Bubbles for Every Day The NV La Petite Marquise Crémant de Loire Brut is exactly the sort of wine that makes opening bubbles on a random Tuesday feel like a very good idea. Think of it as an everyday sparkler...
Classic Bordeaux, 2015 St. Emilion Two weeks, two St-Émilions… but this one could not be more different from the last. Last week’s wine was all plush fruit and youthful swagger; dense, juicy, and clearly built for the long haul. Today’s...
Bright, Mineral, Serious Muscadet Quite simply, this is some of the most expressive Muscadet I have come across this past year. The nose leaps out of the glass with citrus blossom, crushed oyster shell, green apple, and a saline edge...
Big Easy by Fess Parker is a Big, Easy Choice Fess Parker is known for small production, elegant Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, plus cool climate Syrah in my mind. In this case, they decided to make a wine that is...
Hidden Gem of Chianti’s Tough 2023 Vintage The name Castello di Ama carries real weight in Chianti Classico. For decades, the estate has been one of the standard-bearers for what great Sangiovese from Tuscany can be: elegant and unmistakably tied...
Piedmont’s Troublemakers: Grignolino & Freisa from La Casaccia Piedmont may be famous for Barolo and Barbaresco, but the locals don’t drink Nebbiolo every night. When the corks start popping around kitchen tables in the hills of Monferrato, it’s often wines...
The Smart Sancerre Buy for 2024 With 2024 shaping up to be one of the tightest Loire vintages in recent memory,especially for Sancerre, we are thrilled to offer a wine that delivers everything you love about the region without the...
Benchmark Arneis by Giovanni Almondo From the heart of Roero, where sandy soils and steep hillsides give Arneis its most articulate voice, Almondo has long been a reference-point producer for the grape. “Bricco delle Ciliegie”, named for the cherry trees...
St Emilion’s 2022; Dense Merlot and Perfumed Cabernet Franc The 2022 vintage in Saint-Émilion delivered extraordinary concentration without sacrificing freshness, a true Goldilocks vintage. A warm, dry growing season produced small berries, thick skins, and remarkable phenolic ripeness. Crucially, cool...
The Benchmark Cerasuolo di Vittoria, COS First, the name. COS is not a romantic Sicilian word, but an acronym. Derived from the last names of the three friends who founded the estate in 1980: Giambattista Cilia, Giusto Occhipinti, and Cirino...
Massolino Barbera, Boisterous and Juicy Serralunga d’Alba. Known for producing some of the most structured, long-lived Barolos in the region, it is also home to one of its most respected traditional estates: Massolino. While their Barolo rightfully earns global acclaim,...
An Old Favorite, Jean-Marc Burgaud There are a handful of growers who built the Beaujolais Renaissance, and Jean-Marc Burgaud is one of those. Long before Morgon and Côte du Py became shorthand for serious Gamay, Burgaud was quietly proving that...
Alpine Beauty from Vallée d'Aosta The 2023 Chambave Rouge from La Crotta di Vegneron is a joyful, vibrant Alpine red that delivers far more pleasure than its modest profile suggests. This is a recent arrival from our friends at Ideal...
100% Sangiovese from the Heart of Chianti In Tuscany, there are few places more revered than the Conca d’Oro—the “Golden Basin”—a natural amphitheater in the heart of Chianti Classico known for producing some of the denomination’s most interesting wines. Its...
The Best Value in Spring Mountain High above the valley floor, tucked into the rugged slopes of the Spring Mountain District, Smith-Madrone Winery has quietly produced some of Napa Valley’s most honest and compelling wines for over fifty years. In...
In Santa Barbara the Pacific Writes the Recipe The story of Presqu'ile Winery is inseparable from the cold, restless presence of the Pacific Ocean. From the winery’s vantage point in Santa Barbara County,you can quite literally see the source of...
A Return to Traditional Napa Sauvignon Blanc In a place as much of a monoculture as Napa Valley, it’s easy to forget that wine used to be just one part of a much bigger agricultural picture. Apricot and almond trees,...
A Fresh Face of Barbera from Ravera Based in Novello, the Cogno family farms in Ravera, a high-altitude amphitheater of limestone-rich soils that naturally emphasizes aromatics, tension, and energy. Ravera is often associated with structured, age-worthy Barolo, but in the...
The Alta Side of Rioja. Yes, it’s a Pun. Alegre Valgañón is based in the village of Sajazarra, in the cooler, higher-elevation reaches of Rioja Alta, near the foothills of the Obarenes Mountains. This is a very different landscape from...
Chillable, Food-Loving, Totally Charming The 2023 Favolalunga Vespolina from Colline Novaresi comes from Alto Piemonte, a historic but still wonderfully overlooked region in northern Piedmont, tucked into the foothills of the Alps. While Barolo and Barbaresco get most of the...
We should all drink more Austrian wine!! I’ll admit something up front: I don’t drink Austrian wine as often as I should, which is a fault I’m actively trying to correct. A few weeks ago, I opened a bottle of...
