Bordeaux 2019 is a campaign for the history books, with en primeur happening mid-quarantine in the comfort of everyone’s own home instead of in Bordeaux. Luckily, the wines are very good and the prices are even better. The only downside, according to Clyde, is that we don’t have enough of it!
Read MoreNothing has quite the charm or depth of a Pinot Meunier-based Champagne done right. This past week Gary Westby drank and excellent bottle of the Mousse L'Or d'Eugene Perpetuelle Blanc de Noirs with pork rillettes as a little starter, and it certainly is one of the Meuniers that is done right.
Read MoreWe are in the middle of summer, the mercury is rising, and you want to grab that perfect bottle of rosé, but which one? Our Rhône and French Regional liaison at the Redwood City, Lauren Seward, is here to offer five glorious suggestions that should fit the bill perfectly.
Read MoreThe brilliance that is Laurent-Perrier's Rosé Champagne is well known to critics and collectors alike, but what is that makes this bottling so special? Gary Westby answers this very important question, while enjoying a perfect pairing of dim sum.
Read MoreOur Champagne Buyer, Gary Westy, is at it again, finding the perfect pairing for an extra special bottle of Champagne. The 2012 Jean-Jacques Lamoureux "Alexandrine" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne is sourced the same Kimmeridgian clay soils that are found in Chablis, and the similarities don’t stop there. If you love clean, expressive Champagnes with the perfect touch of minerality, then you’ll certainly want to read on.
Read MoreLooking for the perfect red to visit, year after year, vintage after vintage? Gary Westby has the perfect pick for you. Best of all, it’s an amazing bargain. Read on for a multi-vintage review of one of our favorite Spanish direct-import producers.
Read MoreSometimes the parts are better than the sum… 2002 is not a favorite vintage for Clyde, with little faith in the Cabernet that came from the cooler/uneven temperatures that year. But in the 2002 Coufran, a Merlot-dominant blend, he’s found a diamond in the rough.
Read MoreWe are excited to now have the inaugural release of reds from Domaine des Carlines, a Direct Import Jura producer whose whites we’ve loved since their first vintage in 2015. They’re a young domaine but the two at the helm, Patrick and Sophie, have been in the wine business their whole lives. The wines are very special, and we’re going to drink them all summer long.
Read MoreOur Champagne Buyer, Gary Westby, had the good fortune to taste the 2010 vintage of Dom Pérignon Brut. “How was it,” you ask? In a word, amazing. Simply put, this is Champagne at its very best. Read on for Gary’s first impressions on this singular bottle of Champagne.
Read MoreSummertime, and the livin’ is…well, decidedly different than we all had expected. But the wines are excellent, and there’s no shortage of options, both tried-and-true and off-the-beaten path. In this week’s newsletter, our Buyers have joined forces to bring you a guide to beating the heat with the coolest of the cool summer wines on our shelves.
Read MoreIn our next Club Francais, we’ll be featuring the 2000 de Viaud from Lalande de Pomerol, so Clyde took the occasion to revisit a bottle of the 2003 from the estate. This was a controversial vintage in Bordeaux—a warm year with some hits and some misses—so I was curious how the wine would taste 17 years down the line. But Clyde lives by the credo of finding the best wines in under-rated vintages for the best values, and he’s king at picking out the good ones.
Read MoreAll the chips were stacked against Bordeaux being able to pull off an En Primeur campaign. If prices were less than astounding,there would have been no chance to even get off the starting block. Then Pontet-Canet got a potential 100-point review from Wine Advocate, dropped their price by 30%…
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