La Route du Vin

Domaine Les Hautes Cances - Cotes du Rhone Villages-Cairanne Cuvee Col du Debat

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The High Hill Hautes Cances Vineyards

I have been impatiently awaiting the arrival of Col du Debat. I knew I wanted this wine in my glass the minute I tasted it in the chai of Jean Marie Astart in Cairanne.

Jean-Marie and Anne-Marie have a modest house in the middle of the village of Cairanne. Anne-Marie great grandparents created the property in 1890. The land passed down through the family until to came to Anne-Marie. When she inherited the property she was already ensconced in a medial career as was her husband, Jean-Marie. Jean- Marie decided to give up his medical career to farm the family land and vinify his own wine, which at the time was being sold off in bulk to the Cairanne cooperative. They named the Domaine les Hautes Cances which means the end of the vines where the tractor turns around.

Jean-Marie converted his vineyards to Agriculture Biologique in 1999 (they don't use chemicals). This not only reflected their deep desire to protect the environment but also to allow the maximum expression of authentic terroir. Jean-Marie built a new chai into the hillside for natural temperature control. His vinification is done using gravity to protect the grapes along their journey into the vat. The place is absolutely spotless, eat-off-the-floor pristine.

It was in this very chai that I had my first drop of Col du Debat. This is Jean-Marie's tete de cuvee (top of the line). It is from a special 17 hectare parcel on the top of a slope with perfect exposure to the sun. The vines are old and produce a wine that is EXPRESSIF and CONCENTRATED. You must try it. It has been on my mind since I tasted it and now it is here, ready to pour into your glass. If you love Rhones, you should not turn your back on this wine.

Domaine Lavigne in Saumur Champigny

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Harvest in the Loire - The source of some of the best bistro wines

"Loire 2005. 2005 may be even better than the wonderful 2002s because of the combination of concentrated flavors, extraordinary aromatics, and crisp acidity and minerality.These zesty wines are just hitting the market now, but they're likely to disappear quickly because of their high quality. " Robert Parker Business Week 4/12/07

I'm late for my tasting appointment at Domaine Lavigne in Varrains, a pin-neat wine village five minutes south of Saumur in the Loire Valley. I flash by the colorful flags fluttering welcome at the entrance to Saumur and glance at the lovely cream- hued houses that sprawl along the Loire River. With a quick appreciative glance I acknowledge Saumur's imposing hilltop castle, but keep my foot on the gas towards my destination.

Saumur Champigny is a red wine not properly celebrated given its nearly perfect personality and attractive price tag. No Paris wine bar or swanky starred eatery worth respect would leave Saumur Champigny off its wine list and yet the wine is scarcely known in the United States. And, Saumur Champigny won't lighten your pocket by much so you can drink it regularly.

Saumur Champigny is the best red wine made in the Saumurois. It ís 100% Cabernet Franc grape. Nine communes (wine growing areas), scattered in a loose clump south of Saumur and along the Loire River are allowed to put the name on their bottles.

I'm headed to Domaine Lavigne because they are one of the best producers of Saumur Champigny. Entering the sunny, walled compound complete with palm tree, I am impressed by the pristine condition of the operation even in the midst of building a new chai. Pascale, the daughter of the owner greets us and squires us around. I pop my head into the new chai, a depot-sized room with shining, stainless steel tanks complete with all the gadgetry required for making topnotch wines. Domaine Lavigne is clearly ahead of the winemaking curve.

Pommard 2005 from Paul Garaudet

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The Vineyards in Pommard

"'05 Cote de Beaune wines are indeed wonderful, pure and extraordinary particularly in Volnay and Pommard." Allen Meadows The Burghound

2005 Red Burgundies - Peerless Perfection! Nothing touches the quality of this vintage in the last 20 years.

"At the risk of throwing another log on an already raging fire, I'd have to say that 2005 is potentially the greatest red Burgundy vintage I've yet tasted from barrel" Steve Tanzer International Wine Cellar

"Red Burgundy 2005: to be treasured" Decanter Magazine

Amazing words and all true. The 2005s are wines to grab while they last. Most of mine are gone, but the quick-movers will be able to wet their glasses with the last of them. Believe me, no one wants to admit that they missed out on one of the very greatest vintages that Burgundy has ever produced.

If all this sounds a little pushy, just spend some time with a few growers in Burgundy and watch them get all-misty-eyed when discussing the 2005s. "The vintage of my lifetime" will be a phrase that will insert itself into the conversation more than once. "Perfect grapes - I didn't have to use my table de tri to sort out the losers - there were none!"

Now, just imagine putting your lips to this most stunning vintage and also getting a Pommard in the bargain.

I'm convinced that if you were to ask twenty people to describe the taste of their ideal wine, they would unknowingly describe a Pommard.

Chateau Puy Galland, Cotes de Francs 2003

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The Bordeaux Cotes de Francs vineyards in the undiscovered (and high value) area just 10K east of St Emilion.

One of Bordeaux 's Most Interesting Areas for Excellent Qualty/Price Rapport

The dirt road was barely wider than three French cows, shoulder to shoulder. I could see the prerequisite old church off in the distance flanked by a stone house or two. I guessed this was it: the hamlet of Le Bourg. The road held out, barely, until we got to Chateau Puy Galland.

I like to go on reconnaissance trips deep into the lush hills and pines of Bordeaux far away from the flash of the Medoc and St Emilion, to find perfect little wines. Puy Galland is one of these.

I admit I was not the one to discover it. I first spotted it in Le Guide des Meilleurs Vins a Petits Prix. "The Guide to the Best French Wines at a Low Price".

One of the Top Rated wines for value with these notes: "Belle attaque sur une matiere riche et de belle constitution." The paragraph goes on to talk about a fine and balanced extraction, beautiful freshness and fruit and finishes with "une belle bouteille".

Okay, I was hooked ( at a price that seemed astounding) -- and determined to circumvent any breed of pothole or sheep herd to taste it. Proprietor Bernard Labutut was waiting and led us into his small chai adjacent to his flower pot-roofed farmhouse. It wasn't fancy, but it was orderly. You could tell he knew what he was doing and had a passion for it.

New Chinon from Couly Dutheil

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The Couly-Dutheil Chinon vineyards during harvest

This is a Pre-Sell offer. Delivery is expected in Late October
Wine Spectator Recognizes a Couly Dutheil's release of a Chinon Special Cuvee and Rates it 92
"Rock solid, with ripe, structured layers of plum, black currant and black cherry offset by sweet olive tapenade, mineral and aged tobacco. The long, iron- filled finish shows impressive depth. Should age nicely. Drink now through 2010. The Wine Spectator Sept. 30, 2007

I've been to the birthplace of this wine many times. it is one of the most beautiful villages in France and that enhances the pleasure I get from the wine tenfold. I cannot taste a Chinon without a vivid picture of the village popping into my mind. For a quarter of a mile in each direction along the River are charming stone houses built right into the hillside. The land rises steeply from the bank and on its highest part with a lot of vineyards in between sits a chateau, noble though in ruins.

All up and down the river are France's signature plane trees, stumpy and squat from rigorous pruning in the winter and bursting with shade-giving leaves in the summer. I think about crossing the small bridge over the River Vienne. The bridge splits Chinon in half and puts you right down in the middle of town. There is an open-air market once a week.

You can sip your noir double in the morning and watch the trafficking of ripe peaches and aromatic melons and cheeses and feel a few million miles away from anything flashy and artificial and second- rate.

Jean Pierre Auvigue - Magnificent Pouilly Fuisse Vielles Vignes from the magnificent 2005 Vintage

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The Pouilly Fuisse vineyards that surround the local wine making villages

Why is a beautiful day in Macon twice as wonderful as anywhere else?

Maybe it's the rolling, green hills of vines positioned so perfectly your entire vision fills up with them. Maybe it's the lunch at a country restaurant, the chairs and tables hastily assembled outside to take advantage of the warm sun and gentle, cool breezes Everyone seems to know most everyone else and there is an infectious smile about the place. I'm not exactly sure what it is about the beautiful Macon vineyard area but I can't be there enough - that's what I know.

Maybe that's why when there's a case of Pouilly Fuisse in my cellar, it's gone in a week. That's the truth. Every time I pour this wine into big, open- mouthed Burgundy goblets I have the same response: THIS is REALLY great wine. Then, a few tilts and swirls and suddenly there's an empty bottle. Shouldn't I open another?

Jean-Pierre Auvigue was grinning widely when I showed up to visit a few months ago. The 2005 vintage had made him a very happy man. He barely waited for me to get out of the car before he started talking:

Domaine Eric de Suremain Rully Les Preaux

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The Beautiful Suremain Chateau Site (Chateau de Monthelie)

"2005 Côte de Beaune wines are indeed wonderful, pure and extraordinary particularly in Volnay and Pommard." Allen Meadows The Burghound

2005 Red Burgundies - Peerless Perfection! Nothing touches the quality of this vintage in the last 20 years.

"At the risk of throwing another log on an already raging fire, I'd have to say that 2005 is potentially the greatest red Burgundy vintage I've yet tasted from barrel" Steve Tanzer International Wine Cellar

"Red Burgundy 2005: to be treasured" Decanter Magazine

You might already have tried this Pinot Noir. It's one of our most popular wines. And, it will be no surprise if you are down to your last bottle or two (you'd better check) because I know it's a wine I find myself reaching for when I go to my cellar.

On top of that, it should be very clear by now that missing the 2005 red Burgundy vintage is unacceptable if you like your Pinot Noir (and I've never met a serious wine drinker who doesn't have a very soft spot for it).

I found myself at the Château de Monthelie a few weeks ago, home of Eric and Dominique de Suremain. There aren't many Châteaux in Burgundy. This one is about 300 years old. It looks every inch its age, but there is something noble about it with its brightly colored polychrome roof and too many to count roof lines and turrets.

Marc Sorrel Hermitage 2004

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The Hermitage Hillside Vineyards - Sorrel is just to the left on the steepest slope

"The top cuvee of red Hermitage, the 2004 Hermitage Le Greal (a blend of grapes from the estate's Greffieux and Meal vineyards) achieved 14% natural alcohol. A pure, well-textured, elegant effort with hints of Pinot Noir-like finesse and sensuality, this medium-bodied 2004 is a noteworthy success in this irregular vintage. Consume it over the next decade. " Robert Parker The Wine Advocate

The only way I was able to elbow my way into an allocation of this wine was providing Marc with 6 bottles from the 1984 vintage, the year his father died and he took over the vineyard. He had run through all of his and I had shown some fortuitous restraint. He was desperate to fill-out his cellar with this symbolic and nostalgic year and suddenly a relationship was born which has lasted until this day.

Hermitage is situated south of Lyon on a dramatic stone-walled terraced hillside of granite, where the Rhone River makes a circular sweep in its trip to the Mediterranean. The great steep hillside vineyards have a broad southern exposure and are heated by the River and the rocky soil which stores the summer heat late into the day.

"For pure richness, allied to complexity and elegance, Hermitage remains unequaled." Robert Parker

But there's always a catch isn't there? The elite Hermitage wines are expensive. The yields are low and the harvesting (and all the vineyard work) must be done by hand. No grower in his right mind would take a tractor up there on that hillside. Nothing but a mountain goat belongs up there and they would just eat up all the profits. So, the cost of our little sexy, fruit bomb Hermitage gets up there.

Re-Stock Your Whites After The Summer

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Vouvray Aging in the in the Ancient Vouvray Caves

2006 was a very good vintage in the Loire for the white wines. The fruit ripened beautifully and the Chenin Blanc were especially successful.

Get the lobster pot boiling and pull the cork on the Vouvray. Even if the price of Lobster is sky high delicious Vouvray the perfect shelll fish white wine is still reasonable.

Yes, Vouvray, it has come to the attention of notable gourmandises across the land that Vouvray is really the absolute soul mate of lobster and other shell fish. It quite put Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc to shame in numerous taste pairings. Don't over-chill it though or you will miss the floral bouquet.

In his last Loire report Parker made this comment " On a recent trip to France, I gorged on oysters, shellfish, and fresh fish in Paris, meals made all the more enjoyable because they were accompanied by a number of unbelievable Loire wines.

The one that really stunned me was a blind tasting by La Revue du Vin de France where they tested several very famous premier and even grand cru white Burgundy wines including wines from Puligny and Chassagne Montrachet - think $75 per bottle and up. They also threw in probably for sport or true inspiration - a Vouvray to find the best match with Lobster. The winner - our friendly little wine from the Loire - Vouvray. Well OK.

Domaine du Chateau du Chorey - 2004 - Benoit Germain's Chorey-les-Beaune

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Entrance to the Chateau de Chorey Vineyards

"The best 2004 red Burgundies offer subtlety, charm, and freshness - Pinot Noir for purists." The Wine Spectator 5/2007

Okay, you've been bitten by the red Burgundy bug and it's costing you a fortune. Or you love Burgundy but it costs to much to enjoy regularly. There is a way to slake that powerful thirst for French Pinot Noir without breaking the bank, you know. It means looking for those up and coming, independent, skilled growers in those lesser-known appellations like Chorey-les-Beaune who just can't charge lavish prices for their wines, but can deliver that expression of Pinot Noir that that will make you swear you're drinking one of the Burgundy Big Guys.

Enter Benoit Germain. Benoit is finally starting to get the recognition he deserves. You don't just break into the top echelon in Burgundy over night. You have to prove yourself over and over and look good in an Hermes tie as well.

But, Benoit is on his way (haven't seen the tie yet), but I've tasted the wines and they have it all: that pinpoint focused Pinot Noir expression that refracts into different flavors and aromas in your mouth and the balance , the balance of Benoit's wines with their rounded, woody (not too much) sweetness and dark berries against that backdrop of firm, but not dominant tannins. The man is clearly hard-wired to make Pinot Noir.

I think I've said that this wine fools me every time. I always think it's some fancy-schmancy Premier Cru Burgundy and when its label is revealed, it turns out to be our fine, little, perfectly-made Chorey les Beaune from Benoit Germain. It's a wine that will age nicely for about 6 or seven years. I like to be fooled like this. It means I can drink great Burgundy nearly every night and not just on my birthday.