KERMIT LYNCH WINE MERCHANT

Domaine Savary

In Maligny, a village well-poised between Paris and Dijon, just north of Chablis, Olivier Savary and his wife, Francine, have been vignerons since 1984. Though many of Olivier’s family members were vignerons, an unfortunate series of challenging harvests discouraged his parents from joining the family business. Chardonnay runs strongly through his veins, however, and Olivier pursued wine school in Dijon regardless of the fact that he would have no vines of his own. Olivier and Francine arranged to farm some vineyard land en métayage (share cropping) in the Chablis and Petit Chablis appellations. With his father at his side to farm the complex network of vineyards, Olivier initially sold off the majority of his production in bulk to a négociant. Emboldened by their years of combined experience and family history of winemaking, Francine and Olivier finally found their wings and began bottling under their own label. In 1990, Olivier's longtime friend and Chablis legend Jean-Marie Raveneau introduced Olivier to Kermit. Today, Francine and Olivier are joined by their sons, Maxime and Mathieu, whose ambition and young energy ensures a bright future for the domaine.

The Savarys have finally earned the recognition for their hard work, and are highly regarded in the appellation. The clay-limestone hillsides of the Kimmeridgian chain are excellent for growing dazzling, complex Chardonnay, also known here as “Beaunois.” However ideal the soil, Olivier brings his own brilliance to the table. The grapes from his vineyards throughout the Chablis appellation are blended into one fabulously complex village wine cuvée.  He also bottles an extraordinary premier cru from Fourchaume, as well as a separate cuvée of old-vine fruit in heavy, wax-sealed bottles after élévage in demi-muids.  These exquisite wines are quintessential Chablis, with unmistakable aromas of ancient crushed shells and a pronounced, racy mineral structure.

La Viarte

From a young age Giuseppe Ceschin had a great passion for wine, studying enology as soon as he was old enough and traveling around Italy gaining experience working for wineries in various regions. With the support of his wife, Carla, he followed his dream to Friuli, where the couple worked for thirteen long years before seizing an opportunity to purchase 35 hectares in Prepotto, near the border of Slovenia. The land was a long way from ready, but the Ceschins saw their future in it and dedicated the next decade to the hard labor of building terraces and planting new vineyards. In 1984 the family finally celebrated their first harvest and the realization of their dream. They chose the Friulian word for springtime as the name of the estate since it was the beginning of a new era in their lives.
Giuseppe and Carla’s son, Giulio, says that he “grew up with their dream, breathing their passion, which helped me discover the fascinating world of wine.” Giulio and his wife Federica expanded La Viarte to 41 hectares, including 17 hectares of forest that they conserved to maintain the area’s ecological balance. After several decades managing La Viarte, Giulio decided to sell the estate to Alberto Piovan, bringing in outside management to ensure the long-term financial health of the property. Alberto has continued the focus on local heirloom varieties, such as Friulano, Ribolla Gialla, and Schioppettino, and has embraced the passion, perfectionism, and technical capabilities of the Ceschin family. He has shown both his talent and his creative side in bringing exceptional new wines to market recently, such as a lightly sparkling, gently sweet Verduzzo, and deep, complex, incredibly age-worthy Pignolo Riserva. He is also producing some of the best Refosco, Cabernet, and Merlot in Friuli. With the investments Alberto has made in the vineyards and in the talent of his team, this estate is going to continue to be a lot of fun to follow in coming years.

Château Haut-Lariveau

Bénédicte and Grégoire Hubau do not come from winemaking families, nor did they pursue studies in enology or viticulture. Both natives of northern France, Bénédicte was a computer specialist and Grégoire a chemist. Without much ado, they decided one day to leave it all behind and start a new life as vignerons. After visiting an endless line of available properties in various regions of France, they finally came across Château Moulin Pey-Labrie, an estate in Fronsac that met their requirement for a terroir de caractère. Unconcerned by their ignorance in the field of winegrowing but reassured by their experience as avid consumers, they purchased the property and dove head-first into their new adventure, counting on their employees to teach them as they worked. The young couple’s eagerness to learn earned them free advice from all their neighbors, and they drank in every word. It quickly became clear which approaches matched their own easygoing, natural philosophy, and before long they were deftly handling the vineyard and winery work on their own. The problem with many winegrowers, as they see it, is that they decide what a vine should have rather than giving it what it wants. Just as each of us has a unique style and prefers certain clothes or hairstyles, they learned that each vine needs individualized care in order to thrive. In 1990, having mastered their new craft, they purchased a second property, Château Haut-Lariveau. Château Moulin, though not a physical château, bottles wine from both Canon-Fronsac and Fronsac. The fruit for these “easy-drinking” wines is sourced from the lower-slope clay vineyards of either Château Moulin Pey-Labrie or Château Haut-Lariveau.

Though their growing experience has only shown that their instincts were right from the start, the Hubaus have tweaked their methods over the years in order to bring the reality of their work more perfectly in line with their vision. Refusing to slacken their strict quality standards, they frequently design their own equipment, including one machine that works the earth from below. In the cellar they consider themselves observers, letting the character of the land express itself freely and encouraging the greatest possible elegance and finesse in all of their wines.

Domaine Colin-Deléger

As the nephew of the great Georges Deléger, Michel Colin inherited part of the Chevenottes vineyard, combining it with holdings from the Colin family’s domaine. Today, he is semi-retired.  He cannot let go completely, thank goodness. He still farms a few, small parcels, three in fact: Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru En Remilly, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Demoiselles, and Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru.  Though the quantities that we are able to buy of each every year are miniscule, it is always a pleasure to continue to be able to taste wines from a mature master vintner with some of Chardonnay’s greatest terroirs.  All three vineyards are within a stone’s throw of one another, with En Remilly just around the corner on the south side of Chevalier-Montrachet and Puligny Les Demoiselles on the northern edge of Le Montrachet.

Podere Sante Marie

Luisa and Marino Colleoni’s native village of Bergamo is famous for its proud ramparts and medieval palaces, but to them it just couldn’t compare to the legendary natural beauty of Tuscany. The couple purchased an old property outside Montalcino known to the locals as Le Sante Marie and moved there in 1993. The following year during an evening walk in the glow of the setting sun, they spotted a bunch of grapes peeking out through the uppermost leaves of an old tree. The undergrowth was so thick that they couldn’t get to the vine, but their interest was piqued, and the next summer they got to work clearing away the scrub. When they finally finished, a neatly planted vineyard lay before them. Though many of the neglected vines had dried out, several were still intact, so they summoned the local inspector and had the vineyard certified to grow grapes for Brunello. Willingly plunging down the path that had unexpectedly opened before them, they replanted the vineyard in 1998 and produced their first wine from the 2000 harvest.

Although the discovery of the vines was entirely coincidental, it seems today that the Colleonis were born to work the land. Luisa and Marino embraced organic viticulture from the start, and they are constantly searching for even more natural methods. For instance, introducing a natural predator of yellow spider mites proved just as effective against the pest as the organic insecticide used by their neighbors during a recent infestation; and they are researching the introduction of a certain spider that eats the roots of oidium in order to reduce (and eventually eliminate) the use of sulfur to protect the vines.

The northern exposure, high altitude, and marl soil (that is littered with huge seashell fossils) that characterize this property all combine to give an extremely elegant and fine Brunello that really sets itself apart from the majority of Brunellos in Montalcino. For all their seductive characteristics, these wines do not lack the characteristic muscle and concentration of Sangiovese from this part of the world. All of Marino's wines are capable of long aging, but can be enjoyed upon release especially by giving them several hours to breathe in bottle or in a decanter.

Vigne Rada

A banker by trade, Luigi “Gino” Bardino long entertained a dream of exiting the stagnant office environment and devoting his life to wine, his true passion. After years of studying enology in his spare time and numerous experimental vinifications in his Alghero home, Gino finally quit his desk job to follow his heart’s desire. With the support of his family, he planted his own vineyards and built a small winery, and in 2012 Vigne Rada saw its first harvest.

The city of Alghero lies on the northwest coast of Sardegna, surrounded by stunning beaches and breathtaking limestone cliffs on either side. Conquered by the Catalans in the 14th century, it enjoys a unique culture with notable Catalan influence in its architecture, cuisine, and even the local dialect. Conditions here are ideal for growing high-quality grapes: fresh maritime breezes and the drying maestrale moderate the Mediterranean heat, while the poor, rocky soils are perfectly suited to the production of balanced, characterful wines.

Gino chose only traditional grape varieties to the region, planting one hectare each year between two distinct terroirs. Monte Pedrosu, where the winery is located, features sandy and clayey alluvial soils with abundant riverbed stones and quartz, while the sloping Cubalciada site is home to clay, limestone, and some chalk. Farming is sustainable, by hand, with help from the whole family.

Vigne Rada’s Vermentino is reminiscent of wildflowers and Mediterranean herbs, with a mouth-coating texture and clean, saline finish. Delightfully crisp in its youth, it reveals a surprising complexity and depth with bottle age. The bright, plush Cannonau emphasizes freshness over extraction, showcasing a lovely purity of fruit and caressing texture on the palate. Cagnulari, on the other hand, represents a local specialty of Alghero: this dark, potent red is full of sweet spices, black fruit, and tobacco aromas—there is nothing quite like it.

Like the man behind them, the wines of Vigne Rada are honest and straightforward—the result of a skilled artisan’s genuine passion for his craft. They deliciously reflect the coastal beauty of Alghero, and we are thrilled to offer them for the first time in the U.S.

Corte Gardoni

Documents show that the Piccoli family has owned vineyards in the Veneto since the year 1600. Many generations tended the vines, but after phylloxera hit, the ravaged family estate couldn’t support all five brothers, and one of them left to become a fruit grower. Two generations later Gianni Piccoli grew up surrounded by orchards, but he had wine in his blood so when an estate with extensive vineyards came up for sale in 1971 he jumped at the opportunity. For several years the grapes of Corte Gardoni were sold to local cooperatives, but Gianni felt that their wines lacked the soul and individual attention necessary to produce an honest, natural product. In 1980 he definitively broke those ties and for the first time crafted his own wine, focusing on the inherent character of the grapes and the terroir.
Today Gianni is a well-known and highly respected figure in the region as well as a fierce leader in the fight against the homogenization of the local wine scene. While local cooperatives push for laws that would force producers to plant only French grapes like Chardonnay and Merlot, the place of honor at Corte Gardoni is reserved for local varietals such as Garganega, Corvina, Rondinella, and others. The Piccolis’ vineyards occupy 25 hectares, while the rest of the property encompasses orchards, forests, olive trees, and arable land, from which the family also produces fruit, olive oil, and the first balsamic-style vinegar to be made from apples. Gianni still keeps a close eye on every step of production, but he has turned over most of the daily work to his three sons: Mattia, the winemaker; Stefano, who manages the vineyards; and Andrea, who helps both of his brothers and also handles the commercialization of the wines. The majority of their production goes to the versatile and irresistibly delicious Bardolino “Le Fontane,” Bardolino Chiaretto (rosé), and Bianco di Custoza, while the more sophisticated Bardolino Superiore “Pràdicà,” Custoza “Mael,” and Becco Rosso demonstrate nuance and incredible longevity. At dinners with clients they regularly uncork bottles from renowned names like Armand Rousseau and Sassicaia, then they sit back and grin as their guests discover how well the older vintages of their own wines show in comparison.

Domaine Jamet

Jean-Paul Jamet began his career in the vineyards of Côte Rôtie in 1976 at the age of 16, working with his father, Joseph, who bottled his first wine that year. Jean-Paul told us that he often found himself working alongside one of our former growers Marius Gentaz, whose vines in Côte Brune bordered his own. With the 2016 vintage, Jean-Paul celebrated his 40th year growing and vinifying Côte Rôtie. His experience with his enviable collection of sixteen (soon to be nineteen) lieux-dits spread across the best sites of the appellation has given him deep knowledge of how to unlock the greatest expression of Côte Rôtie from its wide spectrum of terroirs. This savoir-faire makes Jamet the modern day master of the appellation.

The Jamet path has been one that has stayed true to tradition as the appellation has modernized around him. Despite its popularity, Jamet always eschewed the use of excessive new oak but instead chose to maintain a cellar full of the traditional aging vessel of Côte Rôtie: the demi-muid. As the fashion to de-stem Syrah accelerated, Jamet remained firmly opposed, continuing to vinify his Syrah whole-cluster. Perhaps most importantly, Jamet remained committed to his extreme, impossibly steep and rocky, treacherously terraced parcels that could only be worked painstakingly by hand. Planting Côte Rôtie on the plateau or leveling his vineyards to be able to plant on flatter sites and work them more easily were not part of his repertoire. The Jamets have been avid planters over the past four decades, giving them an incredibly diverse collection of raw material that leaves them poised to continue making great wine uninterrupted for generations to come. Jamet also resisted the urge to produce a series of limited single vineyard cuvées, despite the ease and price at which he knew they could be sold, preferring instead to produce a representative blend of the entire appellation. The sole exception is that part of his Côte Brune vineyard is bottled apart, as he esteems this vineyard capable of providing, on its own, the synthesis of his entire cellar. His complex, balanced, age-worthy, classic Côte Rôtie bottling is the beneficiary of this philosophy.

As all of the various trends of modernization and experimentation have run their course in the appellation, Jamet’s wine are justly recognized as the pinnacle of traditional Côte Rôtie being produced today. His strategy to follow the path laid out by his ancestors before him kept him closest to what is most important: his land and its purest and most authentic expression. Jean-Paul Jamet is joined today at the domaine by both his wife, Corinne, and his son, Loïc. As he completes his 42nd harvest in 2018, we are proud to welcome him and his family into the KLWM family of vigneron artisans.

Guy Breton

Guy Breton is known by his friends as Petit 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 three hectares (only 7.2 acres), eighty percent of which lies in the appellation of Morgon, around the village of Villié-Morgon. The vines range in age from 8 to 80 years, with the 80-year-old vines dedicated to the “Vieilles Vignes” cuvée. Guy’s property is located in the microclimates “Saint-Joseph” and “Grand Cras,” where the naturally low pH of the soil creates favorable conditions for Breton’s sulfur-free vinification.

Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux

One glimpse of Serge Férigoule’s barbell moustache might be enough for one to be completely enamored with the wines of Le Sang des Cailloux, although they also speak remarkably well for themselves. This domaine’s name means “the blood of the stones,” and Serge Férigoule is most certainly the heart that links the two together.  In 1974, Serge left winemaking school with a longing to return to the vineyards. He went to work for Monsieur Ricard’s family in 1979 to oversee the vineyards. Without anyone in his family to succeed him, Ricard decided to gamble by partnering with Serge in 1982. In 1990, after Monsieur Ricard’s retirement, Serge launched Le Sang des Cailloux. Vacqueyras had just been awarded an A.O.C. that same year, a timely twist of fate that helped Serge’s wines to become as celebrated as they deserve.
All of Serge’s seventeen hectares rest on the great Plateau des Garrigues, where red clay, limestone, and the famous galets roulés, or rounded stones, impart a terrific intensity and depth to the wines. Given the aridity of the soil, the vines here are naturally prone to lower yields—this gives the wines their concentration and power. That Serge has been farming organically for years but has never sought certification says something about his philosophy. He is not looking to impress; only to make the best wines he possibly can. Serge is also sentimental—each year, the Cuvée Traditionnelle of Le Sang des Cailloux is named for one of his daughters, Floureto, Doucinello and Azalaïs. The “Vieilles Vignes” is also called “Lopy,” named for his hometown. His wines have everything we love about the Rhône – wild and chewy with great notes of leather, spicy garrigue, and smoky, black fruit.