Specials

92 Points! An archetypal Alsace dry riesling with a wide spectrum of aromas ranging from lemon and crisp pear to fresh pineapple and candied orange. Very crisp and focused palate with a wonderful freshness that’s hard to resist. Long, ample finish that’s very clean. From organically grown grapes. Drink from release. - JamesSuckling.com

Champagne Duménil is one of those discoveries that reminds us how many great growers are still hiding in Champagne. This small family estate, now led by Frédérique Duménil, has roots stretching back to the 1800s, but one of its most important decisions came in 1969, when Frédérique's grandmother Cécile planted Chardonnay in the Pinot-dominated Montagne de Reims. She loved vintage Champagne and believed Chardonnay would give their wines greater longevity. More than 50 years later, the 2015 Duménil Vintage Brut proves her right. A blend of 60% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Meunier and 20% Pinot Noir from cooler north-facing slopes, it spent more than six years on the lees before disgorgement in 2022.

Now roughly 11 years from vintage, it's drinking beautifully, with bright stone fruit, citrus, subtle tropical notes and a gorgeous green-gold hue. Rather than being heavily brioche-driven, it shows impressive freshness, precision and energy, with the structure to explain exactly why Cécile believed so strongly in Chardonnay. Vintage Champagne routinely sells for $85 to $100+, and this would be an excellent value at its normal $70 retail. At $34.98, it's ridiculous. Eleven-year-old, vintage-dated grower Champagne with more than six years on the lees for under $35, and we have only 180 bottles.

Bright currant, sweet cherry, and rose hip on the nose. The palate reveals layers of darker fruits, black plum, blueberry pie, and baking spices. A sappy and exceptionally drinkable CdR. Much richer than the average.

Originating from vines planted on clay and chalk (tuffeau) soil, this wine offers the distinctive character of Cabernet Franc: deep and bright ruby color, fine aromas of red fruits (red current, cherry) and floral subtleties (violet, iris), fine and velvety tannin, with a fresh and balanced finish.

97 Points! Robust, floral and intense. 100% old-vine grenache, expressing aromas of wild berries, sweet cherries, orange peel, dried flowers, grilled herbs and loads of spices. It’s full-bodied with fine, firm tannins. Juicy at the center with so much energy. It’s vibrant and focused with good drive in the finish. Bright and agile. From organically grown grapes with Ecocert certification. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! There's a lot to love in this ethereal red, with stunning purity and allure. The perfumed nose is marked by black fruit, pepper, smoked bacon and tobacco, with smoky oolong tea in the backdrop. Concentrated yet doesn't feel weighed down, with fine, chalky tannins landing the finish, which stretches out in effortless harmony and reveals earthy tugs of tar and juniper. Its beautiful suppleness makes this approachable now, but this will also go the distance in the cellar. Drink now through 2040. - Wine Spectator

Gorgeous now! What a screaming bargain...

90 Points! Fresh verbena and lime lend zip to white grapefruit and peach in this juicy blend of Grenache Blanc, Clairette and Bourboulenc. Bright in fruit and thirst quenching, it's an easy-drinking, fruity dry white with crowd appeal. - Wine Enthusiast

90 Points! Brimming with fresh black-cherry fruit, this light and crisp Julienas has a very engaging balance of full fruit, gentle tannin and lively acidity. Good length, thanks to those tannins!  - JamesSuckling.com

Old cherry trees are planted in this plot of 60 year old vines giving to the wine distinct note of cherries, stone fruits, pepper and kirsch every year. 

Château Jolys, the largest estate in the Jurançon AOC with its 36 hectares, nestles on the superb hills of Chapelle de Rousse village. The gentle slopes are exposed South / South-West and form amphitheatres facing the Pyrenees moutains. Soils are chalky and clayey. 

Cuvée Jean is made from 100% Petit Manseng grapes. The grapes are surmatured using the passerillage method, and the resulting concentration of sugar gives for perfectly healthy, golden and extremely ripe grapes. 

After total destemming and maceration before fermentation, we keep only the free-run juice to make this wine (juice obtained before pressing), in order to obtain the best of the richness and the aromas of the Petit Manseng grapes. After cold settling, alcoholic fermentation is carried out in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks (at around 20°C so as to preserve the aromas). Barrel ageing for 9 months in French oak barrels.

The vineyard is located on terraces of galets roules, 60% Grenache Blanc and 40% Clairette.

What a deal! Prat Sura is the name of the small river passing by the bottom of the winery's slopes. it is from the provencal language (Occitan) “Prat Sourias” the plateau of garrigues got the same name. It is a very dry area. Prat Sura is a kind of single vineyard, but could commenly be a “climat” as it is called in Burgundy. 

93 Points! This rich version is ripe and hedonistic, particularly for the vintage, offering spiced black currant and grilled mesquite smoke flavors that reveal a bedrock of graphite and a lot of sanguine drive and power. - Wine Spectator

96 Points! Dark and brooding in bearing, the 2021 Pichon Baron is a somber, mysterious wine. It is every bit as impressive as it was en primeur. Graphite, leather, spice, mocha and dried herbs meld together in a wine of power, precision and contemporary classicism. It's one of my early favorites in this vintage. I won't be too surprised if it turns out even better than this note suggests. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

95 Points! The 2021 Pichon-Longueville Baron is showing very well in bottle, unwinding in the glass with notes of cassis, sweet berries and violets mingled with subtle hints of orange zest and cigar wrapper. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and layered, with good depth at the core, bright acids and sweet tannins that assert themselves on the gently structured finish, its serious, slightly reserved profile reflects the unusually high (89%) percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2021 concluded its élevage in large wooden vats for a month and a half, saw a touch less racking than normal, and was only fined with a small amount of gelatin, not egg white, as has been the rule at this address for several years now. - William Kelley, robertparker.com

95 Points! Black currant, violet, lemon blossom and black berry aromas. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins and tobacco, black fruit and cedar undertones. It’s tight and chewy, suggesting it needs some bottle age. Some iodine. Oyster shell. 88% cabernet sauvignon. Give this four to five years. Try after 2027. - JamesSuckling.com

Gorgeous Grand Cru Chablis from the Dampt brothers in one of Chablis' greatest (to us) vintages! Scintillating notes of sea shells, green apple, touch of brine, the soils here really do their work on this cuvee that is aged exclusively in stainless steel. True Grand Cru Chablis at an incomparable price...while it lasts...

96 Points! A high percentage (75%) of new wood has given this wine a very fine polished character. Along with the structure, it has brought out impressive aromas of black fruits, cinnamon spice and power. The wine is has a fresh black-fruit aftertaste. - Wine Enthusiast

95 Points! Lovely depth to the nose of this young Bordeaux with black currant, ink and walnut aromas that follow through to a medium to full body with a solid core of polished and integrated tannins. This will drink beautifully in 2026 and onwards. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! The 2021 Lynch-Bages has a wonderful bouquet with intense blackberry and bilberry fruit, retaining the estuarine element I remarked upon from barrel. The oak here is seamlessly integrated and gains complexity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins, very supple and focused, a little more peppery toward the finish with impressive grip and depth in context of the vintage. This is a superb achievement in a tricky season. Chapeau, Jean-Charles Cazes. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

95 Points! Slight hints of wax, earth and lemon show on the still-shy nose. The palate is equally reticent, tightly coiled but speaking of concentrated citrus freshness that verges into zestiness. The bone-dry nature makes it hard to sense ripe citrus slumbering at the core but the fruit will reveal itself with bottle age. Concentration, purity and power promise a future firework, discernible now in the tangerine zestiness on the finish. - Wine Enthusiast

94 Points! A blockbuster in a showy, rich style, with bolts of iron grounding a lush stream of chocolate, cherry and blackberry. Mesquite and sandalwood smoke notes linger through the smooth finish, which is flecked with spices, herbs and salt. A long bolt of graphite adds to the well-built feel. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. - Wine Spectator

93+ Points! Aged in demi-muids, the 2020 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Etienne Gonnet is drawn exclusively from la Crau, a blend of 70% Grenache and 15% each Mourvèdre and Syrah. The nose is toasty and cedary but balanced by scents of red raspberries and strawberries, while the mouth is full-bodied and supple, finishing smooth, sexy and long. It's already approachable, but the wood should integrate nicely over the next several years. - Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

95 Points! The 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape La Côte Ronde is an even split of Grenache and Syrah, and as usual, was brought up all in new oak. It has an awesome nose of cassis, blackberries, graphite, ground pepper, and violets, with its new oak perfectly integrated into the wine. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has impressive tannins, terrific overall balance, and a great finish. This brilliant effort will keep for 10-15 years. - Jeb Dunnuck

92 Points! The 2022 Gigondas Le Mas showed beautifully, with darker strawberry-like fruit as well as peppery, spicy, Provençal nuances. These carry to a medium-bodied Gigondas that's balanced, has fine tannins, no hard edges, and a great finish. Drink bottles any time over the coming decade. - Jeb Dunnuck

91+ Points! A blend of 80% Grenache Noir, 10% Mourvèdre and 10% Syrah, the 2022 Gigondas Le Mas offers up aromas of dark cherries, dark wild berries, flowers, tapenade and garrigue. Medium to full-bodied, enrobing and charming, it's textured and layered, with bright acids and a long, ethereal finish. It's already hard to resist, but it will age gracefully over the next decade. Crafted from vines planted on limestone, clay and marl, it was matured 90% in concrete tanks and the rest in used barrels. - Yohan Castaing, robertparker.com

92 Points! Coming from vines around the estate and some near Beaucastel, and made at Vieille Julienne, the deeper hued 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape offers a beautiful, very classic style in its darker cherry and mulled blueberry-like fruits as well as violet and peppery garrigue aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied, it has wonderful purity and a great finish. It's beautifully done and well worth seeking out. - Jeb Dunnuck