KERMIT LYNCH WINE MERCHANT

Guy Breton

Guy Breton is known by his friends as P’tit Max—though he is anything but petit, by the way. He took over the family domaine from his grandfather in 1986. Until that point, the family was selling their fruit to the large cooperative wineries which dominated the region and were gravitating towards a uniform style. The rise of imported yeast cultures to impart flavor and aroma, the use of high-tech carbonic maceration, and the widespread commercialization of Beaujolais Nouveau debased the region’s reputation, and Beaujolais came to be seen as one-dimensional, lacking any expression of the native terroir. Following the example of traditionalist Jules Chauvet, Guy and three other local vignerons, Marcel Lapierre, Jean-Paul Thévenet, and Jean Foillard, soon hoisted the flag of this back-to-nature movement. Kermit dubbed this clan the Gang of Four, and the name has stuck ever since. The Gang called for a return to the old practices of viticulture and vinification: starting with old vines, never using synthetic herbicides or pesticides, harvesting late, rigorously sorting to remove all but the healthiest grapes, adding minimal doses of sulfur dioxide or none at all, and refusing both chaptalization and filtration. The end result allows Morgon to express itself naturally, without make-up or plastic surgery: rustic, spicy, loaded with schist minerals and at the same time, refreshing and deep-down delicious.

Breton’s domaine is comprised of just over four hectares (10.6 acres), most of which lies in the appellation of Morgon, above the village of Villié-Morgon. He supplements his own harvest with purchased fruit from surrounding appellations, enabling him to vinify a diverse portfolio of Beaujolais crus. His own vineyards, which exceed a century of age in some parcels, are located in the Morgon climat “Les Charmes”, primarily in the high-altitude lieu-dit “Saint-Joseph,” where slow ripening allows for low alcohol and great freshness in the wines. Max is among the first in the region to start picking each year, cooling down his harvest and pressing before the end of fermentation to craft wines he likes to drink: bright, aromatic, low in tannin, and dangerously easy to quaff down to the last drop.

Domaine Clape

In the world of wine, there are many good winegrowers. However, there are only a very select few who are truly great, and Auguste Clape will go down in history as one of the greats. A proud and uncompromising pioneer of fine winemaking in the Northern Rhône, his Syrahs from the cru of Cornas have earned their place among the most celebrated wines of France. The Clapes have been vignerons for many generations, but the infamous grower strikes of 1906 and 1907 forced Auguste's grandfather out of the Languedoc and into the Northern Rhône to start anew from practically nothing. The Clapes rebuilt their fortunes, terrace by terrace, along the steep, western slopes of the Rhône River. For many years, the majority of growers in Cornas sold their fruit to négociants. Auguste was the first to bottle his own wine, which eventually paved the way for such contemporary superstars as Thierry Allemand. Without pretense or fanfare, Auguste, the former mayor of Cornas, was a stately picture of grace and magnanimity—a no-nonsense wise man who never rested on his laurels and sought to better himself and his wines each year until his passing in 2018 at the age of 93. Today, his son, Pierre-Marie, and grandson, Olivier, carry on his legacy with honor and integrity.
Though the Clapes farm only eight hectares, the challenge presented by the rough, tightly stacked terrace vineyards of Cornas is largely enough to handle by anybody’s standards. The dicey precipices make using any machinery in the vineyards impossible. All work must be done by hand. There are no official rules to their viticultural methodology—they work the old-fashioned way, by instinct, feeling, and common sense. The vineyards sit on granite subsoil, behind the village, with optimal sun exposure. They farm a number of prime parcels, including Reynards, La Côte, Geynale, Tézier, Petite Côte, Les Mazards, Patou, Pied La Vigne, Chaillot, and Sabarotte, the latter purchased from Cornas legend Noël Verset. Their only secrets: starting with old vines, and optimizing the ripeness of the fruit as best they can. They accomplish this by holding out before they harvest—a risky game of ‘chicken’ where the trick is to keep the fruit on the vine as long as possible while still harvesting before the rains. Individual parcels are vinified separately via whole-cluster fermentation. Long élevages of twelve to twenty-two months in old, oval foudres add depth to the natural complexity of the wines. These Cornas are capable of tremendous longevity in the cellar, although Kermit also encourages trying them while they are young and fresh, to better appreciate the evolution to come. For a taste of the old-style Syrah from the fabulous, sculptured slopes of the Northern Rhône, Clape’s Cornas is the only place to start.

Domaine Leon Barral

Didier Barral represents the thirteenth generation to grow grapes in the tiny hamlet of Lenthéric, within the confines of the Faugères appellation deep in the heart of the Languedoc. While his forebears made a living off of cultivating the vine, Didier took the family business to the next level when he began estate-bottling and commercializing his wines on a larger scale in 1993. Named for Didier's grandfather, Domaine Leon Barral is a beacon of revolutionary winegrowing: shortly after founding the domaine, Didier decided that biodynamic practices were the best choice for farming his thirty hectares of vineyards. He has pioneered numerous innovative agronomic techniques with the goal of establishing his vineyards as a self-sustaining ecosystem. This Renaissance man, naturalist, and biodynamic maven commands tremendous respect among his peers for his visionary approach to topics like soil management, pest control, and drought mitigation in his vineyards.

Incorporating biodynamic practices necessitates enormous investment and an uncompromising work ethic. With so much land to farm, it is fortunate that Didier has so much help. His workers of choice? A team of twenty cows, horses, and pigs that roam the vineyards during winter, grazing the cover crops while adding natural fertilizer to the soil. Without compacting the earth the way a tractor would, the animals effectively cultivate healthy microbial activity, bringing mushrooms, ants, ladybugs, earthworms, and other essential life forms, which add important nutrients while aerating the soil. This is the concept of sustainability at its finest, where the ecosystem thrives from the symbiotic relationships Didier has fostered amid the vines.

This approach ultimately translates to tremendously powerful, complex, and age-worthy wines inflected with an earthy mineral note from the schist soils of Faugères. Most of Didier’s vines get full southern sun exposure; in this Mediterranean climate where summer heat waves and drought are constant during the growing season, pruning in the gobelet style shelters the grapes from the blistering sun. Most of his vines are very old—some up to ninety years of age—keeping yields naturally low. Once in the cellar, Didier’s harvest is cared for with the same zeal, although he would consider the wine all but finished once it leaves the vineyard. This level of artisanship was once nearly extinct, had it not been for Didier and the profound influence he is having over other viticulteurs who now see how his work ethic and ideology translates to results.

Catherine Le Goeuil

The hilltop village of Cairanne on the left bank of the southern Rhône between Orange and Vaison-la-Romaine is a picture of Provençal fantasy where fields of lavender paint the landscape purple and proud plain trees line the marketplace in the center of town. Cairanne belongs to the Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation and is widely regarded as the star among the seventeen villages that have the right to use this designation.
Catherine Le Goeuil’s taste for adventure has made her a leading pioneer in Cairanne. Having been born in the Congo to French parents, she had already lived in interesting places, but she longed to return to her roots. In 1993, with little experience and great determination, she and her family bought a six-hectare domaine. Soon after implementing one of their first chemical treatments on the vines, Catherine became very ill. The viticultural direction for the domaine became instantly clear. In her mind, farming as naturally as possible was the only way to go. Over time, she started the conversion to organic farming, and is now fully certified in this methodology. In a village just shy of one thousand inhabitants and only two others who farm organically nearby, her decisions have been met with suspicion and trepidation. Though rooted to the place both figuratively and literally, she is still considered an outsider—not that she lets this dilute her conviction in any way.
Cairanne is located deep in the heart of the Vaucluse and boasts spectacular views of the famous Dentelles de Montmirail and Mont Ventoux. Catherine’s vineyards are frequently subject to the forceful mistral, which is known to purify vines of excess moisture when it is not wreaking havoc on her beautiful flower garden. Her vineyards enjoy all the benefits of organic farming: a grassy cover crop in between vineyard rows that provides nutrients and microbiotic growth and well-aerated soils in a typically tough and relatively impermeable sandy molasse. She credits this soil for giving her wines with finesse and approachability, but she deserves credit, too. Brave trailblazing, risk-taking, and persistence in the face of scrutiny have given this creative maverick the fortitude to make delicious, elegant blends year after year.

Comtesse de Chérisey

The lost hamlet of Blagny, up in the hills between Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault in the Côte d’Or in Burgundy, is home to Domaine Comtesse de Chérisey. You may have heard the name “Blagny” before, attached to a bottle of premier cru Meursault-Blagny, or perhaps even a bottle of the increasingly rare Blagny rouge. Monks were the first inhabitants, planting vines in the 14th century. This almost magical, lost-in-time corner of the world boasts a unique microclimate, with a slightly different average temperature, exposition and soil than the rest of Burgundy. In our humble opinion, our friend and vigneron, Laurent Martelet, creates the most haunting masterpieces that emerge from this terroir. Laurent bottles the wines we import under the Comtesse de Chérisey label named in honor of his wife Hélène’s mother, who inherited their vines and passed them on to Hélène, who works side by side with Laurent.
All of the de Chérisey premier cru vines are at least 60 years old and they encircle their ancient cellar in the Hameau de Blagny. Their Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Hameau de Blagny is from vines on the south side of Blagny, level with the village, just above Puligny Truffières. It is a wine that combines the power and richness of Meursault with the ethereal finesse of Puligny. Laurent’s Puligny-Montrachet1er Cru Les Chalumaux is from vines just below Blagny, between the aforementioned Truffières and Meursault-Perrières. If you were a Chardonnay vine it wouldn’t be a bad place to put down your roots. The wine is loaded with white limestone and gives a very fine, intensely focused white Burgundy, très Puligny, screaming with minerality. It doesn’t have the renown of its neighbors, but it should. The Meursault-Blagny 1er Cru La Genelotte is from a vineyard just north of Blagny, on the Meursault side of course, high on the slope above the village. The wine is a powerful, classic, long-lived Meursault. The Genelotte vineyard is also a monopole meaning Laurent and Hélène are sole proprietors.

Château Roûmieu-Lacoste

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.

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.

Château de Bellevue

The good-natured proprietor of the Château de Bellevue, André Chatenoud, seems more at home in his cellars than anywhere else.  Though he and his family have owned the property since 1971, the history of the château dates back to at least the 18th Century.  One needs only to explore the incredible limestone caves and see the rich range of old graffiti engravings to be impressed: from harvest workers of the 1700s to American G.I.’s of the 1940s, so many of its visitors have been eager to mark their place in time through the walls of this small yet refined estate.  Like other châteaux of the region, the winery is adorned with the elegant architecture of the era - the “chartreuse bordelaise.” This typical 18th century edifice is built in a U-shape, using quarried stone from under the vineyard.  It is very practical: you make a living from the upper layers of soil and build your house from the deeper limestone.
Lussac St-Émilion is found on the Right Bank of the Bordelais, and is often regarded as a “satellite” appellation of St-Émilion.  The terroir here is characterized by exceptional quality – only surprising because the great, low prices here at Bellevue stand to shift the perceptions of what good Bordeaux should cost.  All twelve hectares of the clay and limestone vineyards are farmed organically and were certified through the French agency, Ecocert in 2002.  All grapes are de-stemmed and only native yeasts are used. Wines are aged in the subterranean cellars for two years before bottling.  There is a beautiful mineral components and freshness to all three wines:  The Sauvignon Gris (a local, white, heirloom varietal), the Lussac St-Émilion “Les Griottes” (a fresh, easy-drinking cuvée of 100% Merlot), and finally their classic Lussac St-Émilion (comprised of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc). Recent tastings of Bellevue’s 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2005 vintages prove that one need not pay a high premium for age-worthy, elegant Bordeaux.  With such lushness and mineral backbone, this small estate’s offerings only stand to impress.

Thierry Allemand

Like the Sleeping Beauty of the Northern Rhône, the appellation Cornas is at last awaking from a long slumber. Though these were wines once celebrated by Charlemagne, they have been regarded as the red-headed stepchild of the Northern Rhône for the last hundred years. Hard, tannic wines from the large négociants have given the appellation a bad reputation, and the rough, crumbling terraces lining the banks on this patch of the river have crippled even the most robust vignerons. In the early twentieth century, many vineyards here had already fallen into disrepair. By the 1980s, a slow insurgency of passionate winemakers started to resuscitate the vineyards, with Thierry Allemand deep in the fray. Thierry was working at Domaine Robert Michel at the time. Young and eager, he was learning the trade secrets of terrace farming, pruning, grafting techniques, and noninterventionist winemaking. Little by little, he began acquiring vineyard parcels that had long since been abandoned, rescuing some, buying others, and renting the rest. Insufferable work as it was, he dove into the project courageously: he cleared over-taken vineyards of weeds and scrub brush, reinforced terraces, rebuilt walls, and replanted. All by hand. Though it took him fifteen years before he could afford to fully dedicate himself to his own domaine (he earned his living as an electrician!), the quiet, monastic Thierry Allemand had already become a legend.
The not-even-five hectares of land that he farms almost seem abundant when one considers the diversity and challenge that each parcel presents. Despite the critiques earned when Cornas was considered to be in decline, some claim that it possesses the best microclimates and the greatest terroirs of the Northern Rhône. Stacked onto the hills of the western bank of the Rhône River, the vines of Cornas enjoy maximum sun exposure, facing south by southeast. The slopes are composed of both limestone and granite, though Thierry’s parcels lie predominately upon sturdy, granite subsoil with some clay. The sun exposure of his vineyards are of particular note, as they are inclined to early ripeness. Thierry vinifies each parcel individually, bringing prestige and recognition back to even the smallest lieux-dits of Cornas. His commitment to minimal doses of sulfur dioxide puts him in the same school of thought as such renowned traditionalists as Marcel Lapierre (Beaujolais), Domaine Gramenon (Southern Rhône), and Domaine Léon Barral (Languedoc). The cult status that Thierry’s wines have achieved is well-earned praise for this quiet hero of Cornas.

Domaine Gachot-Monot

The wines of Gachot-Monot represent some of the best values in the KLWM portfolio – not because they are the least expensive, but because they offer an outstanding price-to-quality ratio.  Damien Gachot may work the vineyards of the lesser known Côtes de Nuits Villages appellation, but he works his vines as if they were premier cru fruit from Nuits-Saint-Georges. This fifth-generation vigneron and his Danish wife, Lise, farm twelve hectares in the village of Corgoloin, in between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Beaune. They first came to Kermit’s attention via a trusted source—the master of La Tâche himself, Aubert de Villaine—and it certainly doesn’t hurt that Damien also received an endorsement from his friend, Bertrand Chevillon, either. Ever-smiling and tireless in his work, Damien was first saluted by the Hospices de Beaune as a young talent to be watched. We have been proud to import his wine since the 2000 vintage. 
In the most competitive market for Pinot Noir in the world, it is not an easy feat making a wine taste better than the pedigree of its soil would allow. Damien’s genius is found in his ability to balance traditional philosophies in the vineyards and respect of terroir with more contemporary methodologies in the cellar. His style gracefully manages to achieve suppleness and approachability without sacrificing authenticity, typicity, or age-ability. Dixon Brooke writes,
Thanks to his efforts and dedication, we get a Côtes de Nuits Villages that tastes more like Nuits-St-Georges than village Burgundy.  It is always deeply colored, highly aromatic, full and complex.  Last year we had the 1978 vintage at a dinner with clients in Beaune, and it really turned some heads, not only among the clients but also with the local sommeliers!  There were many fancier labels on the table from top names. 
Kermit has built his own reputation over the years by finding values where no one else was looking. Dive in and experience great Burgundy without breaking the bank!