Charly-sur-Marne is closer to Paris than Reims, over the line in the Aisne, where Meunier is king. Baron-Fuente stacks its Quinconce en quinconce for seven years before disgorgement, and the Grande Reserve is 60% Meunier at a price that reads like a mistake.
Read MoreNo grape suits a holiday table like Pinot Meunier, and Jean-Baptiste Gilbert-Jacquesson has built four cuvees around it in the Marne. The 100% Meunier Tradition starts at $29.99; the Prestige draws on a solera running back to the 2000s.
Read MoreThe Hugot family planted vines in Champagne in 1660 and waited 261 years to put their name on a bottle. Damien is the 25th generation, farming 20 acres of Grand Cru Chardonnay in Chouilly and Cramant, with a 2016 mono cru to finish.
Read MoreBillecart-Salmon dates to 1818 and seven generations. Scott Beckerley on the lower-dosage Le Rosé and the oak-fermented Sous Bois.
Read MoreMaxime Toubart held his 2008 Héritage 16 years on the lees before release. Just 5,000 bottles from the cold microclimate of Le Breuil. $59.99.
Read MoreCampbeltown had 30 distilleries in the 1880s and has three today. Stephanie Manning drove the length of Kintyre, a day after Storm Amy, to taste through casks at Glen Scotia. She came back with a 10-year first-fill Oloroso hogshead and an argument for very long fermentations.
Read MoreOur first small-batch rye came from an unlikely mash bill: 51% rye, 49% barley. It has the spice of an American rye and the stone fruit characteristics of a Speyside. Stephanie Manning on the five barrels, the Madeira finish, and why 111 proof was the right strength.
Read MoreTwo vintages into a Direct Import relationship with one of the great singular producers of Crozes-Hermitage, organic since 2007. Keith Mabry on five wines: the estate Crozes, the 60-year-old vines behind Le Rouvre, a new Blanc, the first St-Joseph Yann Chave has ever made, and the Hermitage.
Read MoreGrenache may lead the conversation in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but plot selection, soils and winemaking take these wines in very different directions. Keith Mabry on three of them: the translucent Grenache of Piedlong, Isabel Ferrando's precision, and Beaucastel's Mourvèdre-heavy 2023.
Read MoreLéon de Pins grew up at Château de Montfaucon. Roc des Pins is his own project, and the first two wines are deliberately contrarian: a Tavel dark enough to pass for a light red, and a Cinsault bottled on its own rather than hidden in a blend.
Read MoreKeith Mabry has been buying Château de Montfaucon for more than two decades. The estate is now fully organic, the range runs from the returning $15.99 La Côte to the late-released 2020 Baron Louis, and Léon de Pins has a project of his own.
Read MoreBell Hill and Bass Phillip Pinot Noir, Penfolds Grange, Almaviva, Seña, and other site-specific, ageworthy icons from New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, and Chile — world-class pedigree at a fraction of comparable Bordeaux or Burgundy prices.
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