Editorial

 

Éditorial October 11, 2019

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

New season, new selection "Autumn-Winter 2019/2020", with more than 1000 wines carefully chosen for their quality, their typicity and/or their quality/price ratio.

This year, our offer has been expanded with around a hundred additional references, for more choices, vintages, producers, appellations and offers. Without changing our precepts: carefully selected vintages, whose reputation is established or to come, practising a skilled and responsible viticulture, deserving to be included in the cellar and on the table of every wine lover. And as always, bottles in perfect freshness, no purchases on auction, export returns, wine fairs, etc..

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The 2017 vintage is currently being bottled and is beginning to enter our cellars. It covers a large part of the new products in this catalogue, both in Bordeaux and Burgundy.

In Bordeaux, 2017 is a beautiful vintage of slow maturation under the effect of a summer without excessive heat, which can be described as "oceanic" compared to the " mediterranean " vintages that surround it: 2015, 2016, 2018 (and soon 2019), of great heat and dryness. Obviously, global warming is reversing the situation in Bordeaux, with oceanic vintages such as 2017 becoming exceptional while mediterraneans are common. 2017 has therefore given:

• bright dry white wines, exemplary of purity, vivacity and intensity. Success is major and widespread.

• old-fashioned sweet wines, voluminous, rich and powerful, set out for a very long ageing period.

• surprisingly tender and velvety reds. Power is not the signature of the 2017 vintage, but rather the softness and charm. They will be quickly accessible, from 2021 for the crus bourgeois, before 2025 for the majority of the crus classés.

In Burgundy, 2017 is an early and generous (sometimes too much) year, with :

• beautiful, full and rich white wines that remain balanced.

• reds below 2015 and 2016 but in a sunny, round and silky style, with 'sweet' fruit. As the magazine Bourgogne Aujourd'hui titled it for red Burgundies : "Vintage 2017, you will love it! ».

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Four Tasting Offers will allow you to discover new wines at an attractive price (with discounts from -10% to -15%):

  • Carmes de Rieussec 2016, Rieussec's second wine in Sauternes, with an unbeatable price/quality ratio on Sauternes: €16.50 per bottle.
  • Haut-Bailly 2017, a grand cru classé from Pessac-Léognan, the velvety texture of the 2017 vintage suits perfectly to the refined classicism of the vintage: €100.80 per bottle.
  • Bellefont-Belcier 2017, a Saint-Émilion grand cru classé, on a first-class terroir on a full hillside between Larcis-Ducasse and Le Tertre-Rôteboeuf. First vintage and first masterstroke of the new team, with a superlative tannic sweetness: €40.00 per bottle.
  • Domaine Arlaud Charmes-Chambertin 2017, organic grand cru, where the vigour of the terroir (Gevrey-Chambertin) is in perfect harmony with the silkiness of the vintage and the finesse of the Domaine's fruit: 115.00 € per bottle..

Several Mixed Cases complete our selections this season:

  • "La Biodynamie de Précision" : a special case where the first six certified vintages of Ch. Pontet-Canet are gathered, from 2008 to 2013, including 2009 and 2010 both rated 100/100 by Parker: €780.00 per case of 6 bottles.
  • "Sauternes 5 Étoiles" : the 5 premiers grands crus classés of the commune of Bommes have gathered their 2016 vintage in an original case containing one bottle of each wine, plus a sixth unique bottle resulting from the blending of their five wines: €418.00 per case of 6 bottles.
  • "Magique Pinot Noir" : a 6-step world tour to discover the infinite faces of this grape variety: €200.00 for an assortment of 6 bottles.

The Legendary Magnums page contains 27 Bordeaux grands crus in the greatest vintages, each magnum packaged in its original wooden box stamped from the Château. From €60.00 (Poujeaux 2016) to €470.00 (Cos d'Estournel 2010), to place on your festive tables or to slide under the Christmas tree.

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Many new wines and estates are entering (or returning) to our pages, including :

 - Champagne : le très attendu millésime 2008 de Bollinger, Égly-Ouriet et Pol Roger

 - Bordeaux : Clos Louie, Domaine de l'A, Tour de Mons, Siran, Beychevelle, Petit-Mouton, Marquis de Calon-Ségur, Clos L'Église, Poesia, Carillon d'Angélus...

 - Bourgogne : Clos des Lambrays

 - Rhône Nord : Domaine Georges Vernay

 - Centre Loire : Domaine Les Poëte

 - Cahors : Domaine Cosse-Maisonneuve

 - Germany : Weingut Friedrich Becker (Palatinate)

 - Italy : Cantina Vietti (Piedmont), Guidalberto (Tuscany)

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At last, Moscatel del Douro de Niepoort was chosen to close this season. Made with small grains muscats, vintage 2000, for aperitif or with a starter (foie gras), ideal to face the winter.

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