Featured Producer
Champagne Paul Bara
The Montagne de Reims boasts some of the best Pinot Noir in the region, and Bouzy is its capital. The key to Bouzy’s inherent greatness lies in its deep, chalky subsoil which imparts intense expression of fruit and great mineral complexity in its grand cru wines. The village of Bouzy and Champagne Paul Bara are practically synonymous. As the published village historian, Paul is indelibly linked to the lore of his hometown. Many argue that he is their most renowned producer, being one of the rare récoltants-manipulants in a region inundated with the mass-produced wines of the large, corporate champagne houses. These récoltants-manipulants, or R.M.s as they are known, are of the few that still grow their own grapes and make their own wines. Champagne Paul Bara is the quintessential example, where everything is done with a personalized touch.Over the years, gradual improvements have been made to the estate: the surface area of the vineyards was expanded to eleven hectares (only 26 acres!), the winery and press modernized, and the cellar extended – and what an impressive cellar! It is carved entirely out of pure chalk and reaches a depth of over thirty feet below ground. When Paul returned home at the end of World War II, he found these same cellars raided, pillaged of nearly all inventory, and irreverently trashed by the German occupying forces. Of the few bottles that were salvaged, one can still experience the longevity and timeless quality of the Bara’s classic style. When Paul retired, he passed the direction of the estate over to his eldest daughter, Chantale, who has kept their family traditions and their house style very much alive. The Baras make their wines by hand, with low-yielding vines. Chez Bara, good maturity is ensured by prolonged bottle aging: four years minimum for the vintage Champagnes and two years for the non-vintage. Andrew Jefford, author of The New France, calls them, “…essential references for anyone who wants to enjoy and understand the ripe, dry richness of Bouzy…”
Cascina Fèipu Dei Massaretti
Agostino “Pippo” Parodi and his wife Bice inherited a family estate of mostly fruit and vegetables that Pippo’s grandfather, Filippo or “Fèipu” in local dialect, had first planted. Convinced that his property was particularly well suited to winegrowing, Pippo slowly cleared the land starting in the mid-1960s and replanted it with vines, focusing especially on the native Pigato. Since there were no appellations for Ligurian wine at that time, he decided to highlight this exceptional terroir by naming the estate after the locality, Massaretti. His efforts were instrumental in establishing Ligurian Pigato as a quality wine, and soon they had a long list of potential clients begging for an allocation of their tiny production. As Pippo and Bice eased into retirement, they handed the reins over to the next generation: their daughter Brunella married a banker, Mirco Mastroianni, who quickly fell in love with winemaking and joined his sister-in-law, Ivana, at the family estate. Under Mirco’s direction the family has rebuilt the old winery and increased production, but the estate remains small and the wine is still a clear expression of the terroir.Mirco is proud to be in an area where wine estates are still family-run and most of his neighbors share his respect for traditional wines. Massaretti lies just inland of Albenga on the Mediterranean coast, in what is probably the former riverbed of the Neva, which left a sandy alluvial soil. The area also enjoys striking diurnal temperature shifts thanks to the alternation between winds from the sea during the day and from the land at night. These two factors combine to provide the perfect home for Pigato and Rossese to develop their full aromatic potential, giving light wines that are easy to drink but more elegant and complex than you might expect.
Domaine Follin-Arbelet
Still waters run deep with Franck Follin-Arbelet. He may seem quiet and unassuming, but the intensity of his wines speaks louder than words. Having grown up in Burgundy’s famous Côte d’Or, he was always attracted to viticulture, but his family’s vines were all rented out to métayeurs (share croppers), and they did not make their own wine. Instead, he gravitated towards Geology, a field that gave him an expertise in soil. His wife, Christine, comes from the famous Latour family, and her father, André Masson (once the régisseur at the Hospices de Beaune), had his own vines. In 1990, when the opportunity came to join André’s domaine in Aloxe-Corton, Franck jumped at the chance, giving up one noble career in terroir to take on another. In 1993, André retired and Franck took over the direction of the domaine.Franck and Christine are fortunate to farm one village wine, four premier crus, and four grand crus in Aloxe-Corton (their hometown), Pernand-Vergelesses, and Vosne-Romanée. Pedigreed land such as this demands much of its stewards, so Franck farms sustainably without synthetic fertlizers or weed killers, working the soils regularly to aerate them and keep them healthy. Their winery and cellars are as picturesque as they are practical—said to be the deepest in their village. In traditional Burgundian homes of this time (1764), the family lives on the second and third floors, above a first floor winery and deep cellars below. This kind of depth makes the cellars colder and more humid than most, two key components in crafting age-worthy wines. Vinifications are in the old-school style, fermenting slowly in open-top wooden vats, using only indigenous yeasts, and the wines are bottled in all of their unadultered glory, unfined and unfiltered. Both pure and intense, they are deep with stony freshness, explosive with bright fruit, and framed with balanced structure.
When asked what inspires him the most, Franck responded, “wine that represents its terroir and a job well done.” Simply put; not so simply executed—but tasting the wines of Domaine Follin-Arbelet is not only inspirational—it is a revelation.
Domaine Jean-Claude Regnaudot
Didier Regnaudot is the type of vigneron we always dream of finding in the Côte d’Or. Alas, there aren’t many like him left. Didier is the fourth generation to manage his family’s property in the beautiful little town of Dézize-les-Maranges, which is on the southernmost edge of the Côte d’Or, up in the hills just west of Santenay. The village is located at 1300 feet above sea level and its terroir is cooler and later ripening than the villages further north, and its vines are more resistant to rot. This is all good.Historically, red wine from Maranges was known to be the darkest wine of the Côte d’Or, a tannic wine not made to drink immediately, and would keep its color forever. As time goes by, more and more Chardonnay is planted here. Meanwhile, those still making red Burgundy here keep trying formulas to render it more accessible in its youth.
Like his father Jean-Claude and his other ancestors before him, Didier sticks to tradition and we celebrate that. He works old Pinot Noir vines mostly planted right after World War II (some before!) on the steep hillsides just to the east of Dézize. The vines are cordon trained, and planted in the middle saddle of the hillside in deep clay and fossilized limestone. His prized holdings are one hectare in a great premier cru site, “La Fussière,” and a small premier cru parcel just below called “Les Clos Roussots.” His formula is pretty simple: gorgeous, expertly managed vineyards, manual harvest, fermentation in concrete tank, long cuvaison, twelve months in oak, bottling without fining or filtration. The Regnaudots long ago understood what makes Maranges special and are dedicating to preserving that tradition, as unglamorous as it may be to some. Here, we raise our hats to Didier. Tradition means learned from experience, not the latest paraphernalia.
How does this sound? Deep, structured, seriously dark red Burgundies with thickly textured tannins. There’s a nice taste of Burgundian soul in there.
Château Aney
Château Aney was built in 1850 by the family that gave it its name, just five years before the wine classification system was initiated in Bordeaux. The domaine thrived and earned Cru Bourgeois status, but by the mid-twentieth century the land was no longer being farmed and the château had fallen into disrepair. In 1972 Jean Raimond and his son, Pierre, bought the property, rehabilitated the vineyards, and refurbished the winery and cellars. This marked a new era for Château Aney; which fittingly achieved Cru Bourgeois status for a second time in 1978. Today Pierre runs the estate along with his son, David, producing wines of class and elegance.While the Raimond family certainly deserves credit for lovingly bringing the property back to its full glory, there is also something inherently special about this place. Situated in Cussac Fort Médoc, this left-bank château lies strategically between St-Julien and Margaux, at the epicenter of the great wines of the region where the terroir imparts exceptional quality and provides ideal growing conditions. The warm summer sun is tempered by the cool breezes of the Garonne, and round, polished, gravelly, river stones cover the vineyard. Throughout the day the sun warms these stones, which gradually redistribute the heat to the vines, protecting them against springtime frosts and helping the grapes along towards full maturation in the autumn. The final blend of the wine matches the proportions in which they are planted throughout the thirty hectares of vineyards: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot. This traditional Haut Médoc is more like what you might remember of the classic Bordeaux styles of the 1960s and 1970s. Not at all cloaked in new wood or over-extracted tannins, Château Aney’s wines have finesse and balance that make them both approachable now and perfect for longer aging. They are a great choice for any cellar.
Château Ducasse
Hervé Dubourdieu’s easy charm and modest disposition are complemented by his focus and ferocious perfectionism. He prefers to keep to himself, spending most of his time with his family in his modest, tasteful home, surrounded by his vineyards in the Sauternes and Graves appellations. Roûmieu-Lacoste, situated in Haut Barsac, originates from his mother’s side of the family, dating back to 1890. He also owns Château Graville-Lacoste and Château Ducasse, where he grows grapes for his Graves Blanc and Bordeaux Blanc, respectively. In the words of Dixon Brooke, “Hervé is as meticulous a person as I have encountered in France’s vineyards and wineries. Everything is kept in absolutely perfect condition, and the wines showcase the results of this care – impeccable.” Hervé is incredibly hard on himself. Despite the pedigree and complexity of the terroir and the quality of the wines, he has never been quite satisfied to rest on his laurels, always striving to outdo himself. This is most evident in his grape-sorting process for the Sauternes. Since botrytis is paramount to making great Sauternes, he employs the best harvesters available, paying them double the average wage to discern between the “noble rot,” necessary to concentrate the sugars for Sauternes, and deleterious rot. Hervé is so fastidious that he will get rid of a whole basket of fruit if a single grape with the harmful rot makes it in with healthy ones to be absolutely sure to avoid even the slightest contamination. Another thing that we love about Hervé is that he would rather entrust the selling to us than be away from his vines, so he lets us buy the lion’s share of his production. This is an important factor in keeping wine of this quality at so low a price.Roûmieu-Lacoste is in the climat of Haut Barsac, an area famous (and in fact more renowned historically than the Sauternes appellation as a whole) for its particularly robust, powerfully styled moelleux with pronounced acidity. The vineyards are just across the road from First Growth Château Climens on a similar soil: calcareous clay on fissured rock, peppered with red iron, white limestone, and grey flint gravel. The Graville-Lacoste property produces a Graves Blanc, known primarily for its stony soil composition and fresh minerality. This wine and the Bordeaux Blanc of Château Ducasse are very different from others from their appellations: Hervé blends a high proportion of Sémillon (60%) and a splash of Muscadelle (5%) with Sauvignon Blanc (35%), creating a rich, full, aromatic mid-palate to complement the clean finish. These are the perfect go-to whites that pair well with anything from fish to poultry, picnic fare to Indian curries.
Patrick Bottex
Bugey is one of the best-kept secrets of France. As a geographical crossroads between the Savoie, the Jura, Burgundy, and the Rhône, it is one of the few regions where one can see both palm trees and snow within eyeshot. It is adjacent to the Savoie on its western side, located in between Lyon, Grenoble, and Geneva. The wines of Bugey were first cultivated here by the Romans and were later resuscitated by the medieval monks. Still, the region had to wait until 2009 before receiving its own A.O.C. status. Today, Cerdon is considered one of three crus within the appellation of Bugey, and the only one whose entire production consists of sparkling wine.In La Cueille, one of seven high-altitude hamlets surrounding the historic medieval town of Ponsin, Patrick and Catherine Bottex are farming the limestone slopes above the Ain River. They have been working five hectares of land since 1991 and produce only a small quantity of their beautiful, intriguing sparkling wine. As a former part of the Duchy of Burgundy, it stands to reason that several Burgundian grape varietals have found a home here—not the least of which is Gamay. The Bottex’s blend consists of ninety percent Gamay and ten percent of the native Poulsard. They bottle this low-alcohol wine using the méthode ancestrale, a rare technique that experts believe predates the méthode champenoise. The wine first goes through a primary fermentation in cuve, but is then bottled before all of the residual sugar has converted to alcohol. After going through a secondary fermentation in the bottle for at least two months, the wine is ready—Champagne’s dosage is not permitted! The resulting wine is delightfully refreshing with bright fruit, a beautiful rosé hue, and a touch of sweetness.
Kermit had never heard of Bugey until Marcel Lapierre uncorked a beauty at one of his after-tasting parties. His best memory of drinking it, however, was from an ice chest at a hamburger barbecue on a beach in Hawaii. From Bugey to Waimanolo!
Domaine Trotereau
Pierre Ragon of Domaine Trotereau is as much an icon of the small appellation of Quincy in the Loire Valley as the appellation itself is a historical icon for the whole of France. Quincy was the second recognized appellation in France in 1936, second only to Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Grapes had long been planted here, however, with Sauvignon Blanc having been introduced by Cistercian monks in the 12th century. Southwest of Sancerre, on the banks of a tributary of the Loire River, the Cher, the relatively small appellation of 200 hectares is located between the villages of Vierzon and Bourges. The sandy, silex-ridden topsoil with an undercurrent of pink limestone is truly unique, unlike any other Sauvignon Blanc appellation in the world, and gives a very particular wine. Sauvignon is able to ripen more fully here while retaining a very interesting aromatic profile, and the wines are capable of aging quite gracefully.As recently as fifty years ago, the wines of Quincy were more recognized in France for their quality than Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé, and commanded a higher price. Today the appellation has largely faded from recognition, and cave cooperatives have bought up a lot of the land at pennies on the dollar. Most at Quincy try to make bracing, nervy Sauvignons that recall the typical style that can be produced anywhere, and there are precious few willing or able to take the risks necessary to produce the type of wine that made Quincy famous and that only their terroir can produce. Ever since Denis Jaumier retired after bottling the 2005 vintage, we’ve been looking for a worthy successor. Pierre Ragon’s vines happen to sit right next to some of Jaumier’s old parcels, and Pierre hasn’t rushed to replant with higher yielding clones since he took over the reins in 1973 at this storied family domaine founded in 1804. He is now blessed with vines over 100 years old that are still producing exceptional fruit. With pride and excitement, we once again bring you the real deal from Quincy.
Château Feuillet
Maurizio Fiorano grew up outside Turin and moved to Milan for his studies, but his life took an unexpected turn when he married and moved with his wife to her hometown of Saint Pierre in the Valle d’Aosta. Fiorano continued his work as a surveyor, but his long commute became burdensome when the two of them started a family. By the time their second child came along, Maurizio had had enough and left his old job for good. He didn’t have any definite plans and he knew that his wife’s business of running a small inn was not for him. But she had inherited vineyards from her family, so why not make wine to serve in her restaurant? The idea suited him perfectly, and he went to work in the vines. In the beginning his production was tiny: he signed up to show his first vintage at VinItaly but arrived at the gargantuan expo with just four bottles! Today his production remains small, but he is careful to export to many different markets. He may not be born and bred, but Maurizio says he feels like a Valdostano, and this is his way of showing off the local products all over the world.If Maurizio became a vineyard owner by chance, he was exceedingly lucky in the placement of his plots—he will humbly tell you that it’s not hard to make good wine here. The vines sit in a very shallow sandy soil, but their feet wriggle into crevices in the solid granite bedrock. Any rain is quickly dried out by cleansing winds. And the vineyards are planted on an ancient riverbed, where over the millennia the Dora Baltea River has cut through the mountain, creating the current river valley and leaving behind mineral deposits that the wines happily lap up. The trump card, however, may be the exposition of the vineyards, which in combination with the chilly climate, high altitude, and drastic diurnal temperature shifts provides the magic charm sought by vignerons everywhere: extremely long hours of gentle sunlight. In fact, the vineyards here capture the sun so perfectly that the almond trees scattered over the slope blossom at the same time as those in Sicily, over 550 miles farther south! This gives the grapes an exceptionally long, slow ripening season that in turn offers very unusual red wines with the heft of a sunny climate that are still refreshing and light on their feet, as you might expect of a northern wine.
Sesti
Although he always enjoyed visiting vineyards and attending tastings, Giuseppe Maria “Giugi” Sesti did not initially choose a career in wine. Instead, his Venetian upbringing inspired him to study music, art, and astronomy, the last of which became his profession. He met his future wife in North Wales while writing his first book on this topic, and in 1975 Giugi and Sarah moved their family to Tuscany, where they bought the abandoned ruins of the hamlet and castle of Argiano, slowly clearing the land and restoring the buildings to create the breathtaking estate we see there today. Giugi was now a father of four, vice-director of a local Baroque opera festival, and actively writing books on astronomy, but he miraculously found spare time to visit local wineries and help his neighbors in the vineyards and cellar. His passion for wine grew along with his experience, and in 1991 he planted his own vineyards on the slopes around the castle. The children helped pick and stomp grapes from the earliest age, and though they, too, pursued international studies in various fields, they always managed to come home for the harvest. In 1999 the couple’s only daughter, Elisa, joined the estate full time, and today she is an active partner in all aspects of the vineyard management and winemaking.While helping out at neighboring estates Giugi observed that simplicity and careful attention were the most important factors in producing great wines, while chemical intervention skewed their delicate balance; so he determined to make entirely natural wines right from the start. He even took a pioneering extra step by applying his prodigious knowledge of the moon’s influence on living things to his vineyard management and winemaking. Today the family continues this thoroughly eco-friendly philosophy (although no official certification currently meets their personal standards), and Elisa’s primary concern is the materia prima, or raw material, that goes into the wine. The Sesti lineup includes a white Sauvignon and a Sangiovese Rosato born directly of necessity, since the family wanted something light and cooling to drink under the hot summer sun; they were forced to increase production when visiting friends and clients tried these wines and started placing orders. But their basic trio—the Brunello, Brunello Riserva “Phenomena,” and Rosso di Montalcino—provides traditional expressions of the appellation, robust and powerful yet refreshing, with great aging potential in the Brunellos.
From the Blog
Vibrant Wines from a Remote Terroir
Drive to Irouléguy and you will find yourself in one of France’s smallest wine appellations, as well as one of its most remote and intriguing. This is Basque country, in the heart of the Pyrenees, and it feels drastically removed from the rest of France due to its unique culture and landscape. Just north of the Spanish border and thirty miles from the Atlantic coast, these mountains create a very distinctive terroir. The vineyards, planted on slopes that reach vertigo-inducing gradients, soak up plenty of southern sun, moderated by the humid, cooling influences of mountain air and the nearby ocean.
It takes a great vigneron to make a grand terroir speak, and Michel and Thérèse Riouspeyrous are perfect for the job. Strong advocates of organic and biodynamic agriculture, they craft incredibly vibrant wines that genuinely express their Basque origins. While produced in minute quantities, they represent some of the most exciting, singular wines being made in France—wines that tell a story about a land and a people.
While most Irouléguy is red, its rare whites are well worth seeking out. Michel and Thérèse’s “Hegoxuri” bottling (pronounced eggo-shoo-ree, Basque for White of the South) is an excellent starting point, delivering nerve and minerality along with aromas of ripe lemon, white flowers, and green almond. A blend of Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng, and Petit Courbu, this white comes from three distinct terroirs: sandstone, schist, and a rare rock of volcanic origin known as ophite, rich in serpentine and magnesium. The Riouspeyrous have recently begun to bottle a selection from each terroir separately so as to highlight the effects of the different soil types. These whites are fermented with native yeasts in wood and aged for a year in large foudres, then aged for another 18 months in bottle. The result is a tour de force that delivers more than one could imagine from this remote mountain appellation. Rich and powerful yet completely electric, showing energy, tonicity, and an intense mineral foundation, these whites are not to be missed. Delicious now, their potential to improve with age will astound anyone willing to try.
The domaine’s red wines, composed of Tannat, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon, also represent a unique expression of this terroir. Black in color, earthy, and laden with dark fruit and spice, these wines balance grippy tannin with fresh acidity. They are bottled unfined and unfiltered to retain all their purity and flesh. The Irouléguy rouge bottling, raised in cement vats, is tremendously bright with a modest alcohol level, while “Haitza” is bigger game, a barrel-age titan that will stand the test of time. These are serious wines unlike anything else out there and are a must-try for any curious wine drinker. Eskerriska!
Please email sales@kermitlynch.com or call 510-524-1524 to inquire for availability of wines.
2013 IROULÉGUY BLANC “HEGOXURI” $46.00 per bottle
60% Gros Manseng, 35% Petit Manseng, 5% Petit Courbu
2012 IROULÉGUY BLANC “PANTXURI” $60.00 per bottle
60% Gros Manseng, 40% Petit Manseng
2012 IROULÉGUY BLANC “SCHISTES” $60.00 per bottle
60% Gros Manseng, 35% Petit Manseng, 5% Petit Courbu
2012 IROULÉGUY ROUGE $30.00 per bottle
66% Tannat, 17% Cabernet Franc, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon
2011 IROULÉGUY ROUGE “HAITZA” $46.00 per bottle
70% Tannat, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon
It takes a great vigneron to make a grand terroir speak, and Michel and Thérèse Riouspeyrous are perfect for the job. Strong advocates of organic and biodynamic agriculture, they craft incredibly vibrant wines that genuinely express their Basque origins. While produced in minute quantities, they represent some of the most exciting, singular wines being made in France—wines that tell a story about a land and a people.
While most Irouléguy is red, its rare whites are well worth seeking out. Michel and Thérèse’s “Hegoxuri” bottling (pronounced eggo-shoo-ree, Basque for White of the South) is an excellent starting point, delivering nerve and minerality along with aromas of ripe lemon, white flowers, and green almond. A blend of Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng, and Petit Courbu, this white comes from three distinct terroirs: sandstone, schist, and a rare rock of volcanic origin known as ophite, rich in serpentine and magnesium. The Riouspeyrous have recently begun to bottle a selection from each terroir separately so as to highlight the effects of the different soil types. These whites are fermented with native yeasts in wood and aged for a year in large foudres, then aged for another 18 months in bottle. The result is a tour de force that delivers more than one could imagine from this remote mountain appellation. Rich and powerful yet completely electric, showing energy, tonicity, and an intense mineral foundation, these whites are not to be missed. Delicious now, their potential to improve with age will astound anyone willing to try.
The domaine’s red wines, composed of Tannat, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon, also represent a unique expression of this terroir. Black in color, earthy, and laden with dark fruit and spice, these wines balance grippy tannin with fresh acidity. They are bottled unfined and unfiltered to retain all their purity and flesh. The Irouléguy rouge bottling, raised in cement vats, is tremendously bright with a modest alcohol level, while “Haitza” is bigger game, a barrel-age titan that will stand the test of time. These are serious wines unlike anything else out there and are a must-try for any curious wine drinker. Eskerriska!
Please email sales@kermitlynch.com or call 510-524-1524 to inquire for availability of wines.
2013 IROULÉGUY BLANC “HEGOXURI” $46.00 per bottle
60% Gros Manseng, 35% Petit Manseng, 5% Petit Courbu
2012 IROULÉGUY BLANC “PANTXURI” $60.00 per bottle
60% Gros Manseng, 40% Petit Manseng
2012 IROULÉGUY BLANC “SCHISTES” $60.00 per bottle
60% Gros Manseng, 35% Petit Manseng, 5% Petit Courbu
2012 IROULÉGUY ROUGE $30.00 per bottle
66% Tannat, 17% Cabernet Franc, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon
2011 IROULÉGUY ROUGE “HAITZA” $46.00 per bottle
70% Tannat, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon