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La Culottee Rose
This 100% Caladoc wine is barrel-fermented, though it is still recognizably rosé in style. Needless to say, barrel-fermented rosé is anomalous anywhere, much less in southern France. The barrels are over-sized, and the wine has no added sulfur or added yeast. Dry, clean and rather full for a rosé, you can nonetheless drink it chilly on a sunny day, just like you would the rest of the rosés you’re slamming this summer.
Type, Body & Flavor
La Petite Gargotte
The Comte Tolosan region encompasses famed wine regions: Jurancon, Cahors and Armagnac. Typically, the white wines are based upon neutral grapes like Ugni Blanc, Colombard, and Folle Blanche, or more aromatic grapes like Petit Manseng or Gros Manseng. While few of these grapes have distinctive personalities, if you put them into a harmonious blend, they can be pretty charming.
Type, Body & Flavor
Larme en Rose
If you stick around the wine business long enough, you’ll have seen it all. Where once wine coolers were cooler than Liebfraumilch, now hard seltzer is hot (served cold). White Zin was once de rigeur, though it was never French; it was from the good ol’ US of A. But then that became too sweet and the category died. Or seemed to. Because then rosé rose up like a zombie eager for fresh meat, though the current iteration of the pink stuff is more often French than not. Provence is the epicenter of it and the French have figured out how we like it: dry, pale pink, light and refreshing.
Type, Body & Flavor
L'Azerolle Minervois
The town of Minerve is named after the Greek goddess Minerva, and the vine probably arrived with the Greeks in the 6th century BC. The area prospered under the Roman Empire and its thirst for all such local wines. Here, the two most important Rhone grapes, Syrah and Grenache, are given the stage along with the no less intense grape Cinsault, all are drawn from 50-year-old vines.
Type, Body & Flavor
Le Batard Petite Arvine
Using the grape Petite Arvine is a new project for Maison Ventenac, with the wine called a ‘bastard’ on the label because Petite Arvine is a Swiss grape that few grow in France. The wine is 100% Petite Arvine, tense and minerally, fermented with native yeasts and no sulfur in Italian terracotta amphorae. It adds color, texture and complexity to this otherwise simple, refreshing grape.
Type, Body & Flavor
Le Cabas Sauvignon Blanc
Gascony ain't just the Three Muskateers, though they have a place in our hearts as well. More than anything, Gascony is foie gras, delicious plums and apricots, rich dinners with Armagnac to follow. But the white grapes grown here are not just for great brandy, they have always been consumed as wine too and the last decade or so has seen an embrace of clean, cold winemaking to preserve the aromas of otherwise neutral grapes like Ugni Blanc or Folle Blanche. It's also seen new plantings of Sauvignon Blanc, a grape that requires no heroic measures to reveal its aromatic riches. Whats fun here is that these same winemaking methods generate something bright and vibrant but without much resemblance to other such Sauvignon Blancs (I'm looking at you, New Zealand), many of which have begun to seem like self-caricature. This one is comfortably itself, needing only an ice bucket and a big glass.
Type, Body & Flavor
Le Comte De Malartic
The sweet spot of the Graves region, Pessac-Léognan, used to be an area of good but rarely great wines, whether white or red. And then, through the 80s, they got really good with their reds. Malartic utilized 78% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot to build this little sister wine to the main label.
Type, Body & Flavor
Le Paria
From the Cabardés region inside Langeudoc, and a little town called Ventenac, in the rolling foothills of the Pyrenees. For France, this is warm climate viticulture though it is not so different from the southern Rhone Valley climatically speaking. In general, the Languedoc doesn't cool off in the same manner as the Rhone but Grenache is happily at home in such a sunny place. And the family is invested not only in their historical sites and vines on the side of Montagne Noire but also in sustainable viticulture. The vineyard is free of chemical inputs and the wine has no added sulfites; it’s aged only in traditional concrete tanks.
Type, Body & Flavor
L'Ermitage Clos de Davet Rouge
This is a fairly new estate, founded by the daughter of one of the most influential figures in the region, Bernard Clement. Laurence de la Farge, and her husband, Geraud, built on Clement’s legacy; today their children, Antoine and Sophie, run this large and successful domaine. Their vineyard extends over 1300 acres, and the wines are slowly fermented and then aged in concrete for six months – so very traditional and terroir-driven.
Type, Body & Flavor
L'Ermitage Premiere Cuvee
Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, once ubiquitous on shelves and wine lists, are getting hard to find today. Smart buyers are looking at the AOC’s next door, like Menetou-Salon, just a few miles west of those two better known areas. And just like those places, the soils are a mix of Kimmeridgian limestone and the even more famed soil, silex. Silex deserves its fame; it provides tension and complexity to the aromatic Sauvignon Blanc grape.
Type, Body & Flavor
La Culottee Rose
This 100% Caladoc wine is barrel-fermented, though it is still recognizably rosé in style. Needless to say, barrel-fermented rosé is anomalous anywhere, much less in southern France. The barrels are over-sized, and the wine has no added sulfur or added yeast. Dry, clean and rather full for a rosé, you can nonetheless drink it chilly on a sunny day, just like you would the rest of the rosés you’re slamming this summer.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
La Petite Gargotte
The Comte Tolosan region encompasses famed wine regions: Jurancon, Cahors and Armagnac. Typically, the white wines are based upon neutral grapes like Ugni Blanc, Colombard, and Folle Blanche, or more aromatic grapes like Petit Manseng or Gros Manseng. While few of these grapes have distinctive personalities, if you put them into a harmonious blend, they can be pretty charming.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Larme en Rose
If you stick around the wine business long enough, you’ll have seen it all. Where once wine coolers were cooler than Liebfraumilch, now hard seltzer is hot (served cold). White Zin was once de rigeur, though it was never French; it was from the good ol’ US of A. But then that became too sweet and the category died. Or seemed to. Because then rosé rose up like a zombie eager for fresh meat, though the current iteration of the pink stuff is more often French than not. Provence is the epicenter of it and the French have figured out how we like it: dry, pale pink, light and refreshing.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
L'Azerolle Minervois
The town of Minerve is named after the Greek goddess Minerva, and the vine probably arrived with the Greeks in the 6th century BC. The area prospered under the Roman Empire and its thirst for all such local wines. Here, the two most important Rhone grapes, Syrah and Grenache, are given the stage along with the no less intense grape Cinsault, all are drawn from 50-year-old vines.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Le Batard Petite Arvine
Using the grape Petite Arvine is a new project for Maison Ventenac, with the wine called a ‘bastard’ on the label because Petite Arvine is a Swiss grape that few grow in France. The wine is 100% Petite Arvine, tense and minerally, fermented with native yeasts and no sulfur in Italian terracotta amphorae. It adds color, texture and complexity to this otherwise simple, refreshing grape.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Le Cabas Sauvignon Blanc
Gascony ain't just the Three Muskateers, though they have a place in our hearts as well. More than anything, Gascony is foie gras, delicious plums and apricots, rich dinners with Armagnac to follow. But the white grapes grown here are not just for great brandy, they have always been consumed as wine too and the last decade or so has seen an embrace of clean, cold winemaking to preserve the aromas of otherwise neutral grapes like Ugni Blanc or Folle Blanche. It's also seen new plantings of Sauvignon Blanc, a grape that requires no heroic measures to reveal its aromatic riches. Whats fun here is that these same winemaking methods generate something bright and vibrant but without much resemblance to other such Sauvignon Blancs (I'm looking at you, New Zealand), many of which have begun to seem like self-caricature. This one is comfortably itself, needing only an ice bucket and a big glass.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Le Comte De Malartic
The sweet spot of the Graves region, Pessac-Léognan, used to be an area of good but rarely great wines, whether white or red. And then, through the 80s, they got really good with their reds. Malartic utilized 78% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot to build this little sister wine to the main label.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Le Paria
From the Cabardés region inside Langeudoc, and a little town called Ventenac, in the rolling foothills of the Pyrenees. For France, this is warm climate viticulture though it is not so different from the southern Rhone Valley climatically speaking. In general, the Languedoc doesn't cool off in the same manner as the Rhone but Grenache is happily at home in such a sunny place. And the family is invested not only in their historical sites and vines on the side of Montagne Noire but also in sustainable viticulture. The vineyard is free of chemical inputs and the wine has no added sulfites; it’s aged only in traditional concrete tanks.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
L'Ermitage Clos de Davet Rouge
This is a fairly new estate, founded by the daughter of one of the most influential figures in the region, Bernard Clement. Laurence de la Farge, and her husband, Geraud, built on Clement’s legacy; today their children, Antoine and Sophie, run this large and successful domaine. Their vineyard extends over 1300 acres, and the wines are slowly fermented and then aged in concrete for six months – so very traditional and terroir-driven.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
L'Ermitage Premiere Cuvee
Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, once ubiquitous on shelves and wine lists, are getting hard to find today. Smart buyers are looking at the AOC’s next door, like Menetou-Salon, just a few miles west of those two better known areas. And just like those places, the soils are a mix of Kimmeridgian limestone and the even more famed soil, silex. Silex deserves its fame; it provides tension and complexity to the aromatic Sauvignon Blanc grape.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions