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Importer of fine wine from France and Italy. Established 1972 | Berkeley, CA
Featured Producer
Domaine Pierre Guillemot
Kermit says he has several great memories of visiting with the Guillemots, and his favorite happened about fifteen years ago when Robert Parker asked us to arrange a big tasting of our Burgundy selections. It took place in the cellar below our Beaune office, and Mr. Parker approved Kermit’s suggestion that we invite the winemakers to the tasting. The place was packed and there were over two hundred red and white Burgundies to taste. Pierre Guillemot was there with his big belly and bristly moustache. Everyone loved having him, because he wowed them with comparisons of certain wines with various characteristics of the male and female genders. Kermit noticed at some point in the morning that Pierre had quieted down. He looked over and saw that, as Pierre tasted, he did not avail himself of a spit bucket. Suddenly there was an “Alors, au revoir, à bientôt j’espère,” and up the stairs he went. Kermit followed and watched Pierre walk away, awfully close to a Charlie Chaplin pantomime of a drunken French vigneron weaving down the street, barely able to stand up.The Guillemot family has worked Savigny-lès-Beaune vines for eight generations (!) and produces wines with classic Burgundian finesse and balance, all while leaving us a reminder of Savigny’s rustic character. Guillemot is one of the quintessential KLWM producers, with wines that epitomize the local terroir and emphasize grace and elegance over power and structure. But do not be fooled into thinking that this means they lack aging potential; the Guillemots are very proud of their old wines and thankfully have the foresight to set aside a good supply and follow their wines’ development over the years. A recent tasting at the domaine included a 1989 and 1975 Savigny Blanc, as well as the ‘90, ‘88, ‘85, ‘82, ‘76, ’72, and ‘64 Rouge. There was not a single tired bottle in the bunch. We challenge anyone to find a better deal on Burgundies that are built to last like these!
Manni Nössing
Alto Adige—or Südtirol, as it is also known—does not seem Italian. The street names are primarily German, you are more likely to come across sausage and sauerkraut on a menu than tomatoes and basil, and your phone calls are more likely to be answered by an assertive “Hallo?” than a melodic “Pronto!” It is here in Bressanone (a.k.a. Brixen), less than twenty miles south of the Austrian border, that Manni Nössing runs his small winery amid the towering peaks of the Dolomites. Manni’s vineyards benefit from the mountain climate and steep slopes of glacial deposit that make up the Valle Isarco, the narrow valley to the northeast of Bolzano that is known for its fresh, aromatic whites.Descended from a family of farmers, Manni has no formal training in viticulture or enology but seeks to learn from each vintage in order to produce wines that are capable of giving pleasure while also reflecting the terroir from which they originate. In 2000, he made the decision to start bottling his own wine instead of selling to a nearby co-op. Since then, he has increased his holdings to 5 hectares, all hillside vineyards at altitudes of 650 to 800 meters, planted to Kerner, Grüner Veltliner, Müller Thurgau, Riesling, Sylvaner, and Gewürztraminer. Kerner, a cross between Riesling and Schiava (a local red grape), represents half of his production and perfectly exemplifies the house style of precision, freshness, class, and minerality. While the climate in Alto Adige is certainly a colder one with snowy winters, Manni finds that due to his vines’ southern exposure and the region’s hot summers, the sun is enemy number one. “I want my wines to be drinkable,” he explains. With the belief that good acidity is the key to refreshing, balanced wines, he has recently stopped green harvesting and de-leafing his vines. “My grapes are happy in the shade,” he elaborated. “They are unhappy sitting in the sun all day”.
Manni’s desire to respect the land and emphasize terroir also applies to his choices in the cellar. All wines are vinified in stainless steel tanks to preserve the grapes’ delicate aromas, though 50% of the Veltliner sees a passage in neutral acacia barrels. After eight months on the lees during which the wines pick up additional richness and texture, they are ready to be bottled. The result is a range of wines that are a joy to drink while also exhibiting exceptional finesse and complexity, perfectly showcasing Manni’s passion for his land and the region’s pristine Alpine beauty. We are proud to welcome him on board as our first ever import from Italy’s northernmost province.
Champagne J. Lassalle
Jules Lassalle established this family-owned Champagne house in 1942 in the village of Chigny-Les-Roses on the Montagne de Reims. A master of his craft, he established a signature style of elegant, tightly knit wines with a certain ampleur. When he passed away in 1982 his wife, Olga, and their daughter, Chantal Decelle-Lassalle, stepped in and took over the estate, upholding Jules’ high standards and progressively pushing the domaine to the next level. In 2006 Chantal’s daughter, Angéline Templier, joined the estate as winemaker. Their twenty-eight-year tradition of “une femme, un esprit, un style” (one woman, one spirit, one style) holds true today more than ever. In the 1970s, Kermit was the first to begin importing artisanal, grower Champagne, and the Lassalles have been in the KLWM portfolio longer than anyone. Today, we are proud that the relationship has continued into the third generation of the Lassalle family.Champagne J. Lassalle works with all three varietals authorized in the region (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier) on sixteen hectares of vineyards, all of them premier cru. These tough, hardworking women continue to follow the vinification methods established by Jules in the forties: they use the same wooden basket press he installed in the winery over fifty years ago, pressing and vinifying the individual plots separately. It is one of the rare Champagnes that has been allowed to finish its malolactic fermentation, just like the great whites from the Côte d’Or, and all cuvées are aged extensively once in bottle—even the non-vintage cuvées, which are a minimum of five years old. This results in an astonishing complexity and depth from the beginning of their range up to the luxury cuvées. Don’t miss their Blanc de Blancs, sourced uniquely from premier cru Chardonnay grown on the Montagne de Reims. It is a classic vin de terroir that ages beautifully.
Ferruccio Carlotto
Ferruccio Carlotto and his daughter Michela farm a tiny estate of several hectares in the Alto Adige town of Ora, south of Bolzano. The specialty of this village is Lagrein, a red grape that is native to the region, and these folks have it down. They chose to produce only one Lagrein Riserva that is aged in large oak casks. The vines are planted in a complex mélange of soil types dominated by igneous porphyry rock and complemented by limestone subsoil and a wide range of alluvial sediments and stones deposited here over millennia. You have never tasted Lagrein with this much finesse. It is a powerhouse of a wine with a very light touch—inky black, loaded with fruit, with a distinctive personality, and silky tannins. They also make a small amount of Pinot Nero that is made in a very fine, elegant style, with a feathery touch. It is from one of the best terroirs in the Alto Adige for Pinot Nero, the cru of Mazzon. Their 1997 was a revelation.We went for the Lagrein and were overjoyed to find the best Schiava we’ve ever tasted, albeit in tiny quantities. It is like free-run raspberry juice infused with rose petals with no tannin. We can understand why the locals drink it all up so we were pleasantly surprised when we were able to talk the Carlottos into selling us a pallet for the United States. Unfortunately there are not much of these finely crafted beauties to go around but if you can get your hands on a few cases, you will be experiencing some of the best of what Alto Adige has to offer the wine world.
Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy
Hippolyte Reverdy’s family has been making wine in the charming village of Verdigny, a commune of Sancerre in the eastern Loire, for many generations—perhaps as far back as 1600. Traditional in nature, the farm was planted to multiple crops, and the Reverdys raised goats and made small quantities of wine from their own vines for local consumption. It was not until the end of World War II that Hippolyte began increasing his Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir production, selling it to accommodate increasing demands from Paris. Hippolyte and his three sons began bottling small quantities under their own label, although the lion’s share of the grapes was still being sold off to the local cave coopérative. Michel joined his father and brothers in 1971, shortly after finishing high school. Kermit began working with the domaine for the first time in 1983. Shortly after, the passing of Michel’s father and the untimely deaths of his two brothers brought a climate of sadness to the domaine. Michel was left with his mother to bear the burden of loss and to assume the responsibility of running the farm alone. Slowly but surely, Michel has found his own rhythm. After tasting a Sancerre rouge from the domaine, Kermit asked Michel to craft one for him in the traditional demi-muids, and specified that he would like it unfiltered. Once convinced of the quality, Michel expanded the winery to accommodate these new reds. Since then, his rouge is the talk of Sancerre, one of a kind.Today, Michel farms fourteen hectares of vineyards on his own. Chris Santini, our man in France, writes of Michel, “His dedication is total. He’s one of the few remaining vignerons in France who truly live like a paysan [peasant]. No vacation, no travel, ever. He’s happy just to stay on the farm, working seven days a week, and wanting nothing more and nothing less…[Michel] plans to keep working the land until he physically can’t get himself out to the vines any longer.” In earlier days, Kermit considered the Sancerre blanc very good, with great typicity, although since Michel has taken the reins, Kermit says that Reverdy has since “become the benchmark domaine of our day.”
Giovanni Montisci
Cannonau (aka Grenache) is grown all over Sardegna, but the town of Mamoiada, in the heart of the island’s mountainous interior, could be considered one of its grand cru sites. Planted at dizzying altitudes on soils of sandy decomposed granite, the grape finds a grandiose expression that channels Barolo while rivaling, in its own way, the finest Grenaches from Châteauneuf or Priorat.With a mere two hectares of vines and a radically artisanal approach to his craft, Giovanni Montisci has established himself as one of Mamoiada’s foremost ambassadors. Unsatisfied in his job as a mechanic, he turned his full attention to cultivating tiny vineyard plots inherited from his wife’s family, ultimately bottling his first wine from the 2004 vintage. He has since earned a cult-like following for his powerful and distinctive Cannonaus from organically farmed old vines grown up to 650 meters elevation. The chilly nights here allow for slow and steady ripening, preserving precious acidity and favoring rich, complex wines perfumed of wild fruit, flowers, Mediterranean herbs, and spices—a truly compelling translation of this extreme terroir, which shines alongside the hearty local cuisine of Sardegna’s mountains.
Giovanni’s wines are the product of his painstaking attention to detail, from the meticulous work among his ancient alberello-trained vines to the gorgeous Quintarelli-inspired labels adorning each bottle. All of his wines, including the fleshy dry Moscato and deep, vinous Cannonau rosato, are fermented spontaneously, aged in neutral wood, and bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal SO2. “Barrosu”, his flagship Cannonau, perfectly embodies the rugged beauty of these mountainous highlands, while the Riserva “Franzisca”, from 85-year-old vines, displays astonishing finesse for such a potent, structured red—proof that Sardegna is capable of much, much more than the simple quaffer.
Domaine Giudicelli
Muriel Giudicelli, whose parents hail from the same village in Corsica, was always enthralled with the French island 120 miles off the coast of Provence. Even though she grew up mostly outside of Corsica—her parents were teachers who worked around the world, including on mainland France—she traveled back to the island frequently to stay with family during vacations. When the wine bug eventually bit, Muriel knew that Corsica was where she wanted to settle.Like many vignerons who aren’t born into a winemaking family, her path to wine came through university courses, where she undertook agricultural and soil studies. Wary of modern enology, Muriel took the unconventional route of training with small domaines all over France to learn the craft, while waiting for any good opportunities to arise in Patrimonio, in the north of Corsica.
During her studies, she had befriended Antoine Arena, who, one day in 1996, called her up and told her about a retiring vigneron with terrific old vines, no children to take over, in a great part of Patrimonio, who was looking to sell. Muriel jumped at the opportunity, bought those 5 hectares of vines, and in 1997 began making wine. From day one, she farmed organically. She obtained organic certification in 2006 and biodynamic certification in 2012.
Muriel’s original holdings, as well as newer ones she has added since then, are all in the highly regarded Campo Gallo (“field of the rooster”) sub-region of Patrimonio, distinct due to its diverse pockets of green clay, red clay, granite, schist, and limestone. Yves Leccia’s parcels border hers. Today she has 10 hectares in total, which she works with her husband (he’s in charge of the vines, she’s in charge of the cellar) and only one employee.
Since 1997, Muriel has avoided the easy sale of the local market. Her main market has been and is still Paris. She wanted to make wine for wine lovers, not primarily for tourists, and was inspired by Antoine Arena’s vision of making Corsica and Patrimonio known beyond its borders and respected for its quality. With her Patrimonio whites and reds, Muriel has joined Antoine in cementing this legacy!
Cantine Valpane
The Fojadelli family proudly displayed the awards bestowed on their Barbera: gold medals at tastings in Dijon and Bordeaux in 1898, silver the same year in Hamburg and the next in Rome. Their stately villa at Valpane overlooked one of the most enviable vineyard sites in the Monferrato, a perfect amphitheater that had been planted with vines since at least the 1700s. One day a young man came to the estate and enthusiastically described his dream to buy Valpane and pursue his passion for winegrowing on this exceptional plot of land. The elderly Fojadelli brusquely refused at first, but a housekeeper saw the young man’s desolation as his hopes were crushed and convinced the owner to give him a chance. Pietro Giuseppe Arditi began working the land in 1900 under a sharecropping agreement, and after his passion and dedication to his work had earned Fojadelli’s confidence, he purchased the estate in 1902. Over the years he planted more vines and raised his family at Valpane. His eldest daughter, Lydia, was a brilliant student with a bright future in mathematics, but her mother needed help around the house so, like many girls of her generation, she was pulled out of school at an early age. But instead of cooking and tending to her elderly grandmother, Lydia followed her father out to the vineyards, where she quickly became fascinated by his craft. Before long, she was working alongside him and showing a keen business sense in dealing with clients. As Pietro grew older she gradually took over the estate, continuing to make the same structured, aromatic wines for which Valpane was already known. Today Lydia’s nephew, named Pietro for his grandfather, runs the estate. He is bursting with pride in his vineyards and the distinguished history of Valpane, but he never takes credit personally for his wonderful wines. “People tell me I’m a great winemaker,” he says, “but the wines of Valpane have been winning awards for well over a century, so it can’t be my doing. I’m just careful not to ruin what the land gives us!”Although the names Asti and Alba may be more widely recognized today, Pietro explains that the Monferrato provides more faithful expressions of Barbera. This is due in part to the warmer climate and longer hours of sunlight here, which allow the grapes to ripen completely and unfurl the full personality of the variety. The Monferrato is also still relatively untamed, and the forests and fields here benefit the area’s vineyards by providing a natural source of variety. At Valpane these factors combine to provide meaty Barberas that nevertheless offer plenty of lively fruit. Pietro then lets them sit in large oak botti and cement tanks for several years, depending on the cuvée, and releases them only when they are ready.
Albert Boxler
The small family domaine in France that works traditionally using techniques and savoir faire passed down across multiple generations is under serious threat today. Consolidation, technology, regulation, foreign investment, globalization, and many other factors (all in the name of progress), threaten the great agricultural tradition of winegrowing in France, arguably the world’s greatest winegrowing culture. Few domaines in France embody this way of life more ably and proudly than Domaine Albert Boxler in Niedermorschwihr. Jean Boxler, many generations removed from his ancestor of the same name that moved here from Switzerland in 1673, currently rules the roost at this humble yet incredibly exciting domaine. Intense and serious about his land, his craft, and his wine, Jean is the genius behind what are certainly some of the finest white wines in Alsace (and the world).World War II brought Jean’s grandfather Albert back to Niedermorschwihr from Montana, where he was busy enjoying the natural gifts of big sky country. After the war Albert returned to the family domaine in time to harvest the 1946 crop. He became the first generation to bottle the family’s production himself and commercialize it under a family label. The wine still wears a label drawn by his cousin in 1946. Albert’s son Jean-Marc continued the tradition for several decades until passing the baton to his son Jean in 1996.
The family’s holdings are centered around the ancient village of Niedermorschwihr in the Haut-Rhin, dominated by the imposing granite hillside grand cru, Sommerberg. Jean vinifies micro-parcels within this cru separately, de-classifying some into his Réserve wines and producing multiple bottlings of Sommerberg from the different lieux-dits depending on the vintage. Sommerberg gives racy, intensely structured, very long-lived wines. Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Blanc are the specialties of the domaine, while Boxler also produces one of Alsace’s best Crémants (and Edelzwickers), an incredible Gewurztraminer grown in limestone, and some of the most hauntingly pure Vendanges Tardives and SGNs in all of Alsace. If that weren’t enough, the Boxlers also own land in the powerful grand cru Brand, the ultimate counterpart to their holdings in Sommerberg.
The Sommerberg hillside terminates in Jean’s driveway, making it easy to basically live in the vineyards, ensuring exceptionally healthy fruit year after year. After harvest, the wines are vinified and aged in old foudres in a small cellar underneath the family home until bottling. Not much has changed over the centuries; not much has needed to. Tasting through the entire range of Boxler’s wines is ample proof of the fact that Alsace, along with Burgundy, is the source of the world’s most complex, exciting white wines, and will probably always be.
Domaine Montanet-Thoden
Domaine Montanet-Thoden was founded in 2000 by Catherine Montanet of Domaine de La Cadette in collaboration with associate Tom Thoden. Though Catherine was still very much involved with La Cadette, she created the new domaine from her family's vineyards, which express a character of their own due to slight differences in the underlying terroir. Additional planting in the early 2000s brought the total vineyard area up to eight hectares, which are now managed by Catherine's son, Valentin.Raised by two vigneron parents, Valentin felt the call of the family trade, but first wanted to gain a broader perspective. After finishing high school, he immediately sought experience outside his home region of Burgundy, so he spent a year working in a Swiss winery. He was later admitted to the prestigious engineering school in Changins, where he took particular interest in the problem of compacted soils and had several articles on the topic published in professional reviews. His studies included internships at wineries in France and Switzerland, as well as a work-study trip in California, but these experiences only strengthened the belief that his parents were doing things just right.
When he received his degree in 2010, Valentin returned to Vézelay and joined his mother at Montanet-Thoden, where he fully took over three years later. Confident in the natural, traditional approach that Catherine had established from the start, he maintained the methods and standards used by both of his parents to fashion fresh, succulent wines. The higher proportion of clay in the Montanet-Thoden vineyards gives wines with a bit more structure than those of La Cadette, but Valentin continues to work closely and consult with both Catherine and his father Jean, so the family style and pedigree shine through.
From the Blog
Elena Lapini’s Ribollita Recipe
Earlier this month, Elena Lapini of Podere Campriano shared her recipe for ribollita with us. She explained, “Usually, every family in the Florence area (ribollita is typical only in Florence, Arezzo, and the plain of Pisa) has its own recipe that was passed down from generation to generation, and I have my own recipe that came from my grandmother. Here is that recipe, translated into English because we occasionally make it in our cooking classes and I offer it to my English-speaking guests.
“As you might know, it was traditionally a peasant recipe, made of bread, vegetables, and broth. It was usually done on Friday, because the Catholic religion says that meat should not be eaten on Friday, but then it was also heated in the following days and this is why the name ribollita (re-boiled) was born. It seems the name was born around 1910, but already in the Middle Ages, a similar bread soup was cooked that was simply called by another name. Today, it is eaten during winter because of our abundance of winter vegetables.”
Click here to view our 6-bottle sampler of Tuscan reds to pair with ribollita.
Posted on January 29, 2020, 4:11PM, by Tom Wolf
Earlier this month, Elena Lapini of Podere Campriano shared her recipe for ribollita with us. She explained, “Usually, every family in the Florence area (ribollita is typical only in Florence, Arezzo, and the plain of Pisa) has its own recipe that was passed down from generation to generation, and I have my own recipe that came from my grandmother. Here is that recipe, translated into English because we occasionally make it in our cooking classes and I offer it to my English-speaking guests.
“As you might know, it was traditionally a peasant recipe, made of bread, vegetables, and broth. It was usually done on Friday, because the Catholic religion says that meat should not be eaten on Friday, but then it was also heated in the following days and this is why the name ribollita (re-boiled) was born. It seems the name was born around 1910, but already in the Middle Ages, a similar bread soup was cooked that was simply called by another name. Today, it is eaten during winter because of our abundance of winter vegetables.”
Click here to view our 6-bottle sampler of Tuscan reds to pair with ribollita.