Domaine Begude: Organically Farmed, Family-Run, Big-Value Wines from Southern France

Domaine Begude was created by James and Catherine Kinglake in 2004. Tired of working in finance in London, they fled to the south of France and bought an old estate where they put down roots. They went through the growing pains of learning the wine industry and navigating local government, all while starting their family. After 20 years, they have weathered the financial hardships of running a small winery, suffering through Brexit (they are still British citizens), and the expenses of their daughter starting college. It’s been a wild ride for sure, but James, along with his winemaking team, continues to make some of the finest bang-for-the-buck wines to grace our shelves year after year.

Rosé Season in Full Swing

You could make the case that any season is rosé season, especially in California, but there's no denying that the dog days of summer are when these pink gems really shine. Today's newsletter explores the category in depth, starting with Gary Westby's top picks in rosé Champagne. Keith Mabry offers up his favorite Provence performers, plus a pair of stellar artisan beauties from Greece and Lebanon. Finally, we'll take a look at how the category has gone from pedestrian to profound with a sampling of the world's finest collectible renditions.

Is Collectible Rosé Wine an Oxymoron?

Rosé has always been fun, but for long time it was pretty easily dismissed in most wine circles. Hardly ever made with quality grapes, it wasn’t taken very seriously in the U.S.; until a decade or so ago, you’d hardly ever find it on restaurant wine lists. But somewhere along the way, we got the memo! More serious domestic winemakers began making it; more importers began bringing in high-quality examples from abroad; celebrities even starting dipping their toes in the rosé game. It can be a stunningly complex wine in its own right when made with quality fruit and winemaking techniques. Rosé has long been the reigning queen of cheap and cheerful, but some versions are so well made and special that they merit a space in your cellar. Some rosé can develop in the bottle and develop additional depth and character with age. From rosé Champagne to cult-caliber Lebanese bottlings, rosé is—finally—getting its moment in the sun.

Parade of Provençal Rosés

It’s hard to think of a better way to spend a hot holiday weekend than with some fresh and vibrant rosés! The 2023 vintage in Provence is outstanding and many of our favorites have landed. This list represents some of the best QPR drinking when it comes to classic southern French pink wines, and all of these punch well above their price point. Because we work aggressively with our suppliers, we have classic wines from Provence for a fraction of what you would find elsewhere. Thankfully it’s a long weekend, so plenty of time to try a smattering of any of these gems. Santé!

The Elegance of Rosé Champagne

No conversation about rosé wine would be complete without including the sublime and capricious wines of Champagne. For me, most of the best and all of the worst Champagnes that I have had have been rosé—and for good reason. This far north, it is very tricky to get the skins of the grapes perfect, and to introduce color to the wine, at least part of it has to be macerated with the skins. In the south of France, on the coasts of Provence, the sunny, dry weather is moderated by the cooling influence of the sea, but in Champagne, even the summers can be wet, leading to rot. Most producers in the area opt to farm one small plot like a garden, using a different selection or clone of grapes, often very old vines with different pruning and lots of extra work like green harvesting. From this plot they will make a dark red wine that is blended into a base of white wine to make rosé. All three of the Champagnes in this article share this technique, and the first even a little more!

The Krug Challenge 2024: Krug x Flowers

Every year, Krug announces an ingredient of the year to inspire the chefs of the world to create dishes to go with their spectacular champagne. Not wanting to be left out, Cinnamon and I make something for the home kitchen as well—it is an excellent excuse to drink Krug on a weeknight. This year, the ingredient is flowers, and luckily for us, nasturtiums grow wild in the Willows neighborhood of Menlo Park where we live. It only took a short walk to forage a little bag of these edible flowers—in June they practically pour out onto the sidewalk!

Today’s 2023 Bordeaux Releases Are Powerhouse Collectible Bargains

Today brings the highly anticipated release of the potential wine-of-the-vintage Château Canon as well as my personal favorite, Pavie Macquin, along with critics’ darlings Les Carmes Haut-Brion and Rauzan-Ségla. The clear throughline here is that all four wines fall squarely into the collectible bargain category—presenting an incredibly impressive performance with a price that comes in a range of bargain to sweet-spot pricing. All these properties dropped their pricing between 25% to 30% over that of 2022—well done! I’ve included a note on each offering below for further insight as to why each and every one of these releases is worthy of cellar consideration.

2023 Bordeaux: A Classic Vintage at Sharp Pricing

Despite such a fast and furious start to the campaign, we've so far seen very impressive engagement from futures buyers, with sales coming in much more volume than 2022. The main reason, apart from a large crop of high-quality wines? Pricing. With many châteaux releasing at 25% to 40% below their 2022 prices, the 2023 vintage is set to put the Bordeaux market right, and our avid collectors are the biggest beneficiaries. In our annual Bordeaux Vintage Guide, you'll find summaries of all the top appellations that we tasted, along with comprehensive lists of currently available selections. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg, so be sure to stay tuned in the coming weeks as marquee names like Montrose, Canon, the Pichons, and many others release their 2023s to market. Check out the notes for these, and all of the wines below on our 2023 Bordeaux Vintage Report.

Champagne Buying Guide

Today's buying guide gets us (re)acquainted with the people and places that make our Champagne portfolio the best in the business. Fresh off a visit to the region, I've come back with a renewed appreciation for these treasured estates, a few of which I've worked with for going on two decades. Recent containers have just dropped a treasure trove of unbeatable direct-import buys on our shelves, so I invite you to explore below and take a deep dive into these beloved wines and producers.

Champagne Baron-Fuenté’s Esprit Is Now Quinconce!

No visit to Champagne would be complete without a drive out to Charly-sur-Marne in the westernmost part of the region to visit Sophie and Ignace Baron at Champagne Baron Fuenté. This year, they have gone through a big label change, with the entire Esprit range now renamed Quinconce. Don’t worry—the great quality and the prices have not changed, just the name.

Fan-Favorite Champagne Launois Back In Stock

Our ship of Launois recently arrived, just before I shipped out to Mesnil to visit the property. I just tasted all of these wine with Séverine Launois and as usual, their range of estate-grown, Grand Cru Chardonnay–centered wines were amazing. There is a reason that these are the best-selling Champagnes at K&L; they refuse to use anything other than their own vineyards, and those vineyards are exclusively planted to massal selections from their own mother vines—they do not have any cloned plants at all here. The heart of the vineyard, the place where they have the most land, is none other than the legendary Mesnil Grand Cru—the most expensive and most sought-after in all of the Champagne region.

The Top Champagne Release of 2024?

I don’t know if I am ready for a better Champagne to be released in 2024 than the 2012 Billecart-Salmon "Cuvée Louis" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne $199.99. I have been lucky enough to have tasted it three times since its release this April, and to drink it once at home as well. This is a Champagne that epitomizes the elegance of this great house, and of Grand Cru Chardonnay from the region.

K&L Wine Merchants

www.klwines.com