The family estate of Clos du Mont-Olivet is the collector’s choice for traditional, aromatic and age-worthy Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The Sabon family’s ancient, three-story stone house looks directly upon the ruins of the papal “châteauneuf” that gives the town its name. Their cellars are stacked high with dusty bottles—many without labels—stashed by winemaker Thierry Sabon’s grandfather when he first started making wine.
Located due east from the mountain vineyards of Gigondas, Martinelle combines an organic focus with a fiery passion in wines that speak honestly of the land’s beauty and of endless pleasure. Each bottle captures the deep, savory flavors of southern grapes while remaining lively and vivacious, just like the cool mistral winds that whip through the countryside in the heat of the northern Provençal summer.
Wines from Le Clos du Caillou are Rhône blends at their most intense. Concentrated and richly textured, these organically raised, older-vine wines capture the spice and silk of old-vine Grenache grown on the region’s finest terroirs. Each wine too reflects the native perfumes of the south, the “garrigue” blend of thyme, rosemary and lavender that grows wild among the estate’s vines.
The Vacherons are without question Sancerre’s leading winemaking clan. From the family’s pioneering work in identifying and exploiting the region’s top terroirs to their leading position in biodynamic viticulture today, there are few if any artisans in Sancerre as exacting or as respected.
Violet-scented, smooth as silk and tangy: the most satisfying Cabernet Franc wines hail from the cellars of Domaine de Noiré in Chinon. Winemaker Jean-Max Manceau, a Chinon native, has long been a champion of the region’s reds, and his own wines are the standard for the heights Chinon can achieve.
Cotat Sancerre is simply some of the most singular Sauvignon Blanc in the world. These are wines that can age for decades effortlessly, and that marry a plush richness with a laser-like cut and energy. There is a generational change at Pascal Cotat; Sancerre native Aymeric Fleuriet will be taking over for Pascal as he eases into a well-earned retirement.
Sancerre from François Cotat is simply some of the most singular Sauvignon Blanc in the world. Devotees can tell you that what happens in this modest cellar in Chavignol is one part winemaking, three parts magic. Atypical yet arresting in their complexity, Cotat Sancerre is wine that can and should be aged for decades.
Domaine Egly-Ouriet Champagne is sensual, unforgettable and highly sought after, a “cult” wine for Champagne lovers who crave the power and finesse of Pinot Noir-based wines. What you’ll find at this family “grower” house is truly vinous Champagne, wines striking in their concentration and complexity.
The talents of winemaker Vincent Dureuil in Rully are such that it’s easy to forget that there are others making wine in the Côte Chalonnaise. But there just is no other artist in the region that faithfully crafts Burgundy with as much purity, elegance or character as does Vincent. Not only is he a gifted winemaker, but also he is blessed with some exemplary older-vine vineyards that for years have been cared for organically—a higher level of attention that sets Vincent qualitatively apart from the pack.
When people talk seriously about “natural” wines, they talk about the organic wines of Mas de Gourgonnier. In the heart of Provence in the 1970s, this family estate was one of the first officially certified organic wineries, back when such a practice was seen as foolish for vine growers trying to make a living.