Savigny Is Where It Is At with the 2022 Vintage Domaine Jean-Michel Giboulot

We have been working with Domaine Jean-Michel Giboulot for a long time, and the most exciting and rewarding part of this relationship is seeing the wines get better-and-better each vintage. This set of wines from Giboulot’s 2022 vintage is excellent. The wines definitely shine a light on the emerging quality and diversity of vineyards in Savigny-lès-Beaune. His wines come from an impressive list of vineyard holdings, and we currently carry four fantastic 2022 1er Cru Savigny-lès-Beaunes that and Burgundy lover will not want to miss.

Santenay's Château de la Charrière Overperforms Year After Year

There may not be a better producer we import from Burgundy when it comes to quality-to-price-ratio than Château de la Charrière. Great vintage, good vintage, bad vintage—it doesn’t matter. These guys just continue to churn out great value after great value from the humble Santenay appellation. Benoît Girardin took over the winemaking reins at his family property over 10 years ago and hasn’t looked back. He’s skillfully crafting excellent values that deftly combine a classic Burgundian rusticity with modern winemaking techniques. The wines always have beautifully defined fruit characteristics while simultaneously being unmistakably Burgundian.

Burgundy’s 2022 Vintage: Hitting on All Cylinders

The Burgundies are landing fast and furiously at K&L with a bevy of amazing values from the fantastic 2022 vintage! With pricing finally stabilized and a good-sized crop contributing to robust supply, now is the time to load up on the bargains in stock. We just had several containers land with many of our most popular direct import producers like Domaine Jean Michel Giboulot, Domaine de la Charrière, Domaine Renaud, Château de la Maltroye, Domaine Bart, and Domaine Pernot-Belicard. What separates 2022 from the last few vintages is the consistency in the quality of both the whites and reds—these wines are EXCELLENT! They are beautiful and fruit-forward with excellent balance, great acidity, and fine tannins. These wines will be enjoyable in their youth as well as worthy of your cellar.

NZ's Ata Rangi Wines Shine at a Dinner with Winemaker Helen Masters

On September 19th and 20th, K&L had the pleasure of welcoming the esteemed and affable winemaker Helen Masters from New Zealand’s Ata Rangi Winery for a memorable tasting series and unique dinner in San Francisco. For an in-depth discussion on Ata Rangi's background and ethos, check out the fantastic write-up by Emma Jenkins, MW for Decanter. Ata Rangi is undeniably one of the top Pinot Noir producers in New Zealand. They were not only recognized in 2010 with the inaugural Tipuranga Teitei o Aotearoa or "Grand Cru of New Zealand" award, but they've earned a reputation for producing wines that are delightfully approachable, expressively terroir-driven, and remarkably age-worthy. Plus, it's hard not to have a great time around Helen, a true champion of the wine industry and wonderful person!

Dynamic Domestic Wines: New Discoveries and Inspiration

The endless diversity and discovery of domestic wine are on full display in today’s buying guide. Leading the way is the vintage that almost wasn’t but has become one of our absolute favorites: 2022 in Oregon. We’ve also consulted our domestic wine experts in each store to share their favorite picks. Next, we highlight STiRM, showcasing stunning expressions of a minimalist approach at remarkable prices. We’re also ready to take non-alcoholic wines seriously, as evidenced by the offerings from Kally. Rounding out the guide is a review of our most exciting Insider's Advantage opportunities, featuring some of the fine wine market's best deals in the domestic category.

Our Domestic Wine Experts Weigh In on Current Faves

Wine Buyer Ryan Woodhouse steers the ship for the Domestic category at K&L, but he's got a passionate crew on hand at each store to help you find your next favorite. Carlo, Scott, and Al share some of the current standouts from California and Oregon.

Oregon’s Brilliant 2022 Vintage: The Harvest That Almost Wasn’t!

The wines from the 2022 season are fantastic across the board. The fruit profiles are pure, expressive, rich, and vibrant. There’s plenty of freshness and definition to the wines. The delayed harvest meant, despite the warm weather that persisted into October, the shorter days and longer, cooler nights at that time in the season allowed beautiful acid retention to balance the ripe fruit. The critical acclaim for the vintage bears witness to this; every report published has been bristling with huge scores and glowing praise for the wines. They’re easy to love, supremely accessible, flavorful, and energetic. I’m thrilled to have such a fantastic array of these 2022 wines in stock right now.

STiRM: Minimal Intervention, Maximum Value

Wines that offer great value are a key focus for me whenever making buying decisions at K&L. Sure, some folks' definition of value might be quite different than mine, and not all great wines can necessarily be cheap. However, there’s something so satisfying when you find a wine that is just darn delicious for a great price. Even better (at least in my opinion) is when that delicious wine also happens to come from a small artisanal producer, hand-crafting wines from interesting vineyards in a non-interventionist style, with a great sense of place and authentic purity. This is exactly what I find in the wines of Ryan Stirm.

A Wealth of Riches on Our Australian Wine Shelves

Last June, I had the extraordinary opportunity to explore the Australian wine country, searching for the next wave of exceptional wines that deserve a place on the shelves at K&L. I was not only impressed by the quality of the wines I tasted but also surprised by the sheer number of producers crafting exquisite artisanal wines that had never been imported to the United States.

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.

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.

K&L Wine Merchants

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