November Newsletter: Beaujolais Nouveau, 2009 Red Bordeaux PA, 2008 Grange des Peres PA, The KLWM Champagne Sale

The November newsletter is now available.
Click here to download the pdf.


 


Highlights from this month’s newsletter…

CHAMPAGNE SALE

by Dixon Brooke

The time of the year has come. For our longtime clients, it won’t come as news; the KLWM season of Champagne is upon us. Yes, we like to give our clients the opportunity to stock up well in advance of the holidays at deep discounts. We offer, of course, only our own carefully selected book of small family estate–grown and bottled Champagnes. They won’t be immediately recognizable, luxury household brands if you aren’t a Champagne fanatic, but tasting is immediately believing. You are the connoisseur who can explain why these taste so different from what your guests are accustomed to. J. Lassalle produces a decadent, full-bodied style of Champagne, thanks to full malo and extended bottle age. Paul Bara makes an ultra-classic, Pinot Noir–driven style, winey and powerful. Veuve Fourny brings us a clean, chiseled style, Chardonnay married with pure chalk and barrel aging. Let us walk you through your choices based on your preferred style, if you don’t already know exactly what to order. Don’t forget the magnums, the ultimate way to start a gathering of family or friends over the holidays. Here’s to you.

regularly

 bottle

  15%

discount

   case

   25%

 discount

J. Lassalle

NV Brut Rosé 1er Cru

 $62.00

 $52.70

  $558.00

NV “Cachet d’Or” Brut 1er Cru

 43.00

 36.55

  387.00

NV Préférence Brut 1er Cru

 48.00

 40.80

  432.00

*NV Préférence Brut
1er Cru Magnums

 114.00

 96.90

  513.00

2005 “Cuvée Angéline” Brut 1er Cru

 73.00

 62.05

  657.00

2004 Blanc de Blancs Brut 1er Cru

 78.00

 66.30

  702.00

*2004 Blanc de Blancs Brut
1er Cru Magnums

 168.00

 142.80

  756.00

2002 Spécial Club Brut 1er Cru

 92.00

 78.20

  828.00

Paul Bara

NV Brut Rosé Grand Cru 100%

 62.00

 52.70

  558.00

NV Brut Rosé Grand Cru 100% Tenths

 35.00

 29.75

  630.00

NV Brut Réserve Grand Cru 100%

 56.00

 47.60

  504.00

NV Brut Réserve
Grand Cru 100% Tenths

 33.00

 28.05

  594.00

2005 Spécial Club Rosé
Grand Cru 100%

 120.00

 102.00

  1080.00

2002 Spécial Club Brut
Grand Cru 100%

 108.00

 91.80

  972.00

2002 Brut Grand Cru 100%

 68.00

 57.80

  612.00

2000 “Comtesse Marie de France”
Grand Cru 100%

 108.00

 91.80

  972.00

1999 “Comtesse Marie de France”
Grand Cru 100%

 108.00

 91.80

  972.00

Veuve Fourny

NV Blanc de Blancs Brut 1er Cru

 48.00

 40.80

  432.00

NV Blanc de Blancs Brut
1er Cru Magnums

 111.00

 94.35

  499.50

NV Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature
1er Cru

 48.00

 40.80

  432.00

NV Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature
1er Cru Magnums

 111.00

 94.35

  499.50

NV Cuvée “R” Extra-Brut 1er Cru

 63.00

 53.55

  567.00

NV Grande Réserve Brut 1er Cru

 47.00

 39.95

  423.00

NV Grande Réserve Brut
1er Cru Magnums

 104.00

 88.40

  468.00

NV Grande Réserve Brut
1er Cru Jeroboams

 333.00

 283.05

NV Rosé Brut 1er Cru

 56.00

 47.60

  504.00

2005 Blanc de Blancs 1er Cru

 72.00

 61.20

  648.00

2005 Blanc de Blancs
1er Cru Magnums

 148.00

 125.80

  666.00

2004 Blanc de Blancs
1er Cru Magnums

 146.00

 124.10

  657.00

2000 Clos Notre Dame Extra-Brut
1er Cru

 160.00

 136.00

  1440.00

*Limited quantities available.

SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST

by Lori Varsames

2010 BANDOL BLANC
DOMAINE DE LA TOUR DU BON

Tasting wine with Agnès Henry is akin to having a discussion with a humanities professor. While she easily holds her own addressing the technical points of a wine, she would rather draw comparisons to poetry, music, and philosophy. Agnès calls this blend made of Clariette and Rolle a taste of “air et mer” (air and sea). Gorgeous notes of Mirabelle plums open to a wake of lovely mineral-laden perfumes. What else is there to say when excellence is this palpable?

$33.00 per bottle $356.40 per case

2010 “AU PETIT BONHEUR”
ROSÉ • LES PALLIÈRES

Kermit and the Brunier brothers bottle this rosé to include some of their younger-vine fruit. Light, fresh, and peachy with hints of réglisse, it tends to be the best kind of pink—one that can be enjoyed for no particular reason at all. But the name says it all. If bonheur means happiness, I’ve always understood au petit bonheur to mean “off the cuff” or to imply “a small pleasure.” Or how about bon heur, which means “very good fortune”? Kermit’s response: “Well, in French it can have several little meanings. I have never found a good translation. There is also the literal bonne heure, which, I hate to say, would be Happy Hour. Oops.”

$22.00 per bottle $237.60 per case

2010 “LA DÉMARRANTE” • MAXIME MAGNON

What is more compelling than farming old-vine fruit—organically—in the mountainous Hautes Corbières, with a team of animals grazing in the vineyards and then vinifying the hearty Languedoc grapes through semi-carbonic maceration—Beaujolais style? Maxime Magnon’s Démarrante shows a soft, cheerful side of Carignan and Grenache meant for easy drinking. Delicious, floral, and rich in schist terroir, his wines always put a little shimmy back in my step. Really.

$23.00 per bottle $248.40 per case

Maxime Magnon

2007 IROULÉGUY “CUVÉE HAITZA”
ARRETXEA

Deep in the hills of the Pyrénées in Basque country, Thérèse and Michel Riouspeyrous are farming differently than the vast majority of their neighbors; they are one of the first domaines to be both certified organic and biodynamic in Irouléguy. Their steep, terraced, sandstone vineyards are streaked with a wide variety of minerals, all adding to the complexity of the wine. Cuvée Haitza blends the Tannat grape with a dash of Cabernet Sauvignon. Its spice and stoniness make it a great candidate not only for rich meat dishes but also for the cellar, where it opens to amazing depths with some age.

$40.00 per bottle $432.00 per case

2007 PIC SAINT LOUP “GUILHEM GAUCELM”
ERMITAGE DU PIC SAINT LOUP

The Ravaille brothers could be a comedy troupe, with their keen sense of humor, lightning wit, and contagious laughter. When it comes to their wines, the tone changes, and they are all heart and soul. This tête de cuvée is composed of their oldest vines and was named for the first known steward of this land, Guilhem Gaucelm, a sharecropper of the Comte de Maguelone in the thirteenth century. Raspberries, leather, and spice deliver a mouthful of earthy complexity wrapped in an incredibly smooth texture. The Ravailles recommend drinking it now through 2018.

$48.00 per bottle $518.40 per case

Pic Saint Loup

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