Featured Producer
Quentin Harel
Exciting things are happening in the Beaujolais: following the outbreak of terroir-driven natural winemaking inspired by Jules Chauvet and spearheaded by the likes of Marcel Lapierre and Jean Foillard in the 1980s, a new generation is now following in the footsteps of these early pioneers to make the region one of France’s most dynamic. Quentin Harel perfectly epitomizes this explosion of young talent, having recently taken over the family domaine in the town of Saint-Étienne-des-Ouillières, just south of the Côte de Brouilly. Raised in a vigneron household, Quentin sought further experience away from home early on, taking jobs with growers elsewhere in the Beaujolais as well as in Burgundy. He received the bulk of his formative training in the Diois (home to the sparkling Clairette de Die), in addition to studying soil microbiology and brewing his own beer. The 2012 harvest marked his first solo vinification at the helm of Domaine de Buis-Rond, an estate owned by Quentin’s family since 1768.The majority of Quentin’s holdings lie around Buis-Rond, and are classified as Beaujolais AOC. Situated just outside the primarily granitic zone that makes up the ten crus, the soils here consist mainly of clay, sand, and flint—an unusual terroir for the region that yields bright, fresh, aromatic wines full of early-drinking charm. Eager for a new challenge, Quentin purchased one hectare of Morgon in 2011. This parcel of 80 year-old vines lies in the lieu-dit Charmes, a higher-altitude site prone to giving lively, elegant, and mineral wines—an ideal fit for his style.
Like his parents did, Quentin farms all his vineyards organically. The parcels around the domaine were certified in 1998, while the “Charmes” plot has been worked this way since 1980. In the cellar, he favors a light style with low intervention: vinification is traditional, via whole-cluster fermentation using indigenous yeasts before élevage in neutral vessels (tank for the Beaujolais, and used 400-liter barrels for the Morgon). He bottles unfiltered with low sulfur additions, giving quintessential Beaujolais quaffers with low alcohol, delicious high-toned Gamay fruit, and lovely floral aromatics. One of the region’s rising stars, Quentin has already proven himself in his short career and we look forward to great things to come from this talented young vigneron.
Château d'Épiré
One of the oldest and most celebrated domaines in Savennières, Chateau d’Épiré is rich in history, not only for its fabulous architectural rendition of the Petit Trianon of Versailles, but most especially for its exquisite wines. Savennières is situated just southwest of Angers, on the north bank of the Loire River. Vines have been cultivated there since the time of the Romans. The Plantagenet dynasty allowed for the first exports of the wine to be sent to Great Britian in the 11th century. The domaine itself has been in the Bizard family continuously since the 17th century. The most recent owners and caretakers of the land are Monsieur and Madame Luc Bizard. They own eleven hectares, nine of which are entirely dedicated to the cultivation of Pineau de la Loire, known today as Chenin Blanc. The château is exquisite, but the pièce de résistance is their winery, formerly a Romanesque chapel, which is from the 12th century. Truly a blessed wine!Despite the beauty and timelessness of the building structures, it is the vineyard for which the domaine is best known. The Savennières from Épiré is regarded as Grand Cru. The domaine works primarily three parcels: La Croix Picot, Le Parc, and Le Hu-Boyau. It is the latter that sits just above another famous vineyard, La Coulée de Serrant. The soils here are rich, and the microclimate is ideal. Southern and south-eastern sun exposure brings ripeness to the grapes, while the proximity to the Loire River keeps the temperatures moderate. The subsoils are comprised of sandstone and schist, and the top soil is a beautiful blue slatey schist that covers the vineyard floors, lending nerve and firmness. We import two cuvées of Savennières from Château d’Épiré. Their Cuvée Spéciale is blended by Kermit from their best parcel and creates a dry wine, austere within its first two or three years, that develops substantially with age. This cuvée is aged in traditional but largely abandoned chestnut barrels. The other cuvée is also dry, but more accessible young, with notes of exotic fruits. Both are delicious and spectacularly complex, and show a value disproportionate to their pedigree.
Château Tertre de la Mouleyre
Eric Jeanneteau spent his childhood following his grandparents around their vineyard and cellar, just outside St-Émilion on the Right Bank of the Dordogne River in the Bordelais. School was of little interest to him; he says all he wanted to do was run free among the vines alongside his grandfather. His enchantment with the métier began at the age of six. By the time he turned eight, he was already assisting his grandfather in the vines and in the cellar. It was only natural, then, when he completed three degrees in viticulture—he was born to be a vigneron. In 1995, after managing various châteaux throughout the region, Eric returned home to take his place at the helm of the family domaine.Tertre de la Mouleyre, or “the mound of the miller,” is a small hill crowned with an old windmill. The vineyards are situated in clay and limestone soils in the commune of St-Étienne de Lisse, one of Saint-Émilion’s five sister villages within the AOC. Saint-Émilion may not have been included in the Bordeaux classifications of 1855, but today it is nevertheless considered hallowed ground, displaying tremendous variation and incredible soil pedigree, primarily on the limestone plateau and the surrounding slopes. The vineyards of Château Tertre de la Mouleyre are farmed organically and have been certified since 2001. With not even two hectares of vines to farm, Eric can give his vines the tender, loving care that larger property owners cannot. He treats his vines with specialized organic composts and fertilizers and harvests manually. There is no set recipe for his vinifications, as his method is adapted to the needs of each vintage. Kermit calls this St-Émilion “the real deal,” explaining that “this is different from other ‘petit’ châteaux. I don’t mean that it’s huge and jammy. No, it is more classic Bordeaux, old school—lean, fine, and structured… chiseled, very 1981, before Peynaud and Parker.”
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.
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.
Nicole Chanrion
When Nicole Chanrion began her career in the 1970s, convention relegated women to the enology labs and kept them out of the cellars—even her mother thought winemaking was man’s work—but she would not be deterred from her dream of becoming a vigneronne. With six generations of family tradition preceding her, she grew up helping her father in both the vineyards and the cellar in the Côte-de-Brouilly, one of the southernmost crus of the northern Beaujolais. Though she is mild-mannered and slight of build, her determination and conviction have consistently defied all doubts. Ever since taking over the family domaine in 1988, she works all 6.5 hectares entirely by herself, from pruning the vineyards and driving the tractors to winemaking and bottling, all without bravado or fanfare. In 2000 she became president of the Côte-de-Brouilly appellation, a position of respect and importance among peers. It’s small wonder then that she is affectionately referred to as “La Patronne de la Côte,” or the Boss of la Côte.The Côte-de-Brouilly appellation sits on the hillsides of Mont Brouilly, a prehistoric volcano that left blue schist stones and volcanic rock along its slopes. These stones yield structured wines with pronounced minerality and great aging potential. After her formal training at the viticultural school in Beaune Nicole had a brief internship in the Napa Valley, where she learned another approach to winemaking but, happily for us, gained a deeper appreciation of the traditional winemaking techniques of the Beaujolais: hand harvesting, whole cluster fermentation, aging the wines in large oak foudres for at least nine months, and bottling unfiltered. The resulting wines are powerful, with loads of pure fruit character and floral aromas.
Domaine de Marquiliani
The village of Aghione is not far from the old Roman capitol of Corsica on the eastern coast of the island, poetically known as the Costa Serena. Flanked against the Corsican Mountains where the flats begin to rise into the hills, this small village of 235 inhabitants is just as celebrated today for its sulfur springs, olive groves, and vineyards as it was thousands of years ago. The enduring legacy is no coincidence—cool nights, high altitude, and the soil help the grapes retain their freshness and allow for a slow, even ripening. The terraced land of Aghione is a mix of schist and granite gravel with silt that has descended from the mountains over the last ten thousand years.The Amalric family has farmed Domaine de Marquiliani since the 1950s, nearly twenty years after the two hundred-year-old domaine was destroyed in a fire and abandoned. The Amalrics bought the property and replanted the vineyards. Daniel Amalric earned great recognition for his wines, as he was the first to plant Niellucciu and Syrah on this side of the island. In 1995, he was joined by his daughter, Anne, an agricultural chemist who had returned from mainland France to take her place at the family farm. Initially, Anne put her energy into planting olive and almond trees. Her determination has not been in vain, as Domaine de Marquiliani’s olive oil is widely regarded as the best in Corsica. Recently, Anne has turned her focus back to the vineyards, which are well-rested after a long hiatus. She still works side-by-side with her father and is quick to credit him as her guiding light in the vineyards and the cellar. In spite of her modesty, Anne has become a success in her own right. Her wine made an instant impression on Kermit, who raves, “Drinking her rosé is like drinking a cloud. There’s an absolute weightlessness to it. Nothing is left on the palate but perfume.”
Château des Deux Rocs
Jean-Claude Zabalia, one of the Languedoc’s most talented vignerons, spent over twenty years at Saint Martin de la Garrigue before striking out on his own to start Château des Deux Rocs. Like any new venture undertaken by a seasoned veteran, Jean-Claude did his homework. In his many searches for great terroir in the Languedoc, he came across Cabrières—an area already known for producing outstanding rosé, but what he found was so much more.The vines of Jean-Claude’s new domaine, Château des Deux Rocs, are located in the isolated Vallée des Crozes. This enclosed valley is protected from the dominating winds of the region and benefits from more than 220 days of sun per year. His vines are planted at nearly 1000 feet above sea level in deep schist soils, higher than anyone in the region has planted before. These elements lend a delicate and finessed nature to both the rosé and red.
Our bottlings from Deux Rocs are aptly named “Prémices,” meaning a sign of things to come—we certainly believe that great things are to come from this exciting new domaine.
Jean-Baptiste Arena
The path to becoming a vigneron was a natural one for Jean-Baptiste Arena, son of famed Corsican producer Antoine Arena. Growing up at the family domaine in Patrimonio, Jean-Baptiste enjoyed constant exposure to the wine world through his father’s work, gaining invaluable experience through sales trips to Parisian wine bars and other public tastings with vigneron friends all over Europe—not to mention what he picked up in his very own backyard.Though he attended law school in Nice after studying viticulture in Bastia, the draw back to the Ile de Beauté proved irresistible, and following a harvest internship in Burgundy, he ultimately returned home in 2001 to join the family domaine. “This happened naturally, as our parents had transmitted their love and passion for this land and everything that springs from it,” Jean-Baptiste discloses.
As of the 2014 vintage, the Arenas have divided their holdings evenly between Antoine, Jean-Baptiste, and his younger brother, Antoine-Marie. In a typically Corsican spirit of self-reliance, Antoine’s sons will carry on the family tradition through their very own domaines, enjoying the autonomy to work the way they desire while maintaining close family bonds and a free exchange of ideas. Choosing who would work which of the family’s numerous lieux-dits proved an easier task than one might expect. In fact, the three easily agreed as to how they should divvy up the Arena holdings, each claiming his favorite parcels to look after independently.
Jean-Baptiste explains, “We will continue to work together all while maintaining our independence. The general philosophy will not change—namely, farming will be 100% organic and vinifications will occur without any additions, save a little sulfites for the whites.” Embracing his father’s respect for the land, Jean-Baptiste will also welcome the liberty of taking the initiative with ideas of his own. His first step is to improve his working conditions: “Two new cellars are in the works; mine is destined for stocking and aging, while I will continue to vinify in the family’s historic cellars.” Additional plans are in place to experiment with new fermentation vessels. The future is certainly bright for this impassioned young talent, leaving no doubt the Arena legacy will live on through Jean-Baptiste, symbolizing the best that Corsica’s terroir has to offer.
Domaine Gallety
The bright and talented Alain Gallety began making wine in the Côtes du Vivarais alongside his father. Together, they had a vision. They built a state-of-the-art winery, constructed right into the hillside below their high-altitude vineyards. Today, Alain’s son, David-Alexandre, works with him. Quietly and diligently, they imagine one day making one of the greatest cuvées of the Southern Rhône. One wouldn’t initially think such a goal is easy to achieve in a little known area as the Vivarais. The Côtes run down the western flank of the Rhône, just south of Montélimar in the Ardèche. Although these hills mirror those of the Côtes-du-Rhône on the opposite bank of the river, the Côtes du Vivarais was only recently awarded A.O.C. in 1999. Over a decade later, the region is finally starting to receive the attention it deserves, both as a cooler and wetter climate than its neighbors across the river, but with a longer ripening season. The wines here stand as a gateway between the Northern and Southern Rhône, frequently seeing equal blends of the noble grapes, Syrah and Grenache.Though the Galletys reside here, making their exquisite blends with pride, determination, and focus, their minds are frequently traveling to other regions in France, where they are closely studying the methodologies and techniques of their contemporaries. Alain takes every aspect of the process seriously. To grow the quality of grapes he wants, he farms his fifteen hectares of vineyards organically, as he has done since the early 80’s. To best insure freshness, he has installed top-loading, hatch doors over their gravity-fed cuves, so that the grapes go exactly where they need to immediately following the harvest—bypassing the cellar completely to begin their fermentation. The wines are then aged in Burgundian barrels, as the Galletys believe them to produce wines with greater finesse. Today, they are planting a vineyard so stony and wild that it will have to be worked by a draft horse. Alain Gallety is indeed a man of vision. Domaine Gallety is a new acquisition to the KLWM portfolio, but one well-positioned for stardom with wines of such brightness, density, and impeccable balance.
From the Blog
From the archives...The words and wines of André Ostertag
by André Ostertag
Alas, I barely have any memory of my previous lives, and although I am willing to bet that I was an innkeeper, a drunkard, or at least your common wine drinker, as much as I search my memory I cannot recall what wine tasted like back then.
Luckilly, yet too rarely, I have at times had the opportunity to lower my nose into a glass of old Burgundy from the beginning of the century or a pre-war Alsatian wine, but each time a romantic dizziness swept me away from objective analysis.
One thing is certain, the wines of yesteryear have the power to set our spirits afire. Their rarity, their glorious age, and the weight of history, command our respect and impel us toward contemplation. Such tastings are always stamped by an almost religious emotion. And even if it should happen that such a wine shows a flaw or two, the emotion felt when drinking them renders the experience unique and unforgettable. Thus they will always seem superior to today's wines.
Nevertheless, wine has never been so intelligent as it is today. Our engineers, oenologists, and technicians of all varieties have made possible a spectacular leap in quality. Actually, good wine will soon become an everyday beverage found in bars, bistros, and shopping carts. Quality has democratized itself so much that Saint Marketing, who never ignores our weaknesses and who anticipates our desires, has finally cut us short of any sense of surprise. It is horrible to say it, but quality has become banal!
Above all, this kind of quality is a reflection of technical advances and consumer fads. However, true quality is that which succeeds in surprising and moving us. It is not locked inside a formula. Its essence is subtle (subjective) and never rational. It resides in the unique, the singular, but it is ultimately connected to something more universal. A great wine is one in which quality is contained. Such a wine will necessarily be uncommon and decidedly unique because it cannot be like any other, and because of this fact it will be atypical, or only typical of itself.
Modern man, in his eagerness to understand everything in order to master it, spends his time classifying, filing, and organizing. It is obvious that the indefinable, the unclassifiable, and the unusual confuse our modern thought processes. So it should come as no surprise that the notion of terroir suffers while the grape variety gains importance, or the "commercially correct" spectrum of aromas is confined to the fresh, easy, and simple to the detriment of more unusual aromas (mineral notes, lees, and so on).
Today the definition of quality wine is one that should give equal pleasure at any moment, night or day, from one's cradle to one's deathbed. As if wine were nothing but a vulgar consumer object, sleek and docile, a little pet devoted to not disturbing our moods or classifications. However, it seems to me that in the old days wine was more capricious, more erratic, no doubt, yet its personality was more pronounced. There were no clonal selections. Each plot of vines represented a variety of different rootstocks. A wine bore more than now the imprint of its vintage, because the weather conditions and their direct consequences on a wine were less easy to remedy by treating the vines or correcting later in the cellar laboratory.
However, the real change took place above all in the relationship or exchange between man, his vines, and his wine. Before, a winemaker had to maintain an intimate, direct rapport with the elements. He had to link himself to things, allow them to become a living part of himself, to penetrate his soul, his gut, in order to feel and understand them.
Had he any other choice? There was no protection against disease or pests in the vineyard. No oenology lab, no research centers. Only the winemaker himself held the key to “Le Grand Vin.” When scientific knowledge and technology are limited, our senses of observation, intuition, and sensitivity, all of which make up our subjective thought process, are heightened.
In the old days the wine producer had few resources with which to defend himself against nature. He had to figure out how to come to terms with her.
If I were to read something like that, I would want to taste the man's wine to see where such thoughtfulness led him. And I did. And now you can, too. “Wines that surprise and move us,” as he says. This shipment marks the beginning of our collaboration with André Ostertag. You won't be bored. --Kermit Lynch
[From the March 1996 Newsletter]
Try the 2015 Pinot Noir "E" >> from Domaine Ostertag, featured in our September 2017 newsletter.
Alas, I barely have any memory of my previous lives, and although I am willing to bet that I was an innkeeper, a drunkard, or at least your common wine drinker, as much as I search my memory I cannot recall what wine tasted like back then.
Luckilly, yet too rarely, I have at times had the opportunity to lower my nose into a glass of old Burgundy from the beginning of the century or a pre-war Alsatian wine, but each time a romantic dizziness swept me away from objective analysis.
One thing is certain, the wines of yesteryear have the power to set our spirits afire. Their rarity, their glorious age, and the weight of history, command our respect and impel us toward contemplation. Such tastings are always stamped by an almost religious emotion. And even if it should happen that such a wine shows a flaw or two, the emotion felt when drinking them renders the experience unique and unforgettable. Thus they will always seem superior to today's wines.
Nevertheless, wine has never been so intelligent as it is today. Our engineers, oenologists, and technicians of all varieties have made possible a spectacular leap in quality. Actually, good wine will soon become an everyday beverage found in bars, bistros, and shopping carts. Quality has democratized itself so much that Saint Marketing, who never ignores our weaknesses and who anticipates our desires, has finally cut us short of any sense of surprise. It is horrible to say it, but quality has become banal!
Above all, this kind of quality is a reflection of technical advances and consumer fads. However, true quality is that which succeeds in surprising and moving us. It is not locked inside a formula. Its essence is subtle (subjective) and never rational. It resides in the unique, the singular, but it is ultimately connected to something more universal. A great wine is one in which quality is contained. Such a wine will necessarily be uncommon and decidedly unique because it cannot be like any other, and because of this fact it will be atypical, or only typical of itself.
Modern man, in his eagerness to understand everything in order to master it, spends his time classifying, filing, and organizing. It is obvious that the indefinable, the unclassifiable, and the unusual confuse our modern thought processes. So it should come as no surprise that the notion of terroir suffers while the grape variety gains importance, or the "commercially correct" spectrum of aromas is confined to the fresh, easy, and simple to the detriment of more unusual aromas (mineral notes, lees, and so on).
Today the definition of quality wine is one that should give equal pleasure at any moment, night or day, from one's cradle to one's deathbed. As if wine were nothing but a vulgar consumer object, sleek and docile, a little pet devoted to not disturbing our moods or classifications. However, it seems to me that in the old days wine was more capricious, more erratic, no doubt, yet its personality was more pronounced. There were no clonal selections. Each plot of vines represented a variety of different rootstocks. A wine bore more than now the imprint of its vintage, because the weather conditions and their direct consequences on a wine were less easy to remedy by treating the vines or correcting later in the cellar laboratory.
However, the real change took place above all in the relationship or exchange between man, his vines, and his wine. Before, a winemaker had to maintain an intimate, direct rapport with the elements. He had to link himself to things, allow them to become a living part of himself, to penetrate his soul, his gut, in order to feel and understand them.
Had he any other choice? There was no protection against disease or pests in the vineyard. No oenology lab, no research centers. Only the winemaker himself held the key to “Le Grand Vin.” When scientific knowledge and technology are limited, our senses of observation, intuition, and sensitivity, all of which make up our subjective thought process, are heightened.
In the old days the wine producer had few resources with which to defend himself against nature. He had to figure out how to come to terms with her.
If I were to read something like that, I would want to taste the man's wine to see where such thoughtfulness led him. And I did. And now you can, too. “Wines that surprise and move us,” as he says. This shipment marks the beginning of our collaboration with André Ostertag. You won't be bored. --Kermit Lynch
[From the March 1996 Newsletter]
Try the 2015 Pinot Noir "E" >> from Domaine Ostertag, featured in our September 2017 newsletter.