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Importer of fine wine from France and Italy. Established 1972 | Berkeley, CA
Featured Producer
Nicolas Maillart
It was in 2006 when we last introduced our clients to a new selection of ours from the Champagne region—not for lack of trying! Early in 2023 we finally found what we have been looking for in the small Champagne village of Écueil, on the Montagne de Reims, in the cellars of Nicolas Maillart. Nicolas owns and farms vineyards in Écueil, Villers-Allerand, and Bouzy, all just south of Reims. These are among the world’s greatest terroirs for growing Champagne grapes, and they have been brilliantly matched chez Maillart to Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, and Petit Meslier in order to extract the best qualities of each grape for both his blended multi-vintage Champagnes and his single-vineyard-vintage bottlings. All of his Champagnes are fermented and aged in wood, minimally sulfured, and bottled unfiltered with very little dosage.Nicolas has made wine at his family estate since 2003 and has had two decades to hone and perfect his house style. He controls, farms, and manages all of his vineyards himself, working all of his soils. His Champagnes are pure, elegant, terroir-transparent, stylish, and delicious! Tasting through his lineup of vins clairs is like tasting through a cellar of young wines in Burgundy, and he has figured out how to transform the magic he has in barrel into his resulting Champagnes that emerge years later. Nicolas Maillart is sure to be a household name in Champagne in the near future, and we know you will enjoy getting to know these as much as we have.
Domaine Les Eminades
“We started with nothing—just a lot of courage,” says Luc Bettoni, who counts no vignerons in his immediate family despite growing up around the vineyards of Madiran, deep in France’s southwest. For his wife, Patricia, the path to becoming a vigneronne was just as unlikely. It began serendipitously, when she met Luc at a wine-tasting-themed party put on by enology students while she studied pharmacology in Toulouse. Luc had taken a keen interest in enology after earning degrees in biochemistry and microbiology and interning in an enological laboratory in Madiran. The couple’s chance encounter led Patricia to develop a whole new passion.Later on, while employed as the enologist for a Languedoc domaine, Luc expressed to Patricia his desire to make his own wine. “It didn’t take much to convince me to embark on this adventure with him,” she recalls warmly. The search for a great terroir where they could put down roots—despite having no savings—ultimately led them to Saint-Chinian, where they were struck by the wild beauty of the landscape and its rich diversity of soils.
In 2002, they purchased twelve hectares of vines, primarily in limestone-rich sites where the grapes would retain good acidity levels despite the baking Mediterranean climate. The land was mostly overgrown, and they worked hard to clear it and bring the vineyards up to shape. The young vignerons replanted five hectares at higher density to better shade the fruit and prevent soil evaporation. They gradually added plots over the years, including some very old plantings, seeking out vineyards at higher elevation where grapes ripen later, to preserve freshness and balance. Patricia and Luc now farm thirty small parcels across three communes. Their soils include quartz- and iron-rich sandstones, rocky alluvial deposits, and various limestones, while exposures range from south-facing—with the sea visible in the distance—to cooler north-facing sites.
The Bettonis’ vineyards have never come into contact with herbicides, and Luc abandoned chemical treatments early on because the products made him ill. They obtained organic certification in 2008 and then, realizing their farming nearly qualified as biodynamic, completed that conversion ten years later.
Winemaking at Les Eminades is gentle and straightforward, with the goal of expressing the nuances found within Saint-Chinian’s fascinating diversity of terroirs through the lens of traditional Languedocien cépages such as Cinsault, Grenache, and Carignan. Fermentations in their small cellar occur spontaneously, and sulfur doses are kept very low to achieve a seductive aromatic and textural quality in the wines. Their distinct cuvées yield a range of expressions of this tremendously undervalued appellation, yet they share a striking purity of fruit, intoxicating aromatics, and suave tannins rarely seen this far south.
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.
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.
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.
Bèrto
Situated in Castelnuovo Don Bosco in Piedmont, the Distilleria Quaglia was purchased in 1906 by the great-grandfather of the current distillery director, Carlo Quaglia. A succession of ancestors passing historical and traditional knowledge of distillation, liqueur, and vermouth production from one generation to the next brings us to present day. Our fortunate introduction to Carlo and his masterful artisanship came from brothers Alessandro and Gian Natale Fantino, to whom they entrust the production of their Barolo Chinato with staggering results.The ambition of the Bertò line is to preserve a multitude of traditional liqueurs and vermouths from Piedmont. We first began importing their two sweet vermouths, the red (Ross da Travaj) and white (Aperitiv dla Traddission), which are standard-bearers of traditional vermouth di Torino and express typical Italian craftsmanship. To make their sweet vermouths, Carlo infuses a variety of local, home-grown, and carefully sourced herbs and spices for two months until gently pressing them off so not to extract vegetal qualities that could upset their subtle aromas. The resulting infusion, along with sugar and alcohol, is added to a base of dry Italian wines and ages for a minimum of one month before bottling. The vision speaks for itself, resulting in Piemontese vermouths that can be enjoyed on their own, perhaps in a tumbler with ice and a simple curl of orange peel.
Since this time, we have expanded our imports of their products and now work with a fragrant dry vermouth, three liqueurs (Aperitivo, Bitter, Fernet), and our first spirit import, an aromatic dry Gin. Among the myriad cocktails that can be mixed with these ingredients, perhaps the one we were most excited about was the Bèrto Negroni—so much so we introduced a pre-batched bottling (highly anticipated by the entire KLWM staff) to the collection.
Famille 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.
Kermit Lynch Blends - Southern Rhône
Over forty years of doing business in France and Italy have given Kermit Lynch a level of expertise that few in the wine industry can boast. Countless hours with growers in some of the most famous vineyards and cellars of Europe have offered more than just a casual look at what it takes to be a great grower, let alone a great winemaker. Kermit Lynch was the first to champion the benefits of unfined and unfiltered wines, long before they had become fashionable. This belief is really a matter of taste, and the proof has always been in the glass, offering a purer expression of fruit and an unadulterated reflection of the terroir. Kermit’s conviction has been so strong over the years that he has been able to persuade even the most hard-headed vignerons to test his theories.Long-term relationships with vignerons in every major wine growing region offer a tremendous array of opportunities. Every year, Kermit enjoys a creative collaboration with some growers to find the best of their selections. Together, they work towards creating a final blend that showcases the region in all its glory at a price point that is difficult to match.
VIN DE PAYS DE VAUCLUSE
Sourced from the terroirs around Domaine de Durban (click here for more information), the grapes for this red Rhône are sourced from parcels next to the village of Beaumes-de-Venise. These vineyards were traditionally used for the family’s personal consumption, and many of the unused grapes were sold off in bulk. As none of this was for commercial bottling, the Leydier family made no effort to have these parcels included in the A.O.C. Côtes du Rhône when the boundaries were first established in 1937. Upon hearing that the family had been selling these grapes to the local cave cooperative in Vacqueyras, Kermit presented the Leydiers the idea of creating a value-driven second label. The plan soon evolved into a collaboration between the family and Kermit. Together, they bottle both a Vin de Pays de Vaucluse Rouge and Blanc.
CÔTES DU RHÔNE
The "KL Côtes du Rhône" is a collaboration with Demazet Vignobles, a cave co-op in Morières-lès-Avignon, just south of Avignon. Since 1929, this winery has been bringing local vignerons together from the outlying areas of Avignon to produce delicious wines that epitomize the region’s complex terroirs. The fruit for our cuvée is sourced from a handful of growers in the nearby town of Châteauneuf-de-Gadagne, which boasts an excellent terroir of galets roulés, not unlike a much more famous Châteauneuf just a few miles away! Kermit works closely with winemaker Jean-François Pasturel to develop the blend each year. Pasturel is thrilled to have the chance to produce a Côtes du Rhône he does not have to filter to death. It is his tête de cuvée, his pride and joy.
CÔTES DU RHÔNE VILLAGES
Launched with the 2022 vintage, the Côtes du Rhône Villages is a collaboration with Les Vignerons d'Estézargues, a co-op located on the right bank of the Rhône just south of Tavel. Founded in 1965, Estézargues has championed sustainable and organic viticulture and natural winemaking for much of its history, making it a rare exception for a co-op of its size. They work very closely with their growers, emphasizing organic farming, and manage their cellar with a judicious use of low-intervention techniques: nothing is inoculated, sulfur is kept to a bare minimum, and wines are bottled without filtration. Our cuvée is sourced from gobelet-trained vines on the nearby plateau of Signargues, midway between Tavel and the Pont du Gard, the famous Roman aqueduct. Promoted to Côtes du Rhône Villages in 2005, Signargues sits on an alluvial riverbed terrace from the Villafranchian era, the same soil as in Châteauneuf-du-Pape just across the Rhône. The endless expanse of galets roulés (polished riverbed stones) is the ideal terroir for producing wines of great character and typicity in this iconic sun-baked region. The bottle features no capsule, and the label was designed by celebrated French artist Michel Tolmer.
Domaine de Terrebrune
Before acquiring vineyards, Georges Delille trained as a sommelier in Paris. In 1963, he bought what would become Domaine de Terrebrune, a property in Ollioules, just east of Bandol, framed by the Mediterranean and the mountain called Gros-Cerveau (Big Brain), dotted with olive groves and scenic views—an idyllic spot. During the years following the declaration of A.O.C. Bandol (1941), mass overhauling and reconstruction of vineyards were commonplace, and vignerons were eager to revive the noble Mourvèdre grape. Georges spent ten years just renovating the property; he terraced hillsides, refashioned the masonry, replanted vineyards following the advice of Lucien Peyraud, designated soils to lie dormant and regenerate, and built a new cellar. In 1980, his son Reynald joined him after finishing winemaking school, and together they launched their first bottled vintage of Domaine de Terrebrune, which Reynald named in honor of the rich, brown soils they farm.Reynald’s Bandols are different. There is a more ethereal quality to them, a real freshness—and with Mourvèdre accounting for 85% of the final assemblage, this is praise indeed. Soil, climate, and winemaking all play a role. Limestone dominates the subsoil of Bandol, with tremendous variation between vineyards. Throughout Terrebrune’s thirty hectares, beneath the layers of clay and earth, the blue, fissured, Trias limestone is silently at work. This bedrock lends a more noticeable minerality to the wine than others. The soil here is healthy and full of nutrients, because he adheres to organic farming practices; to achieve the balance in the vineyards, he plows regularly. Gentle maritime breezes funnel air into the vineyards directly from the Mediterranean, cooling the grapes from the bright sun—another factor in safeguarding the freshness. This, in turn translates to wines for great long-term cellaring, including the rosé and dry white. Reynald’s credo of “Philosophy, Rigor, and Respect” is not a catch-phrase. He believes that the hard work and extra attention to the vines is worth it, and, as they say, the proof’s in the pudding—a glass of Terrebrune!
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.
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.