makes this lovely Chardonnay... Read More

I believe the technical tasting note for this wine, as approved by all the most serious wine writers, is: Hubba Hubba. There’s this thing white Burgundy winemakers do where they let the wine sit in the barrel on what’s... Read More

I certainly didn’t expect to write this, but Sylvain Bzikot’s 2023 village Puligny Montrachet is even better than his outstanding 2022 edition. It’s from several plots of vines above the village of Puligny including... Read More

One of the most wildly delicious and complex not dry wines we know of. You can call it sweet if you like and it will certainly do magic with an apricot upside-down cake. But we'll be drinking our bottles before dinner (or... Read More

This rich, sweet, liqueur made from blackcurrants macerated in alcohol originated in Burgundy in the 1840s where it soon found its way into glasses of tart Aligote (a “Kir”) and then frothy Champagne (a “Kir... Read More

Lower ABV This does just what good Languedoc Chardonnay is supposed to do: give you a nice dollop of Chardonnay varietal flavors with no oak or butter to get in the way of thirst-quenching delight. You’ll enjoy the sliced... Read More