KERMIT LYNCH WINE MERCHANT

Domaine Roger Neveu

The Neveu family’s roots in the Loire Valley are nothing short of impressive, even for European standards. The local archives show that a Jean Neveu lived in the village of Verdigny (where the family still resides) as early as the 12th century, and family documents prove that they already owned and ran an agricultural estate in 1641. It is known that grapevines made up part of the property in the 19th century, but they were sadly destroyed in the phylloxera epidemic so it wasn’t until the after World War II that winegrowing regained an important place at the domaine, with nearly all of their wine sold in bulk through the 1960s. It was Roger Neveu, father to current owners Éric and Jean-Philippe, who during the 1970s brought the domaine into its contemporary incarnation by making and bottling his own wine, and selling it directly to customers, friends, restaurants, and importers. Éric officially joined the family métier in 1977 after studying winemaking in Beaune, and Jean-Philippe followed suit ten years later after getting his degree in accounting.

The love of a job well done is the goal and guiding principle of the brothers. The quality of the wine is the top priority, and giving complete satisfaction to their customers and friends is a close second. The family tradition in wine has already added another generation as both Éric and Jean-Philippe’s sons have started helping out in the vineyards and cellar.

The Clos des Bouffants, the primary Neveu family Sancerre holding, is a steep, due-south exposed, limestone vineyard located less than a half mile from the Neveu cellar. This storied vineyard was cited in the 1777 history of Sancerre, where the Abbott Poupart, priest of Sancerre, wrote, “the Bouffants hillside is one of the best I know in our Sancerre area.”

Thierry Germain

The rendering of Thierry Germain by renowned French wine artist Michel Tolmer that appears on most of Thierry’s labels is the perfect image to capture the essence of his accomplishment. A tall and imposing presence, physically and intellectually, Thierry casts a long shadow. His vines, old, wise, and vibrantly healthy thanks to biodynamic viticulture, cast an imposing shadow themselves. They meet in a symbolic embrace of perfect connection, each feeding off the other’s energy.

Thierry’s domaine, Roches Neuves, whose vineyards are planted in the Saumur (Blanc) and Saumur-Champigny (Rouge) appellations, has rightfully become one of the greatest examples of high achievement in biodynamic vine growing in France. We put him up there with the greats: Abbatucci in Corsica, Ganevat in the Jura, Ostertag in Alsace. His total dedication to site specific wines produced from Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc, his “parcellaires,” has produced some of the most exciting wines in the Loire Valley today.

Thierry relocated to the Loire from Bordeaux in the early 1990s, and soon fell under the influence of his spiritual father, Charly Foucault of Clos Rougeard. Thierry would ultimately convert his entire domaine to biodynamic viticulture, which was the equivalent of his wine epiphany. Listening and observing his plants, allowing them to guide him, revolutionized his way of thinking. Thierry harvests on the relatively early side to preserve fresh, vibrant fruit. His goal is to produce Cabernet with purity, finesse, and drinkability, while avoiding rusticity, vegetal character, and hard tannins. When it comes to his Chenin, he makes bone dry, high acid, mineral wines that drink like Chablis young and take on weight slowly over time. Aging takes place in large oval foudres (for the whites) and round foudres and demi-muids (for the reds) in Thierry’s frigid tuffeau cellars below his winery in Varrains. His incredibly diverse terroirs are translated with utter clarity and precision.

While most of Thierry’s bottlings bear the Roches Neuves name, others include the name of his long-time associate and vineyard manager at the domaine, Michel Chevré, who purchased some of his own vineyards with Thierry’s encouragement. These wines are followed by Thierry, Michel, and their team (biodynamically of course) from vine to cellar and vinified at Roches Neuves in Varrains.

Champalou

Catherine and Didier Champalou both came from vigneron families, yet their mutual sense of independence prompted the couple to brave it on their own right after completing viticultural school in Saumur. Since starting the domaine in 1983, they have not only grown their business, but their label is one of the most highly-acclaimed in the appellation.  Vouvray is home to the noble Chenin Blanc, more commonly known as Pineau de la Loire in their part of the world. As widespread as Pineau is, both soil and climate play key roles in the diversity of its incarnations, and a Chenin from California gives one no hint of what the grape is capable of in the right soil.
Farther inland along the Loire, in the region of the Touraine, Vouvray enjoys a warm, continental climate during the summers. Slowly dropping temperatures in autumn make for a long ripening season. Microclimates with high humidity can also bring about the beloved noble rot. The gravel and chalk in the vineyards also play a role absorbing the sun’s rays, lending increased ripeness to this part of the Touraine. The Pineau of Vouvray can be pétillant (sparkling), sec (dry and crisp), demi-sec (off-dry) or in a botrytized state called moelleux. Catherine and Didier make all four styles. 
The Champalou family farms twenty-one hectares of vineyards on clay, limestone, and siliceous soils. They embrace sustainable farming while also integrating the use of the lunar calendar more traditionally associated with organic viticulture. The soils in their vineyards are rich, deep, and aerated though regular plowing. Cover crops are planted in between vineyard rows to help with excess water absorption and to encourage microbiotic activity in the soil. The Champalou house style produces wines of great elegance and tenderness, highly aromatic with impeccable balance. No one comes close to copying their distinct style.
Didier and Catherine’s daughter, Céline, has recently joined the domaine after spending her internships in New Zealand, South Africa, Languedoc, Corsica, and Canada. Daughter Virginie lives in London, and is also in the wine business. There is no question that the tradition and quality for which this domaine is known will continue for many years to come.

Domaine Chignard

Even after many successful years practicing his craft, fourth-generation vigneron Michel Chignard claims to be a novice. He is a modest man, kind and courteous, but in every aspect of his winemaking one clearly sees a passionate perfectionist. In 2007 Michel turned the management of the family domaine over to his son Cédric, who is carrying on this philosophy with great pride and has already managed to prove himself in his first few vintages. The Chignard family is also blessed with vineyards in one of the best sites of the Fleurie appellation, Les Moriers, an arrowhead-shaped parcel that juts right down into Moulin-à-Vent vines. Their eight hectares of vineyards are over sixty years old, keeping yields naturally low. These old-vine root systems also run very deep, accessing minerals from the granite subsoil and giving Chignard’s Fleurie a trademark goût de terroir and great freshness.

While many critics attribute Michel’s success to the soil, Kermit would argue that his traditionalist stance on vineyard management and winemaking is essential to craft such great wines. As ardent defenders of traditional Beaujolais methods, the Chignards take a minimalist approach in both the vineyards and the cellar. The finished wines couldn’t be more reflective of Les Moriers’ splendid location: light and playful, with deep, ripe fruit and finesse. The Chignard's have recently started making wine from another Beaujolais cru, Juliénas, which produces a beautiful, high-toned wine in keeping with the style of the domaine. La Revue du Vin claims that the aromas from their wines evoke memories of the great Chambolle-Musignys from Burgundy, to the North…but who’s to say, maybe they got it reversed.

Vignai da Duline

In the late 1990s Lorenzo Mocchiutti and wife Federica Magrini inherited a few hectares of vines from Lorenzo’s grandfather. These vineyards, mostly neglected for decades, were planted primarily with old vines of local grape varieties like Tocai Giallo, Malvasia Istriana, Tocai Fruilano, and Schioppettino, as well as more common varieties like Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and Merlot. Today, their holdings cover seven hectares divided between hillsides and flatlands, including Ronco Pitotti, one of the oldest hillside vineyards in Friuli, with vines dating back to the 1920s.

Their respectful, holistic approach to vineyard management is summed up in their philosophy of “No Trimming the Shoots” and “No Herbicides.” Though it is generally accepted that vines are trimmed of excess leaves or fruit to concentrate a vine’s efforts toward healthy bunches of grapes, Lorenzo and Federica let their vines find their own balance, choosing not to trim any of their vines. In addition to this unconventional practice, they do not use herbicides to prevent growth of unwanted vegetation between rows of vines. Instead they plant a type of alfalfa, erba medica, that when cut acts as a natural fertilizer.

Lorenzo and Federica’s significant efforts in the vineyard combine with hand-harvesting, two sortings of the grapes, and natural fermentation to create age-worthy wines of great purity. This husband and wife team sum it up best:

We believe our wines can convey our respect for the delicate balance of our environment, the care and personal attention we afford to every stage of the production process, and our pursuit of the highest quality wine and viticulture. The grapes carry a memory of the earth they grew in…

André-Michel Brégeon

Michel Brégeon is part renegade, part crusader, and full-blown terroirist. Over the years, he has become an ardent defender of the Muscadet-Sèvre-et-Maine terroir, the most highly regarded of the four appellations in the Pays Nantais. Thanks to his deep understanding of the nuances of the land, he plays the game much differently than the region’s caves cooperatives and negociants, who produce en masse and lose the subtlety of the appellation. For seven years, he worked for his family’s domaine before setting out on his own in 1975. When his father retired in 1989, he gave his remaining vineyard land to Michel. Today, Michel farms seven hectares of vineyards in clay, silica, and gabbro soils. Gabbro is old, blue-green, volcanic rock, rarely found in vineyard land. Formed by magma eruptions under the ocean floor, it is said to impart intense complexity to Michel’s wines. His corner of the Muscadet-Sèvre-et-Maine, Gorges, is particularly known for this rock, and all of Michel’s vines are planted in it. His small community of vignerons is actively seeking recognition and preservation of this particular cru, called “Gorgeois.”
Though Muscadet (made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape) has been commonly known to produce young, fresh wines, (even those that spend a few months sur lie), Michel has broken the mold, keeping some of his wines on the lees for as much as seven years! He ages these wines in subterranean glass-lined cuves. In his mind, ­the longer they stay there, the better. The unexpected freshness and depth of these older wines has silenced many a skeptic.
Tastings at the domaine of bottled vintages spanning twenty years are the stuff of KLWM lore. An older wine from Brégeon has similarities to aged Chablis. Michel also makes a cuvée meant for younger consumption, a wine of incredible value and quality that has been the subject of regular accolades by the press. Kermit’s relationship with Michel is one of the longest-running of our portfolio, dating back to 1979.

Domaine de la Cadette

In the village of Saint-Père, along a little creek to the southeast of Vézelay in Burgundy, a quiet, peaceful revolution is taking place. This part of Burgundy has been producing wines for centuries, but estate bottling still represents a relatively recent phenomenon here. In fact, when Jean and Catherine Montanet planted their first vineyards in 1987, the fruit was destined for vinification in their very own cave coopérative, which saw its first vintage bottled in 1990. As general manager of the business, Jean quickly found his feet as a capable vigneron, counseled by coworkers such as the brilliant Bernard Raveneau, who would later introduce Jean to Kermit.

By 1997, the INAO (Institut National des Appellations d’Origines) had awarded Vézelay its own AOC—a timely decision that lends more credibility to the noble work of the Montanets. They began farming organically in 1999, a particularly bold decision given the physical and financial effort required to do so in an area where most wine is sold in bulk. Unable to fully express themselves as vignerons at the coop and determined to continue working organically, the Montanets finally split off and founded their own label, Domaine de la Cadette, taking their vineyards with them. Their son Valentin joined them in 2010 and now manages the domaine, espousing his parents' philosophy of organic farming and natural vinification to craft refreshing, mineral-driven whites and reds.

The vineyard land sits deep in the Morvan, the great mountain range that runs west by northwest of the famous Côte d’Or. The land here is quite exceptional: the creation of the granite massif of the Morvan has uplifted a marl and limestone strata, revealing fossilized marine deposits. Though Vézelay is a geographic appendage of Chablis, the soils are not exactly the same. Instead of the Kimmerdigian soils, the clays here range from blue and gray to red, sometimes with no clay at all but just shallow limestone. While the climate is slightly cooler than in Chablis, the vines enjoy great sun exposure, lending a balance between generous fruit and deep mineral structure. That the wines from Vézelay have gone largely unnoticed until recently may certainly be attributed to an underwhelming production of forgettable wines; however, Domaine de la Cadette stands proudly as a beacon of change, representing the most sincere expression of their terroirs with grace and integrity. Though they are best known for their Bourgogne Vézelay, a Chardonnay, their Bourgogne Rouge and their Melon de Bourgogne are also equally remarkable.

Éric Chevalier

Éric Chevalier is a rising star in the Nantais of the Loire Valley. For ten years, he sourced fruit for a large négociant in the Touraine.  In 2005, he decided to return to his hometown of Saint-Philbert de Grandlieu, just southwest of Nantes, and ended up taking over the family domaine, Domaine de l’Aujardière, the next year. His father, a talented vigneron who did not bottle much of his wines and was well-known as a high-quality source of bulk wine, had stopped working the vineyards and the vines were either going to have to be pulled up and replanted, or sold.  Éric was anything but enthusiastic. Little by little his passion grew, and today he is proud to be the fourth generation to farm the domaine. He is also proud to be bottling more and more of the family’s production himself. Éric sustainably farms twenty-five hectares of vines, producing wines of great character and finesse. He found his future in his family’s past.
The Nantais is a maritime climate, and the vineyards are not far from the Atlantic Ocean. Consequently, there is an interesting variety of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks, as this area once was ocean floor. Of the twenty-five hectares he farms, a large percentage of his production is dedicated to the production of Melon de Bourgogne (Muscadet Côtes de Grand Lieu, mostly from old vines in the superb lieu-dit of La Butte). The soils here are comprised primarily of serpentinite and quartz, with the exception of his ancient granite parcel known as La Noë. The other half of his crop (Chardonnay, Fié Gris, and Pinot Noir, among others) goes towards the production of Vin de Pays du Val du Loire, and the soils are rich in granite, sand, and silt. Of these “country” wines, the most notable is Éric’s Fié Gris. This grape, pulled out of vineyards for many years to be replaced with the more profitable Sauvignon Blanc, is indigenous to the Loire. Also known as Sauvignon Rose or Sauvignon Gris, Éric’s vines are one of the few remaining strongholds of this elegant and luscious varietal. It makes an impression, with almost an Alsatian exoticism.

Domaine de la Tour du Bon

Several years ago, Kermit’s children were attending grammar school in Provence during the months he worked tasting and selecting wines in France. One day when he picked them up after classes, a charming lady walked up and asked if he would drop by one day to taste her Bandol.  Little did they know that it would be the perfect fit. Domaine de la Tour du Bon rests peacefully atop a limestone plateau in Le Brûlat du Castellet, in the northwestern corner of the A.O.C. Bandol. Nestled beneath the mountains to the North, it is a bastion of tranquility, an oasis on the Mediterranean surrounded by beautiful gardens and vineyards with emblematic names like La Rémoise (The Dweller), Saint Ferréol (a local saint), Ensoleillade (Place Bathed in Sunshine), Clos des Aïeux (Clos of the Forefathers), l’Aire (the Aerie), and Bellevue (Beautiful View). The Hocquard family has been farming this land since 1968, though this has been a full-time farm since 1925. Today, Agnès Henry runs the show. Independent, quick to laugh, and modest enough to be self-deprecating, Agnès has come into her own. For years, she worked in tandem with a hired winemaker to make La Tour du Bon’s wines. Though they made wines that won great acclaim, they did not always reflect her own taste. Not surprisingly, once she finally set her mind to making them on her own, she hit her stride, crafting wines with power and precision, but also finesse and charm. Who better to understand how to make the wine than the person who knows the story of the land the best?
The domaine is situated at an altitude of 150 meters above sea-level—a high point on this coastal appellation where maritime breezes cool the arid climate. Fourteen hectares of red earth, clay, sand, and gravel rest upon sturdy limestone bedrock. Brow-beating excavation and focused determination alone have built these vineyards. Agnès still has early photographs of the Mauric family, who lived here before the Hocquards, working the soil. Knee-deep into the red earth, behind heavy plows, vineyard workers toiled to bring this land to its current glory. (The tradition continues even today.) The copious rock served as sturdy material for building the house and walls that surround the property. The limestone has most importantly left its trace in the wines, instilling them with tremendous complexity, long length, and fresh elegance that makes them ideal for cellar-aging.

Domaine Roland Lavantureux

With a sharp eye, natural instinct, and solid Burgundian pragmatism, Roland Lavantureux made a name for himself crafting no-nonsense Chablis that has come to be one of the most reliable of the old reliables here at Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant. Upon his completion of wine school in Beaune, Roland founded the domaine in 1978 in the town of Lignorelles, about four miles northwest of Chablis. Today, his two sons have taken over the Domaine: Arnaud is in charge of the vineyards and cellar, while David takes the lead in marketing and sales. In addition to making a stunning Chablis, the Lavantureux family also bottles a mouth-watering Petit Chablis, which, depending on the vintage, can easily rival their more highly pedigreed bottling—only proving the unwavering consistency of the Lavantureux family that has kept our relationship with them so strong for over thirty-five years.
The region is best known for its Kimmeridgian soils, a highly prized terroir of limestone and clay infused with tiny, fossilized oysters. The intensely chalky sea-shell minerality lends deep complexity to whites, making this region an ideal home for the Chardonnay grape. The Portlandian soils in the extension of the Chablis appellation, known as Petit Chablis, may not enjoy the same reputation as the Kimmeridgian, yet they imbue the wines with a crisp, lively freshness and zesty, citrusy aromas that speak to the deep mineral component of northern Burgundy. There is no accounting for these imaginary appellation boundaries, because the pedigree of the wines is palpable. As Roland once told Kermit, “I don’t know why the INAO named some vines ‘Chablis’ and others ‘Petit.’ When I stand in the middle of my vineyard, the row to my left is Chablis, to the right it is Petit Chablis, but you can’t see any difference.”
Since joining the family operation, the young Arnaud and David have shown remarkable ambition and precision in their work ethic: they have increased the family holdings to twenty-one hectares, adding single-vineyard cuvées while constantly striving for more complexity and layered texture in the mineral-driven beauties they produce. The Lavantureux wines display show-stopping nerve, to be enjoyed as easily before dinner as they are with a piece of grilled fish or oysters-on-the-half-shell. These wines drink as honestly as the people who make them; they are staff favorites year after year.