Eric Louis Pinot Noir
Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
Place: Sancerre, France
Process: Once the grapes have been picked, they are inspected and destemmed to remove any stems or any berries that are spoilt. Then, the pinot noir is conveyed to stainless steel tanks for a cold skin maceration. The vatting time is short to maximize the fruit and to obtain an easy drinking wine. Then, the juice undergoes an alcoholic fermentation during 2-3 weeks at a controlled temperature of between 18°C to 25°C. After devatting and blending pressed juice and free-run juice, the wine rests in stainless steel tanks until the bottling is done at springtime.
Family: Eric Louis Estate produces white, red and rosé wines whose terroir is highlighted thanks to the management of our vineyard in organic farming. The magic will also operate in the cellar where modernity and authenticity come together for the best…
“We seek the ideal level of grape maturity to guarantee an aromatic maturity and a balanced wine. Even if the analyses are thorough, nothing will replace the human palate; it is the most reliable judge of the development and quality of a great wine. We have chosen the vinification without sulphite using the biocontrol of the fresh harvest until the end of the alcoholic fermentation. During aging in thermoregulated stainless steel vats, wine is kept in a protective nitrogen atmosphere, preventing any alteration or bacterial development with minimal use of sulphur. This inertia is maintained until bottling. Therefore, our wines contain a low dose of sulphur (total SO2) as biodynamic wines (Demeter certified).”
Bottle: $25 | Glass: $11
Domaine Lafage La Retro
Grapes: Carignan, Lladoner, Grenache Noir, and Grenache Gris
Place: Roussillon, France
Process: The grapes are picked at the beginning of October from our different terroirs in Roussillon. No de-stemming, light crushing. Short maceration and light extraction.
Family: In the Lafage family, we have been winegrowers from father to son for more than 2 centuries.
In the 80s, Jean-Marc, as a young boy, actively participated in the work in the vineyards. But the revelation that he was to be a winemaker came to him one day when his father gave him the sole charge of a batch of some of his finest Maury grapes. From the gene to the passion, this work will draw his path: Domaine Lafage is born and will forever be Catalan.
Bottle: $27 | Glass: $12
Grapes: 100% Auxerrois (Malbec)
Place: Cahors - France
Process: The fruit for the entry-level Pur comes from seven different Combel sites totalling 8.5 hectares around their home village of Cournou, which lies on the Causse Calcaire, a limestone plateau in Cahors at 320-350 meters in elevation. Planted on clay-limestone soils, the vines are certified-organic (in conversion to biodynamic farming), average 30 years old and are kept to a modest 40 hl/ha yield. The bunches are hand-harvested and mainly destemmed but with up to 20% directly pressed as whole clusters; the juice ferments at cool temperatures with indigenous yeasts in cement and steel tanks with around two week of maceration. The wine is aged on its lees in cement through the winter and bottled unfiltered in the spring. Sulfur throughout vinification and aging is minimal.
Family: Julien Ilbert is a young, charismatic vigneron with a fresh perspective on his native Cahors. Vines have been in the Ilbert family for generations, though grapes had always been sold to the local cave coopérative. In 1998, a chance meeting with Mathieu Cosse at a rugby match quickly led to a seven year relationship, with Julien being Mathieu's main source for high quality Auxerrois (aka Malbec, aka Côt).
After an amicable split in 2005, Julien was back on track to producing his own wines: Château Combel-la-Serre was born. 25 hectares of Auxerrois are planted on a diverse amount of terroirs, all within 5 kilometers of the cellar. Though a Cahors wine only needs to be 70% Auxerrois to get the appellation, Julien believes it is the only grape suitable for what he's trying to accomplish.
The estate is certified organic as of the 2015 vintage, but chemicals have not touched the vineyards for quite some time. Everything was conventionally farmed from the advent of such technology, but the death of Julien's grandfather from Parkinsons deeply affected the family's agricultural philosophy. Convinced that the chemicals he'd openly exposed himself day in and day out were at the root of his illness (on top of the vines, an additional 40 hectares of cereals were worked by the family at the time), the Ilbert stopped using these products on their land.
Bottle: $27 | Glass: $12
Chateau du Petit Thouars Les Georges
Grapes 100% Cabernet Franc
Place Chinon - Loire Valley - France
Process “Les Georges” is produced entirely from the free-run juice of the younger vines of Cabernet Franc, and is vinified and aged in steel tank. This cuvée comes primarily from “Les Plantes,” the thirteen hectares of Cabernet Franc immediately behind (to the west of) “Le Clos” which Sébastien’s father planted between 1978 and 1988.
Family The Chateau du Petit Thouars has an extraordinarily long and rich history. Built in the early 1500s as a sort of “low-key hunting lodge” (an amusing notion, given the house’s immensity and grandeur) for a wealthy family from the town of Thouars (hence the name “Petit Thouars”), the 150-hectare estate is run today by Sebastién du Petit Thouars, the twelfth generation to dwell here since his ancestor George purchased the property in 1636. George was a diplomat for the famous Cardinal Richelieu, and the generations who followed him managed to survive several centuries of remarkably turbulent French history; one of Sebastién’s forebears even fled the French Revolution and fought in the American Revolution. Sébastien named this cuvée in honor of his ancestors, nearly all of whom are named George (in fact, his real first name is George, too). The friendliest of the estate’s three red-wine offerings,
Bottle: $29 | Glass: $13