Available Wines — In Stock / Ready to Ship and Future Arrivals

This is Grand Cru Albugnano. Its the rare “bells-and-whistles” cuvée that actually speaks quietly and carries a laser pointer. Im not saying its the best Nebbiolo Ive had this year, but Im also not not saying it.

I have not had his as we started with the winery with the 2014 vintage but given her style and the character of the vintage, I had to sell it.

This is a dark, masculine, focused Barolo, concentrated, structured, yet defined by rose tones that stretch from entry to finish. Its grippy, but not punishing. The structure is enormous but it doesnt shout. Theres inner-mouth sweetness, a touch of cedar, pipe tobacco, dried cherry, mint, all cascading like a silk scarf unfurling in slow motion.

Despite the great appeal of its deep sour-cherry and violet aromas, this has a very serious structure, the ample tannins married to abundant crushed-rock minerality. Excellent drive, also thanks to the wet-stone acidity that illuminates the crescendo finish. From a southeast-facing site on the midslope of Cote de Brouilly - 95, SP

Black raspberries, wild strawberries, spice, and hints of garrigue define the . . ., a stunning, classic effort from this great site of sandier soils in the heart of the appellation. . . .it reveals ultra-fine tannins and beautiful balance, with a pure, seamless texture that carries through to a gorgeous finish. This floral, exotic, seamless, Rayas-like beauty . . .. - 96 points, Jeb Dunnuck

Black raspberries, spicy wood, and smoked meats emerge from the 2022 Côte Rôtie Lieu-Dit La Brocarde, which shines for its incredible purity of fruit. Medium to full-bodied and aged in third-year barrels, it delivers gorgeous mid-palate depth, fine tannins, and outstanding overall balance. My money is on it being a truly brilliant Côte Rôtie. - 95-97 Jeb Dunnuck

Closed aromatically, . . . nevertheless has a generous, medium to full-bodied, concentrated style that carries black raspberry and blackberry fruits, some ground pepper and spring flower nuances, beautiful mid-palate depth, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. Its an incredible effort in a challenging vintage - 94 Jeb Dunnuck (2021)

This is the producer that takes Cornas out of the valley and wires it into the sky. I didnt even know the name when I first drank it. Just the year: 2010. I remember the silence that fell over the table. The electricity. The way it didnt taste like any Cornas Id ever had, because it didnt behave. It lifted. It glowed. It moved like Keller. It shimmered like Brisset.

This is the producer that takes Cornas out of the valley and wires it into the sky. I didnt even know the name when I first drank it. Just the year: 2010. I remember the silence that fell over the table. The electricity. The way it didnt taste like any Cornas Id ever had, because it didnt behave. It lifted. It glowed. It moved like Keller. It shimmered like Brisset.

From vines as old as 140 years and the average age is 85+ years old! This remains the best value Northern Rhone wine I sell. This wine can age! A 2010 was spectacular when I had it at the estate. The 24 is extraordinary and the most classic Epine yet (maybe similar to the genius 16?)

The 2022 Domaine des Pierres Sèches St. Joseph Rouge “Cuvée 1930” is a wine of such staggering quality, it doesnt just raise the bar, it melts the bar down and forges a sword from its remains. This is the new flagship. “Aubert” is out. The torch has been passed, and it is absolutely on fir

I loved the 2022 Hermitage Cuvée Emilie, a pure, full-bodied, concentrated Hermitage revealing gorgeous crème de cassis, graphite, burning ember, and spicy oak-driven aromatics. Offering polished tannins, a great mid-palate, and a blockbuster of a finish, its going to shine with just a few years of bottle age yet evolve for two decades. - 94-96 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (2022)

The 2020 Clos de lEchelier is a focused style of wine hailing from limestone that has a sense of tenderness through the mid-palate, while the sinew moves forward incessantly along the palate. It has a fine sense of spice and fruit-led fragrance on the long length. Very convincing.- 93 Points, VINOUS (2020)

This is, and I hate to use the word, but it really applies here, Burgundian to the max. Even more reason to be swooped by bitter, priced out Burg drinkers. It is so elegant, ripe, pure and just plain thrilling wine. Nimble.

The 2021 Cornas Vin Noir is even better and clearly a candidate for the wine of the appellation. Ripe blackberries, smoked herbs, cured meats, iron, and spice all flow to a medium to full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, balanced Cornas offering ripe, velvety tannins, plenty of mid-palate depth, and a great finish. Bravo. - 93-95 Points, Jeb Dunnuck

From the old Jean-Louis Grippat vineyards. Yes, that Grippat. Peygros is only in its third vintage. The vines date back to 1920. Tournon parcel. Granite. 80% destemmed. Cap-punched and pulped by hand. Raised in 1–3 year oak for 14 months in a literal stone tunnel carved through the mountain.

Glass-staining violet color. Expansive, finely detailed aromas of blackberry and boysenberry, with exotic spice, floral oil, olive and sandalwood nuances building in the glass. Deep but energetic on the palate...... - 94 VINOUS

The wines of Emmanuelle Verset (Alains daughter) are exceedingly rare. Emmanuelle has single handedly put this estate on her back and raised its profile. This is the best Cornas estate you dont know about.

This is a wine that I feel is necessary to sell now as many of you have tons of the two higher bottlings in the cellar and need something young, charming and crunchy to drink.

This wine blows me away. The 2023 Ludovic Courbis Cornas is one of the most remarkable expressions of terroir I have ever had from young(ish) vines. It proves, beyond any doubt, that terroir is king

This wine blows me away. The 2023 Ludovic Courbis Cornas is one of the most remarkable expressions of terroir I have ever had from young(ish) vines. It proves, beyond any doubt, that terroir is king

This is all Chaillot which really shows. Its got a gorgeously mineral nose with granite and really shows the mineral side of Cornas which is why it reminds me of a small scale Fauterie.

My death bed Syrah. This wine is so absurdly great thats all one can talk about once one has opened the bottle.

This is a blend of Le Combard, Lancement and Côte Blonde in 2022 and a few other less famous parcels. Its almost like a Bordelaise interpretation of all the fantastic terror.

Medium to full-bodied, lively and saline, its a vibrant, mineral wine with upside for those with a little patience. As readers may remember, this 1.5-hectare parcel of steeply sloping decomposed pink granite was planted in the 1950s. 94, WA, William Kelley

Hauts Brins sits in that sweet spot between elegance and backbone, the kind of place that makes you wonder why Monthelie still flies under the radar when sites like this exist.

This is from 30-50 year old vines and is located next to Volnay 1st Cru Les Champs Fulliots. The most famous owner of this estate is Domaine Leflaive. Yes, that Leflaive. The good one. A 1er Cru that is a sleeper but really rocks in a vintage like 2023.

You think you know Cornas. You dont know Cornas. Not until youve met this wine, a bottle that smells like the ghost of Syrah itself just crawled out of the granite to tell you a story in blood and smoke.

And for me, this has always been the heir apparent to the now, extinct greats, Fauterie, Louis Sozet. It has everything those wines had: precision, depth, and an almost Burgundian exactitude that makes it stand out from so many other Cornas. Its traditional to the core.

“The 2023 Pinot Noir Jessie James Vineyard is exceptional and offers both finesse and power, reminiscent of Vosne-Romanée in style. Layered and complete with leather, ripe framboise, pressed herbs, mossy earth, and a mineral frame, it’s full-bodied, with refined tannins and stunning length. This is possibly the best wine I have tasted from Evan Martin Woods to date. Drink 2027-2050.” 98 Points AF

This is a highly expressive and pours a jeweled ruby/magenta color. A wine that Evan wants to be drinkable at all times, it’s hitting that mark right now, with a fruity aromatic profile in its notes of mixed berries, wildflowers, white pepper, and dusty earth. Ripe and effusive in the glass, it’s medium-bodied, with fine, chalky tannins, and while it’s lovely and refined,it’s still playful. 93 AF

. . .is very pretty and stony in the glass, with notes of crushed stones, redcurrants, orange peel, and cinnamon. It has more nervous energy, and the palate is medium-framed, with finely coiled tannins, even, mouthwatering freshness, and a long finish, but its going to need time to flesh out, - 95+, Jeb Dunnuck

This is not some placeholder while your cellar of Rousseau/Roulot ages gracefully in its climate-controlled tomb. Santenay is a cornerstone. Its part of the Burgundian mosaic that the Cistercians spent centuries assembling, pixel by pixel, stone by stone, vine by vine. This 2023 VV from Rebourgeon, is the kind of wine that reminds you exactly why the hierarchy exists in the first place.

This wine is a relic from a world we are no longer worthy of. I dont care if youve tasted La Mouline in magnum or drank Chave from the barrel in 1990, you are not ready for this wine. Because this is an artifact. A living, howling monument to the ancestral energy of old vine Côte-Rôtie, pulled straight from the slope and bottled before it could be worshipped into extinction.

Gorgeous all the way, the 2020 Côte Rôtie La Dédicace has a full-bodied, round, supple, sexy style to go with classic Côte Rôtie notes of black raspberries, spring flowers, incense, and hints of smoked game. Its rich, concentrated, yet light on its feet, with sweet tannins. Its a beautiful effort in a great vintage that will evolve for two decades..95 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (2020)

One of the best Village Barbarescos Ive ever had.

This is simply stunning. It comes from one of the coolest sites in Barbaresco.

This wine is silk incarnate. Not just silk, conscious silk, silk that knows what its doing, silk that wraps your throat like a velvet garrote and makes you thank it. The 2023 Remi Poisot Romanée-Saint-Vivant is the kind of wine that rewires your ability to process sensation. You dont drink it. You submit to it

His 21s are poetic and lyrical wines. So light in color was ephemeral with drop dead purity and transparency. Theres nimbleness and compelling fruit and some elegant muscularity as well.

Garaudets wines are about purity of fruit and an imposing finesse and elegance while also being muscular. Wines of contrast but most notably for me the big leap he made is in purity of fruit, finesse and even better fruit quality and definition. The new ritzy terroir must help but his older wines that we used to sell are just amazing.

Garaudet’s 2021 Champs Fulliot is Monthélie’s argument for greatness. Bordering Volnay’s Clos des Chênes, with poor rocky soils and 60-year-old vines, it is vivid, mineral, deep, and shockingly refined: dark cherry, raspberry, spice, earth, sweet tannin, and a 15-20 year future.

This is Bramaterra in its final form, ancient, serene, full of light. To drink it is to read an old philosophers final line and realize it was a love poem all along.

1994 is allegedly “average.” Whatever that means. Came after the limp noodle years of 1991–1993 and before the golden Nebbiolo Renaissance of 1995–2001. But 1994 in Bramaterra it went rogue. Warm, but not cooked. Like a perfect summer where no one dies. The fruit from this vintage is unholy. Plump. Vivid. Radiant. Demonic. Alive.

Very deep and dark yet cool and youthful, this is an extraordinary pinot with great mineral freshness and incredibly fresh wild berry and sour cherry flavors. Very long, chalky finish that ripples over the palate into the smoky and stony distance. From organically grown grapes. Matured for 18 months in well-used, small oak casks. 98 points SP

Welcome to the dark forest with its berries, dry floor and wildflowers. Incredibly deep and complex on the nose, but that barely prepares you for the density of spices, dried Mediterranean herbs, licorice and sandalwood on the rich, medium- to full-bodied palate. Theres a huge structure behind all this, but its beautifully integrated. - 98 Points, SP

"Already the intensity and vibrancy of the sour cherry and forest berry aromas in the nose are astonishing. Yes, there’s some oak in the mix, but it is just the very exciting spice in the soup. The super-fine tannins and vibrant acidity interlock almost perfectly on the super-focused palate, then the racy finish blasts off in the direction of the next star." - 96 SP

“What an incredibly complex nose this has. The cardamon and clove aromas at first are very intense, but then the extravagant mulberry and amarena cherry aromas power through. Enormously structured with a ton of licorice character. So concentrated, but the freshness is remarkable. Built for the long term and will probably develop positively for decades. From organically grown grapes." - 96 SP

"Enveloping nose of black raspberry and amarena cherry with a slew of subtle spicy notes. Enormous concentration and energy, but also great super-fine tannins that almost perfectly underline this brilliance. Staggering freshness at the super-long and clean finish that must be tasted to be believed. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. " 97 SP

"What a staggering fragrance of amarena cherries and summer flowers! For a village wine the concentration and vibrancy are breathtaking on the barely medium-bodied palate. Such an energy and purity at the very long finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold." - 95 SP

“Aromatic and deeply pitched, the 2019 races across the palate with remarkable depth and intensity. Crushed red berry fruit, rose petal, mint and cinnamon all open in the glass, but it is the wines silkiness and suppleness that impresses most. A kick of acids and tannins puts an exclamation point on the finish.” - 98 points, Vinous, AG

There are “great values” and then theres this, a wine so stupidly underpriced it feels like a clerical error. $25.99 a bottle for one of the purest, most soulful Alto Piemonte reds Ive had in years

When I say vibrating on the edge of forever I mean that this wine has that special something that only a few wines on earth have. It goes right up to and then it stays just on the edge of excess. It vibrates with that electric Adank tension. It just lingers there on the edge and your mind is trying to comprehend it, but really cant fully because the perfection is just too much to process.

Its got the density of 2016 but sharper, straighter, higher in acid, more blade, less blur. Think molten cherry fruit poured into a glass prism. The tannins are ripe and velvety, the texture halfway between Volnay and confession. Its powerful but never loud, precision wrapped in perfume.

The purple-colored wine opens with a deep, fresh and refined yet generous bouquet with ripe and intense red and dark berry aromas intermingled with toast and nougat notes. Silky, fresh and chalky on the palate, this is a full-bodied, enormously vital and tensioned Pinot with fine and refreshing tannins and a long, tight and saline finish. - 96+ Points, Wine Advocate

Martin Woods’ 2025 rosé is a rare Oregon Cabernet Franc rosé inspired by the great Saumur wines of Guiberteau. Serious, food-loving, spicy, floral, and built with enough structure to age, this is not disposable pool wine. Buy cases, drink now, and hide a few.

The Meunier-driven day-two miracle: 50% Pinot Meunier, 35% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay, full of red fruit, sap, green tea, almond, smoke, brioche, citrus zest, iodine, wet rock and mineral perfume. Reflets is generous but precise, creamy but saline, a little feral but beautifully clean, with the old Marne soul of the estate and a finish far too serious for under $45.

100% Pinot Blanc Champagne, one of the rarest styles in the region. Serene, gentle, and deeply structured, with whisper-fine mousse, silky Pinot Blanc texture, saline cut, and airy mineral lift. Easily drinks far above its price and flirts with the top tier of the style.

For $64.99 that is an absolute insane screaming mimi of a value for a Champagne this good. It needs air, as all Perseval-Farge wines demand, but once it aired out it shows why it is so good. I think 40 minutes gets you there.

This is the best young bottle of Le Berceau Ive ever tasted. And Ive tasted a lot. I tasted one that made me cry in 2017. I tasted another that made me rethink my career. This one reprogrammed my expectations for white wine. I drank it. I paused. And I said aloud to an empty room: “Oh, were doing this now.”

This is the kind of wine that resets your sense of what white wine can be. Not because its flashy. Because its deep. Monumental. Otherworldly. A white wine that behaves like a red, thinks like a monk, and ages like its in a time capsule buried beneath a monastery.

The 2020 St. Joseph Blanc ‘Cuvée 1930 isnt just one of the greatest white wines ever made by Sylvain Gauthier, its one of the greatest white wines in the Northern Rhône. Period. End of story. Pour the glass. Leave the debate.

The nose of orange blossoms and orange cream leaps out at you, making this great dry pinot blanc hard to resist in spite of its youthfulness. Concentrated and creamy, with fine tannins on the medium- to full-bodied palate, then great chalky complexity builds in the very long, silky finish. Excellent aging potential, as the still lively 2003 shows.” — Stuart Pigott, 97 Points

This is made the exact same way as the Grauburgunder except the vines are older (60-70 years) and the plot is bigger at 1.5 hectares. Harmonious and impressive wine, build to age long, even if already enjoyable.

This needs 25+ years to show its best! I dont make the rules! But Its a nice tipple young but watch out as it ages!

The first and last Kabinett from Treppchen. One of the wines of the vintage at Chez Steinmetz.

Very cool, restrained and precise, this has fascinating aromas of lemon curd, dried flowers and wet slate. Very juicy and filigreed on the light-bodied palate, which sounds like a contradiction in terms, but is not. Long, totally vibrant and delicate finish. Drink or hold. - 96 Points, SP

Here is a beautiful and very classic riesling Kabinett from this very famous site. Elegance, silkiness and purity all converge in this delicate and light-bodied masterpiece. Then comes the fantastic interplay of juiciness and savoriness in the very long, beautifully balanced finish! - 95 SP

One of the stars of the 2020 vintage, with exceptional aging potential. Enormously smoky and spicy, this is a remarkable wine for the very hot and dry vintage. Its dangerously fresh and sleek, with fabulous energy and grapefruit flavors. The dark, smoky minerality builds and builds on the very compact and radical finish, with enormous wild herb character. Drink from release. - 99 Points, Piggot

Incredible freshness and herbal finesse in the nose for a five-year-old wine. Also a lot of leesy complexity. Extremely racy and elegant, with very complex herbal aromas, the lemon balm particularly pronounced. Fantastically long, pure and precise finish with so many herbal nuances. From organically grown grapes with Fairn Green certification. Drink from release. 97 Points Piggott

This maturing dry riesling masterpiece has a fantastic elegance and stunning concentration. Please give it some air in the decanter and glass, because it becomes fresher with more air. Terrific slatey minerality and candied citrus character, the herbal and mineral energy driving the very long, complete finish. Decades of further aging potential. - 97 SP

“A mineral giant with a ton of smoke, wild herb and bergamot complexity. Enormous concentration and energy with racy and extremely stony acidity. And the sweet fruit complements this beautifully at the very long and complete finish. From organically grown grapes with Fairn Green certification. Drink or hold.” - 98 Points Stuart Pigott (2021)

Its not a particularly complex wine but it has more soul than a shoestore.

This wine gets better and better every vintage and out of all the St. Joseph Blancs we work with this drinks the best young and also ages without a problem.

Here is a beautiful and very classic riesling Kabinett from this very famous site. Elegance, silkiness and purity all converge in this delicate and light-bodied masterpiece. Then comes the fantastic interplay of juiciness and savoriness in the very long, beautifully balanced finish! - 95 SP

This mouth-filling riesling Spatlese is brimming with orange blossom, wild rose and pink grapefruit. Terrific succulence, almost to the point of lushness, but then the bright acidity kicks in and cleans everything up at the wonderfully silky and subtle finish. Excellent aging potential! Drink or hold. Screw cap. - 95 SP

A dark and mysterious wine with a very warm and generous heart! Stunning concentration and richness, too! This doesn’t hesitate for a moment, but ploughs straight across your palate like a steam roller. The finish is at once creamy and grounded with a treasure trove of minerality. From organically grown grapes with Fairn Green certification. Drink or hold. Screw cap. - 98 Points, Stuart Pigott

The terroir Les Roucoles is the best for Marsanne in the whole world. This is from Les Roucoles and Maison Blanche. That is some tip top terroir. I mean top top. The price for this wine cannot be beat.

The terroir Les Roucoles is the best for Marsanne in the whole world. This is from Les Roucoles and Maison Blanche. That is some tip top terroir. I mean top top. The price for this wine cannot be beat.

The 2022 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (Golden Capsule) is very clear, refined and elegant on the nose that shows perfectly ripe fruit reminiscent of lush peaches. Intense yet crystalline and thus refined and uplifted, this is a very elegant yet tensioned and stimulatingly frisky Auslese with precise and savory fruit. There is great finesse and weightlessness here. - 98 Points, WA

Its very well-articulated and has remarkable finesse. Dense and generous on the palate yet also crystalline and filigreed in structure, this is a very intense but elegant and sustainably saline and mouthwatering Riesling of great class. Fine and crunchy tannins give hold and add gastronomic qualities to this elegant and refined beauty 97 Points, WA

The 2021 Zeltinger Schlossberg Auslese *** (GK) shows a classic Molitor nose: very clear and refined but also deep and complex, very intense but elegant and in this case provided with crystalline and iodine notes of cut slate and quartzite. Lush and round, this is a very elegant and refined, wonderfully fruity and digestible Auslese . . .. - 96 Points, WA

The 2020 Riesling Ürziger Würzgarten Spätlese (GK) is pure, clear, refined and flinty yet still muted. The reduction is also present on the palate yet with more positive effects. The wine is filigreed, refined and saline and shows crystalline, ripe acidity. This is a highly delicate Spätlese that needs some time to open up its nose as well, but its a long-distance runner anyway. - 95 Points, WA

The wine offers an intense and warm but highly refined and elegant nose of saline and flinty notes of finely weathered rocks, lemon zests, apricots, pastry and mocha bean nuances. Silky and refined on the first palate, this is a full-bodied, intense and tight ZSU with great expression, fine tannins and a crystalline character. - 97+ WA

. . .is deep, clear, refined and aromatic on the nose that is a little smoky before it reveals ripe peach, raspberry and sweet cherry aromas. Round, lush and sweet yet also refined and elegant, this is a balanced, rather tropical-flavored Auslese with persistent salinity and fine grip. . . .sustainable structure and never-ending savoriness and salinity. - 98, WA

This is Auslese at cruising altitude. Sweetness and structure. Confection and cut. Light and shadow. And that balance, that absolutely electric balance, is why this wine will last another 20 years if you want it to. But honestly? Its hard to imagine it being more beautiful than it is right now.

From the Chehalem Mountains, further north and less saline, the 2023 Aligoté La Belle Promenade is zesty, fresh, and springy, with notes of lemon balm, lime, melon rind, reductive smokiness, and delicate savory herbs. Medium-bodied, it’s elegant, pretty, and fruit-noted with a polished frame. 92 AF

Intense crisp pear and fennel aromas are married to restrained leesy creaminess and a wealth of dried herb flavors on the medium-bodied palate of this concentrated GG. Somehow this is simultaneously electrically fresh and silky in the extremely long finish. Limited production. Drink from release. - 96 Points, WA

“ . . . here is hardcore minerality that should convince the most skeptical wine drinker. As straight as a laser beam extending out toward infinity. The almost supernatural vibrancy is so dominant that I have to force myself to consider matters such as concentration and balance, but they are far above any norm, even for the GG category.” 98 Points, SP

This bottle is proof. The man took ten leaps while you were looking the other way. He knows it. I know it. And soon, you will too.Buy like youre catching a comet.

This is the most graceful Goldtröpfchen Kabinett Ive tasted in years. It has the sites signature opulence, but filtered through the prism of 2023s completeness. Its decadent and transparent. Hedonistic and pure. There is nothing to fix, nothing to critique. It just is. A wine that doesnt demand attention, but earns reverence.

This is a wine for people who think theyve outgrown Müller-Thurgau. For people who forgot what summer wine can really do. This is Müller-Thurgau in high resolution. And its just the beginning.

This is so good and a very new style for Sven. Its less “natural” and in future vintages will be less and less natural as he will decrease the skin contact.

This unique dry silvaner is a dead ringer for Meursault from a top producer. I love the delicate toasty character that is beautifully interwoven with seriously leesy complexity on the medium-bodied palate. Great seashell character in the extremely long and refined finish. From organically grown grapes. - 96 Points, Pigott

"Fabulously bright aromas of nectarine, bergamot, melon and fresh mint! Then staggering mineral freshness on the very pure and precise palate, which is at the upper limit of light-bodied. So much fruit, but also such great focus at the enormous, barely off-dry finish. Excellent aging potential! From organically grown grapes. Vegan. Drink or hold." - 95 SP

"Welcome to the deep end of the Rheinhessen dry riesling pool! Jump in and lay back in this world of floating beauty. The stunning stone fruit aromas expand exponentially as the wine aerates in the glass, slowly edging in the tropical fruit and gardenia direction. Gigantic concentration and structure, but somehow this feels almost weightless at the spectacularly elegant finish." - 98 SP

"While it might be perceived as a negative, I love the broad spectrum of pear aromas, ranging from underripe to overripe. The astonishing silvaner character is so enveloping here. Mind-blowing concentration on the full-bodied palate that’s underlined by a huge fine tannin structure. With aeration, a ripe mirabelle character develops that’s married to a stunning chalky freshness." - 96 SP

Lets get this out of the way: Yes, its Swiss. Yes, its expensive. And yes, absolutely yes, its one of the greatest Chardonnays Ive ever tasted.

The Rödelseer 2023 Riesling Hoheleite GG is clear and intense on the elegant nose that shows white stone fruit as well as herbal aromas. Elegant, pure and saline on the palate, this is a dense and lush, vivacious and nervy as well as tensioned Riesling with serious mineral and tannic grip on the aromatic, long and stimulating saline finish. 12.5% alcohol. - 95, WA

This is Riesling transfigured. A monument to what happens when a legendary vintage meets a great vineyard, and then gets left alone for 35 years.

Baby Côte-Rôtie in everything but name, from a vineyard so close to the AOC line I could practically spit into it. Floral, smoky, black-fruited, mineral, structured, and wildly serious for the money. At $22.99 on a case, this is the greatest red wine value we sell. A $60 Northern Rhône soul in commuter-wine clothing.

Inferno in 2022 is mountain Nebbiolo with the fuse lit: sour cherry, wild strawberry, crushed violet, graphite, incense, hot stone, blood orange and alpine herbs, all wrapped in Ar.Pe.Pe.’s signature lift and nerve. From one hectare of sunburned granite, this is dark, perfumed, mineral, tense and alive, with a finish that howls from the cliffs.

A mountain Nebbiolo fable made only in top vintages, blending Sasella, Inferno and Grumello from 50–100-year-old vines. Wild cherry, roses, tobacco, tree bark, crushed rock, alpine spice and watermelon licorice glide through silk-over-wire tannins, glacier acidity and a long, glowing finish. Featherweight, eternal, and very Ar.Pe.Pe.

Cascina Quarino’s 2024 Albugnano Nebbiolo is high-altitude Monferrato clarity: cherry, spiced plum, blue fruit, violets, rose, wet slate, cedar and forest floor, with fine ripe tannins and live-wire acidity. Langhe bones, Alto Piemonte chill, and a finish that unspools from fruit to spice to stone. At $29.99, this is the map correcting itself

Cascina Quarino’s 2021 Eclissi Albugnano Superiore is Grand Cru Albugnano in everything but fame: cooling cherry, wild strawberry, violet, rose, black tea, tar, licorice, bergamot and mineral hum. Silky, architectural tannins, whisper-level oak and alpine freshness make this feel like Barbaresco took the long road home and found better air.

Bordeaux with Petrus bloodline and 1970s New York grit: 90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc from Montagne-Saint-Émilion, made by Jean-Claude Berrouet’s son. Plum, cherry, cassis, violets, mint, cedar, graphite, tobacco, iron and wet clay move through crushed-silk tannins, saline lift and classical 2023 tension. Soulful now, serious for the cellar.

This is the producer that takes Cornas out of the valley and wires it into the sky. I didnt even know the name when I first drank it. Just the year: 2010. I remember the silence that fell over the table. The electricity. The way it didnt taste like any Cornas Id ever had, because it didnt behave. It lifted. It glowed. It moved like Keller. It shimmered like Brisset.

The 2015 Cuchet-Beliando Cornas is the greatest Cornas I have ever tasted, and I gave it 100 points twice. Noble, elemental Syrah: granite, vertical tannin, wild energy, deep fruit, sacred balance, and the longest Syrah finish I know. Not fully open yet, not closed, just entering the magic zone.

Bourgogne Rouge pushed into 1er Cru territory: tiny-yield Berlancourt Pinot with mint, dark cherry, kirsch, blackberry, bark, spice, blackberry flower, limestone and a wild inner-mouth perfume that goes full neon-noir. Luscious, crystalline and absurdly pure, with velvety tannins, deep tiny-berry intensity and a La Tâche-like spice flicker. Only 36 bottles, and the label is lying to you.

Domaine de la Côte St. Épine’s 2024 Saint-Joseph Cuvée L’Élégance is the Northern Rhône value that should not exist: old-vine Syrah, up to 140 years, at $24.99 by the case. Blackberry, currant, violet, pepper, licorice, smoke, meat and granite run through polished tannins, vivid freshness and classic Saint-Joseph soul.

Old Trollat-lineage St. Joseph from 115 to 140-year-old Syrah vines, and the value is borderline criminal: black raspberry, dark cherry, olive tapenade, violets, white pepper, cured meat, iron, smoked licorice, lavender and crushed granite. Dense but fresh, feral but composed, with cathedral tannins, old-vine sap and a finish that grips like granite closing its fist.

2024 St. Joseph red in full granite grammar: black pepper, olive tapenade, violets, smoked herbs, wet stone, iron, blackberry, black cherry and plum skin. Medium-bodied, wiry and vivid, with fine tannins, bright acidity, saline drive and a long savory finish of spice, stone and dark fruit. Classic Northern Rhône, no makeup.

Domaine des Roches Neuves’ 2024 Saumur-Champigny Franc de Pied is ungrafted Cabernet Franc in full silk-and-electricity mode. Luminous ruby fruit, flowers, red berries, mineral snap, whole-cluster lift and that rare creamy, gliding texture only franc de pied seems to deliver. Reinhardt gave the 2019 95 points, and 2024 brings even more precision, freshness and Burgundian grace.

This is the Grand Cru transmission from Saint-Pourçain: 50% Tressallier, 50% Chardonnay, and the top cuvée from the House of Lobkowicz. Meyer lemon, white flowers, iodine, guava, pineapple, pastry, lanolin, salt and limestone rip through a dense, creamy, electric frame. Puligny finesse, Corton-Charlemagne scale, and 2024 acid with a knife in its teeth.

Philippe Naddef’s 2024 Marsannay Les Genelières is the sleeper legend of the lineup: 40% whole cluster, future 1er Cru energy, and a 9.5 wine hiding under a Marsannay label. Dark cherry, raspberry, violets, peonies, wild herbs, forest floor and crystalline minerality, with sappy fruit, fine tannins and a finish that drinks like exalted Gevrey at half the tariff.

Fixin unlocked: Gevrey-adjacent structure, Naddef polish, and 2024 energy in one ridiculous village bottle. Midseason cherry, dark cherry, lipstick fruit, orange rind, bark, damp earth, flowers, game, mint and crushed stone ride silky tannins, sappy fruit and electric minerality. This is not “good for Fixin.” This is serious Côte de Nuits Burgundy hiding under the wrong name.

Village Fixin that behaves like Gevrey 1er Cru: old-vine Naddef 2024 with wild mint, bark, black pepper, dark cherry, black raspberry, plum skin, violet, blood orange, lavender, game, slate and iron. The fruit is deep but carved, the tannins powdered-silk fine, the finish long, crunchy, mineral and electric. The best Fixin he’s made, and the monks knew.

Domaine Philippe Naddef’s 2023 Mazis-Chambertin is Grand Cru Gevrey in full blood-and-iron mode: black cherry, wild raspberry, spice, earth, smoke, crushed stone and that feral Mazis depth. Powerful but not heavy, structured but alive, this is serious cellar Burgundy from one of the great old souls of Gevrey.

Clos de Gamot is Vermeer in Cahors: overlooked, exact, quietly immortal. The 2023 is the best young vintage since 2010, maybe 2005, packed with black fruit, earth, violets, wild minerality and absurd structure. Under $35 for a 30-year red is a trapdoor in the market. Buy deep.

The wine that rewrote my idea of Cahors. From 140-year-old vines, Clos de Gamot delivers astonishing depth without heaviness, combining legendary black-fruited power with shocking freshness and mineral precision. A singular, cellar-worthy French classic that drinks like a bottle costing several times the price.

Pommard in Buffet’s 2023 sensual register: radiant garnet, candied cherry, wild strawberry, redcurrant, raspberry syrup, licorice root, rose, pomegranate skin, cherry pit, crushed stone and iron. Les Poutures has the vineyard’s structure, but here it floats, with confectionary lift, diamond-cut clarity, ripe ornamental tannins and a finish that keeps exhaling fruit, spice and stone.

2024 Clos des Chênes is phoenix Volnay in cold-fire form: red cherry skin, cranberry, wild strawberry, rosehip, peony, iris, flint, chalk dust, black tea, citrus peel and ferrous spice, all stretched over fine tannin and bright old-school acidity. It is strict, floral, stony and tensile, with the monument’s bones showing clearly. Cellar this and let the silk glow slowly.

2024 Buffet Rugiens is Pommard in cold blood: centenarian vines, one-barrel gravity, iron, red clay, black cherry skin, dark raspberry, sour plum, dried rose, violet, smoke, wild herbs, licorice and crushed rock. The 2024 frame gives it blade, lift and transparency, while old-vine Rugiens supplies sap, armor and ferrous depth. Cellar Burgundy, massive in implication, not volume.

The Volnay that beat 2010 Lafarge Clos des Ducs at my 50th birthday table: 2023 Buffet Clos des Chênes is cherry voltage, limestone weather and gothic architecture in a glass. Sour cherry, black cherry, cherry blossom, rose, mint, sage, sous bois, pepper, cocoa nib and damp stone ride noble silken tannins, electric acidity and Grand Cru-class lift. A 50-year Volnay hiding at human pricing.

The best Pernand I’ve ever had: 2023 Buffet Les Vergelesses is cherry-drenched limestone with mid-season cherry, sour cherry, black cherry, violets, damson, earth, underbrush, black licorice, saline mineral and flower-water lift. Coiled, classical and electric, with serious structure under crystalline fruit, this is Pernand behaving like elite Côte de Nuits Burgundy and asking for cellar time.

Village Volnay that forgot its place: 2023 Buffet delivers sour cherry, ripe cherry, black cherry, rose, violet, wild mint, spice, sous bois, tree bark, blood orange peel and stone dust in pure Volnay silk. The fruit moves like music, bright, sweet, darkening, then ghosting into mineral perfume. A 9.5 villages that drinks right behind Champans, and the bottle you open while the 1ers sleep.

The Volnay that beat 2010 Lafarge Clos des Ducs at my 50th birthday table: 2023 Buffet Clos des Chênes is cherry voltage, limestone weather and gothic architecture in a glass. Sour cherry, black cherry, cherry blossom, rose, mint, sage, sous bois, pepper, cocoa nib and damp stone ride noble silken tannins, electric acidity and Grand Cru-class lift. A 50-year Volnay hiding at human pricing.

Steinmetz’s 2020 Mülheimer Sonnenlay Pinot Noir*** is the most Burgundian German Pinot I’ve had: cranberry, mulberry, cherry, moss, slate, spice, and silken Volnay texture. Stuart Pigott gave it 96 points, praising its vibrant balance and long, focused finish.

"The ripe and refined mirabelle nose pulls you inside, where you find a beautifully proportioned dry riesling with very good concentration for 12% alcohol. Tons of minerality, but it sits in the medium-bodied palate so neatly. Fantastic freshness at the long finish. Drink or hold." - 94 Points, Stuart Pigott

The 2023 Steinmetz Kestener Paulinshofberg Syrah is first-vintage Mosel Syrah, only 300 bottles, and 93 Pigott. Meaty, peppery, smoky and dark-fruited, but lifted by pure Mosel slate, fine tannins and cold river energy. Not Saint-Joseph cosplay, but Syrah reborn on the Mosel with graphite, herbs, structure and electric freshness.

Stefan erased the tariff on this, keeping the 2020 Kestener Herrenberg Pinot at 2019 pricing. Dark cherry, cranberry, black raspberry, forest, mint, grip, and huge Mosel energy. Stuart Pigott gave it 95 points and said it could be mistaken for Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru.

The 2022 Lelektsoglou Côte-Rôtie is one of the most thrilling Syrahs I've tasted in years. Explosively floral, intensely mineral, and built on layers of black fruit, olive, spice, and smoke, it delivers the complexity and aging potential of elite Côte-Rôtie at a price that feels almost impossible. A haunting, cellar-worthy masterpiece.

Lemenicier has entered his final form. His 2023 Cornas is silk over granite: blueberries, black cherries, violets, tapenade, smoke, iron, and laser-cut Syrah purity. All Cornas muscle, but with Burgundian glide and Pomerol-level texture. Jacques cracked the code.

Père Laurier is Lemenicier’s old-vine thunder: 80-year-old Cornas, only 800 bottles made, whole-cluster, aged 24 months in old wood. Blackberry, graphite, granite, violets, campfire, camphor, and stunning texture. This is Jacques stepping into the pantheon.

Foillard Morgon Classique is Beaujolais in its purest dialect: pale in color, huge in flavor, and utterly transparent. One of Morgon’s iconic producers and an OG natural-wine reference, Foillard delivers red cherry, wild strawberry, earth, flowers and mineral lift with featherweight elegance and serious depth. Classic, alive, unmistakable.

The Stephan So Brune is his masterpiece, Côte-Rôtie as levitation. Tiny production, no sulfur, Syrah and Viognier from Côte Brune, all blueberry, game, iris, honeysuckle, velvet, mineral and impossible lift. It is supple, haunting, wildly long, and one of the rare wines that makes Syrah feel newly invented.

Girard’s 2024 Savigny-lès-Beaune is honest Burgundy at human pricing: red cherry, sour cherry, earth, spice, violets, mint, and cool mineral lift. Fresh, brambly, clear, and alive, it has real village soul now and enough structure to gain beautiful secondary complexity over 5+ years.

2024 Peuillets is Savigny 1er Cru on the fine line: bright cherry, cranberry, wild strawberry, black raspberry, violets, rose, lilac, pepper, clove, mint and cool stone, all drawn with 2024 precision. It has real concentration, but in a compact, classical frame, with silky tannins, live acidity and a long mineral finish. Early-access Girard, serious enough to cellar, gorgeous enough to drink.

Girard’s straight Savigny is the soul of the domaine: honest, brambly, red-fruited Burgundy with dirt under its fingernails. Dusty cherry, sour cherry, violets, mint, spice, cold loam, and noble grip. Drink now for pure village charm, or age five years for the good Savigny ghosts.

2023 Peuillets is Savigny 1er Cru in full ritual bloom: black raspberry, sweet cherry, violets, mint, menthol, saline vapor, rose petal, cracked stone and cool spice, with cherry compote and raspberry cordial gliding over supple tannins and crisp acid. It drinks like Volnay with a sharper jawline, finishing long, creamy, mineral and quietly feral.

The best red I’ve ever tasted from JJ Girard: 2023 Chaponnières is Pommard with the fist unclenched. Red cherry flower, dried rose, black cherry, red plum, cassis, cranberry, cinnamon, clove, star anise, wet earth, graphite and lipstick fruit explode in one velvet burst. Dense but aerial, firm but floating, with molecular tannins, glowing acidity and a mineral finish that hovers for minutes.

The cathedral vintage. Volcanic Syrah at full voice, with black plum, smoked blackberry, incense, iron and extraordinary depth. Powerful without excess, this is Cœur de Combard at its most monumental, proving Côte-Rôtie can marry muscle with breathtaking finesse

A cooler, more classical expression of Combard. Black cherry, olive tapenade, crushed violets and volcanic spice ride a razor-sharp mineral spine. Patient, precise and beautifully restrained, this is a wine built for long aging and profound rewards.

The most hedonistic vintage of the lineup. Black fruit, rose petals, smoke, graphite and volcanic energy wrapped in a plush, seamless texture. Rich without heaviness, it captures the warmth of 2018 while preserving the lift and perfume that define Cœur de Combard.

One of Julien Barge’s finest achievements. Dark fruit, violets, smoke and rain-on-stone minerality combine with immaculate tannins and extraordinary lift. Pure, focused and hauntingly aromatic, this is volcanic Côte-Rôtie in perfect balance.

Julien Cruchandeau’s 2024 Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Les Valençons is the high-end Hautes-Côtes red that drinks like village Burgundy with Premier Cru voltage. Half whole cluster, only 10% new oak, and all slope, sap and intent: black cherry, dark raspberry, cocoa, earth, iron, spice and wild Pinot perfume, with plush fruit, precision tannins, electric 2024 clarity and a finish that refuses to act like

Julien Cruchandeau’s 2024 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Les Cabottes is pure Pinot joy at $31.99 by the case. Tank-raised, vivid and wildly drinkable, it bursts with black cherry, plum, cherry blossom, spice, wet earth and limestone snap. Big sap, polished tannins, electric 2024 freshness and the kind of deliciousness that makes analysis feel rude.

Cruchandeau’s 2024 Auxey-Duresses 1er Les Bas du Duresses is the new red that changes the map. Only 36 bottles exist, and at $67.99 it drinks like Premier Cru Burgundy with voltage: electric florals, raspberry, dark berries, limestone, silk tannins and 2024’s razor clarity. Auxey is no longer the understudy.

The greatest value German Pinot I have ever sold. Jürgen Von der Mark’s 2023 Merdinger Spätburgunder is German Burgundy in a leather jacket: cherry, raspberry, incense, wet earth, spice, limestone, velvet tannin, and shocking Côte de Nuits texture. $25.99 by the case is basically illegal.

Engertstein is the fruit thermonuke of German Pinot. Jürgen von der Mark’s 2023 is all cherry, raspberry, wild strawberry, violet, orange peel, wet stone, and silken grip, with shocking Côte de Nuits texture under $35. The most complete Pinot value on earth.

Cool-climate Nebbiolo at its most aristocratic: cherry blossom, lilac, dusty rose, licorice root, crushed stone, chestnut honey, forest floor, blood orange and suede tannins, all moving with La Badina’s Brisset-like elegance. The 2013 earned 95 Galloni, and 2021 is even more floral, precise and haunting: Lessona as silk, voltage and memory.

My 2025 Red Wine of the Year, and the most shocking Vespolina I’ve ever tasted. Black-violet in the glass, with wild cherry, blackberry, violets, pine, lavender, mint, cracked pepper and blood orange, it turns rustic Alpine material into silk-gloved architecture. Electric acid, tailored tannins, and La Badina elegance for $34.99.

Three straight vintages as my Insider Wine of the Year. The 2022 La Psigula Bramaterra combines soaring Alto Piemonte aromatics with astonishing fruit concentration, velvet tannins, and effortless precision. It drinks like a bottle twice the price today and has the structure to evolve for decades. One of the three greatest Nebbiolo-based wines I’ve tasted in five years.

The eye-opener German Chardonnay of the year: 2024 Laible Am Bühl GG gives wet stone, lemon oil, blood orange pith, green apple skin, hazelnut, iodine, elderflower, jasmine, chalk and cold salt. Burgundian in structure, pure Laible in lift, with Riesling-like cut, Chardonnay flesh, invisible oak and a crystalline finish that hovers. Puligny, Meursault and Chablis Grand Cru echoes at $55.99.

Boussey’s 2023 Auxey-Duresses “Le Closeaux” is real Burgundy at a price the Côte de Beaune forgot to update. Red cherry, damp earth, iron, spice, limestone snap and serious structure, all with 2023’s sappy energy. Old-school, blood-and-stone Burgundy with joy now and 8-12 years of runway.

One of the great premier cru values in Burgundy. Les Champs Fulliot sits beside Volnay’s famed Clos des Chênes, and Laurent Boussey captures that same rocky, limestone tension with beautiful dark cherry fruit, mineral drive, and remarkable finesse. Elegant, energetic, and built to age, this is the bottle that proves Monthélie belongs in every serious Burgundy cellar.

Laurent Boussey’s 2023 Beaune Les Prévoles is sexy, honest, old-school Burgundy at $39.99: strawberry, watermelon, red cherry, black cherry, licorice, cherry pit and that tweed-jacket Beaune rusticity. Silky, sappy, vivid and alive, it drinks like a humble lieu-dit that quietly knows it can embarrass wines three times the price.

Boussey’s 2023 Aloxe-Corton “Les Valoziers” is the apex predator of the lineup: dense red and black cherry, mineral backbone, spice, wet stone, and fine-grained velvet tannins. Muscular, vivid, shockingly refined, and built to age, this is Aloxe with Grand Cru hunger.

2016 Louis Sozet Cornas is the final sermon from the monk of Cornas: the last 132 bottles on Earth, from ancient vines and a vanished way of life. Leather, blood, olives, bacon, violets, granite, smoke and blue fruit, now fully awake and roaring. Old-school Syrah as memory, prayer and thunder, never to be made again.

Final vintage, 280 bottles, Hermitage elegance leaving the stage: 2022 Allégresse gives smoked duck, cracked pepper, violet, rosemary, leather, earth, blackberry, plum skin, pomegranate, crushed rock, iron and dark florals. Rich but weightless, structured but gliding, with Michelle Luyton’s Burgundian grace wrapped around Hermitage spine and a long mineral-blackberry finish built to haunt the cell

The 2021 Lyle Fass / Lelektsoglou Cuvée Ariane Vieilles Vignes is the most classical, precise Ariane yet: 75% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 80-year-old vines, four years in cement, no oak, no makeup. Black cherry, plum skin, pepper, iron, thyme, lavender and stone, with 2021’s cool spine giving it structure, freshness and truth. My name is on the label. That means something.

Brisset Vosne-Romanée in full 10.0 voltage: wild rose, cherry lipstick, tiny berry intensity, cherry concentrate, mineral circuits, limestone lightning and Vosne spice, all wrapped in cashmere tannins and that impossible Brisset paradox of hedonism under discipline. Dense, lithe, perfumed and electric, with a finish that hovers for minutes. Trophy Burgundy in disguise, and maybe his greatest Rouge

A 9.999999 Brisset red from Chambolle’s Noirots, next to Gruenchers and Baudes, with black cherry so pure it feels selected berry by berry. Sous bois, flowers, wet soil, fresh herbs and sweaty-classy minerality ride treacly texture, dazzling balance, tiny-berry intensity and building tannins. This is deep-ocean Chambolle, absurdly sappy, fresh, complete and long.

The 2023 Pierre Brisset Pommard 1er Cru is the final Brisset Côte de Beaune red, and it leaves like thunder in a velvet coat. A 9.9 wine and the best young Pommard I’ve ever offered, it delivers red cherry, black cherry, rose, violet, moss, spice, wet stone and late-arriving Pommard tannin, all refined through Brisset’s impossible silk-and-mineral lens.

2024 Brisset Aux Thorey is red-pill Burgundy: Nuits structure with Vosne perfume, cool cherry, wild strawberry, rose, violet, blood orange, iodine, spice and crushed limestone. Finer and more classical than 2023, with ultra-fine tannins, unreal acidity and a flower-stone finish that explains Burgundy in one glass.

2024 Brisset Aux Thorey is red-pill Burgundy: Nuits structure with Vosne perfume, cool cherry, wild strawberry, rose, violet, blood orange, iodine, spice and crushed limestone. Finer and more classical than 2023, with ultra-fine tannins, unreal acidity and a flower-stone finish that explains Burgundy in one glass.

The 2023 Brisset Meursault Les Grands Charrons has made the leap from great to absurd. A 9.9 wine and the greatest Meursault I’ve sold, it is all white flowers, silk, controlled richness, citrus electricity and endless mineral poise. No 2024 exists, so this is the bottle, Meursault through Brisset’s finest lens.

The 2023 Brisset Bourgogne Rouge Gabrius is not “simple Bourgogne.” It is the portal into Pierre’s 2023 reds: dark cherry, sour cherry, cranberry snap, limestone electricity, silky tannins and surreal fruit purity. Same obsessive Brisset treatment as the top wines, at $43.99 on a case, and one of the clearest values in Burgundy.

Michel Naddef’s micro-négoce Champeaux is Gevrey with the roof blown off: cherry blossom, black cherry, red plum, blood orange, roses, game, bouillon, iodine, smoke, graphite, loam and wet limestone. North-slope voltage, cathedral structure, silken tannins and feral fruit depth, finishing savory, floral, mineral and absurdly long.

2024 Rebourgeon Santenay Vieilles Vignes is the beautiful hard year in a glass: red cherry, cranberry skin, wild strawberry, rose, crushed herbs, black tea, damp limestone and spice, with old-vine sap giving flesh to 2024’s live-wire frame. Juicy but not soft, tense but complete, this is stony, honest Côte de Beaune Pinot with red lightning and real village soul.

The best Maranges I’ve ever tasted from Rebourgeon: 2023 Clos Roussots turns “minor village” into serious Burgundy. Cool cherry, wild strawberry, redcurrant, rose, violet, cranberry skin, blood orange, thyme, pink pepper, clove, tea leaf and wet limestone ride silk-over-steel tannins, vivid acid and a long cran-raspberry, chalk-dust finish.

Beaune 1er Cru with Volnay-coded lift: 2023 Rebourgeon Les Chouacheux is red cherry, raspberry skin, pomegranate, violet, rose, wild herbs, licorice, blood orange, smoked tea, cocoa, game and wet limestone. Silky, radiant, weightless and clean, with fruit moving like red light through stone. A Premier Cru ghost vineyard that drinks like a secret everyone missed.

2023 Rebourgeon Volnay 1er Cru Les Brouillards is Volnay in floaty combat form: red cherry perfume, wild rose, spice, mint, herbs, prosciutto, wet granite, sweet moss, violet, iron and tiny Alpine-berry fruit. Silky, clean, tensile and mineral, with crystalline tannins, blade-in-silk acidity and a long stone-floral finish built for a decade.

The best Maranges I’ve ever tasted from Rebourgeon: 2023 Clos Roussots turns “minor village” into serious Burgundy. Cool cherry, wild strawberry, redcurrant, rose, violet, cranberry skin, blood orange, thyme, pink pepper, clove, tea leaf and wet limestone ride silk-over-steel tannins, vivid acid and a long cran-raspberry, chalk-dust finish.

2024 Bourg is survivor Cornas: lean, electric, whole-cluster Syrah from a brutal year that rewarded real judgment. Olive, smoked meat, violet, iron, black raspberry, granite, pepper, and live-wire tension. Not the biggest Cornas, the most precise. Granite, blood, and nerve.

The 2023 Bourg is the Cornas that changed the equation. Whole-cluster Syrah from Chaillot-driven granite, it took three days to fully detonate: smoke, iron, violet ash, black fruit, meat, lavender, graphite, and endless mineral echo. A 9.8 wine, and one of the greatest Cornas I’ve had.

Spider-silk Pinot from the Swiss Alps, 9.8 from me with upside, and one of the most elegant bottles I tasted in Graubünden. Red berries, cherry, incense, dried flowers, spice, bark, salt and glacier-rock minerality glide over an impossibly satin texture. 30% whole cluster gives lift, the finish hangs forever, and in 2–3 years this should be devastating.

2019 Motalli Renato Le Urscele is the Grand Cru of a disappearing Valtellina god: a monopole Nebbiolo of roses, violets, wild strawberry, cherry, black tea, licorice, iron, stone and chestnut-raised soul. Silky, alpine, ancient, and built for decades, this is one of the greatest wines I’ve ever offered under $50.

Old-school Valtellina Nebbiolo with grit in silk: weathered garnet, sour cherry, rosehip, dried leaves, tobacco, chestnut, iodine, iron, bark, smoke and alpine herbs. Dense for the region but never heavy, with fine chestnut-grain tannins, vertical acidity and a long mineral finish. Renato’s Valgella is truth in stone, and $36.99 is absurd

2024 Naddef Gevrey VV is clarity after chaos: old-vine Gevrey with black raspberry, redcurrant, cherry skin, crunchy plum, violet, rose, pepper, thyme, meat, smoke, salted cherry and crushed limestone. 40% whole cluster, 20% new oak, but the story is luminous fruit, wind-pulled silk texture, impeccable tannins and 2024 mineral voltage. A 9.6 village wine with Premier Cru shock.

Oestreicher’s 2023 Silvaner Sur Lie is the $33.99 thunderbolt: soft cream, linden, chamomile, jasmine, crushed chalk, shell limestone, wet stone, lime skin, almond, sourdough, smoke and salt. The palate glows with Meyer lemon, passion fruit, pear skin, quince, rhubarb and mineral sap, all rainwater-clean and electrically precise. Franken Silvaner with Chablis nerve, Jura intrigue and a finish that

9.8+ Franken Bordeaux time warp: cassis, ripe plum, blackberry, cocoa, tobacco, mint, smoke, leather, crushed rock and herbal lift. Think mid-80s Saint-Émilion on a cooler German chassis, opulent but precise, saline and limestone-gripped, with sweet tannins and a 15+ year runway.

One of Garaudet’s first Volnay 1er Crus, and a major statement: 2022 Ronceret brings regal red/black cherry, white pepper, licorice flower, earth, florals and deep stony mineral into a frame of Zen balance and refined muscle. Juicy, pure, sexy and structured, with elite tannins and a long cherry-stone finish. Volnay with silk, shoulders and a scary ceiling.

Jan Luzi’s top cuvée is Swiss Pinot on the podium: one of the three best I’ve tasted, from the steep Pfaffen and Calander sites near Malans. Dark cherry, black raspberry, wild strawberry, violets, rose, cedar, smoke, alpine herbs and crushed schist ride a lush but razor-cut frame, with Grand Cru gravity, glacial precision, insane tannin finesse and 15+ years of cellar life ahead.

Thörle’s 2023 Saulheimer Kalkstein Spätburgunder is the best version yet: black cherry, blackberry flower, violets, tea, wood spice, limestone tension, and electric 2023 freshness. With Schlossberg fruit in the blend for the first time, this drinks like 1er Cru Burgundy hiding in Rheinhessen clothing.

Thörle’s 2023 Vom Kalk is entry-level only on paper: black cherry, wild raspberry, limestone, mint, spice, velvet tannin, and shocking mineral depth for $24.99 by the case. Stuart Pigott gave it 92 points and wrote, “Some GGs don’t get close to this.”

Thörle’s 2023 Hölle “GG” is German Pinot history in real time: red cherry, wild strawberry, rose, black cherry, herbs, wet limestone, and endless mineral drive. I gave it 99. Pigott has given Hölle 98-99 every vintage since 2018. This is the summit.

Ledy maxes out Hautes Côtes de Nuits and makes the label look guilty: La Vacherotte gives dense sour cherry skin, macerated cherry, violets, smoke, sous bois, warm earth and dark stony mineral, with silky texture, serious concentration and Nuits-like depth. Juicy, taut, sappy and long, this drinks like top village Burgundy that slipped through the classification trapdoor.

2022 Savigny-lès-Beaune VV from vines planted in 1935 and 1955, including Connardises, one of Savigny’s great under-sung sites. Village on the label, serious 1er Cru energy in the glass: fine, elegant, tweedy red cherry, with 2022’s dark, dense, sexpot depth. Built for 20 years, gorgeous tonight.

2023 Ledy Hautes-Côtes de Nuits La Vacherotte drinks like top-flight Nuits-Saint-Georges village, maybe even a sneaky 1er Cru that slipped through the bureaucratic cracks. The concentration, precision, and beauty of fruit are absurd for the label. A clear sign Vincent is playing at a much higher level now.

2023 Ledy Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Porêts Saint-Georges Jeunes Vignes is flat-out awesome. Sappy blackberry, black cherry, lurid red fruit, riveting intensity, freshness, and astonishing purity. With 30–45 minutes it turns refined, seamless, and mineral-drenched. Drink while the VV sleeps.

2023 Vincent Ledy Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Porêts Saint-Georges VV is the best wine I have ever tasted from Vincent. Refined, elegant, nimble, aristocratic Nuits, with outrageous inner-mouth perfume: fruit, mineral, spice, and soil exploding in controlled detonation. His pièce de résistance.

2023 Ledy Hautes-Côtes de Nuits La Vacherotte VV is 100% whole cluster from vines planted in 1954. Refined, classic Burgundy aromatics: red plum, spice, that tweed-jacket depth, and serious old-vine perfume. Structured but velvety, with inner-mouth aromatics and the 2023 finesse Vincent has never shown this clearly before.

Wegelin’s 2023 Bothmarhalde Blauburgunder is the crown jewel of Malans: high-altitude, organic Swiss Pinot from slate-and-lime soils behind Bothmar Castle. Raspberry, cherry, rose, lilac, spice and mineral glide into silk-on-silk texture, refined tannins and a palate-staining finish. Reinhardt called the 2022 his finest Wegelin Pinot in 20 years, and 2023 goes even higher.

Swiss Grand Cru Pinot with 92+ WA already on the board and Mathilde Hug’s precision all over it. Cherry blossom, red berries, crushed rock, smoked bark, rain-wet earth and floral spice glide through spectral silk, hidden density and 30% whole-cluster lift. Gevrey-like in its structure, alpine in its freshness, and underpriced before Malans becomes impossible.

German Cabernet Franc that cracked open into liquid architecture: violets, cassis, cherry skin, cranberry, redcurrant, graphite, river stone, thyme, smoke and camphor. Saint-Émilion gravitas, Saumur lift and Baden fruit, with silken texture, sweet noble tannins and a long salt-stone finish. Decant hard now or hide for 3 to 4 years.

Achim Duerr’s 2022 Pinot Noir “Tom” is cult German Pinot before the cult notices: Vosne perfume, red cherry, raspberry, dried rose, sandalwood, spice, volcanic tension, and silk-forged texture. I gave it 9.7+. Möbitz is myth now. Duerr is the next chapter.

Achim Dürr’s 2023 Syrah is not a German curiosity, it is Baden through a Northern Rhône prism: violets, candied lilac, pink rose, black olive, wild blackberry, blood fruit, slate, saline mineral and fine pepper. Give it air and it turns from tight reduction into silk and iron, with Stephan-like florals, Gonon clarity and a long petal-and-stone finish.

A 9.8 Swiss Pinot in the sweet spot of the Adank lineup, richer and deeper than the village wine but still pure alpine restraint. Cherry flesh, wild strawberry, redcurrant, violet stem, pine, lavender, wet granite and cool smoke move through spider-silk texture, crystalline acid and perfectly judged tannins. More sensual in 2023, but still all posture, precision and mountain nerve.

The entry point to Patrick Adank’s world drinks like a secret door into elite Swiss Pinot: mid-season cherry, red currant, strawberry, rose petals, alpine herbs, white pepper and mountain air, all moving with old-oak transparency and gravity-defying finesse. At $54.99 on a 4-pack, this is class, precision and pure Graubünden lift from one of Europe’s most visionary young winemakers.

Walter’s 2020 Pinot 274 is a 300-bottle hallucination: 60% Frühburgunder, 40% Spätburgunder, never retail, usually Michelin-only. Aged Burgundy nose, sous-bois, truffle, mushroom, leather, ripe fruit, huge tannin, and endless finish. Felix Walter called it “insane.”

A brand-new Ziereisen superstar. Hermann is basically the Jaspis version of Talrain: 50-year-old vines, volcanic darkness, chalk, iron, sour cherry, spice, and shocking intensity at just 12.5% alcohol. I gave it 9.8. Wine Advocate gave it 93. A new German Pinot legend being born.

Schulen is the whole Ziereisen Pinot thesis in one bottle: delicate, architectural, and wildly alive. Cranberry, sour cherry, raspberry, herbs, rose hips, limestone, spice, and electric acidity, all carried on freakishly refined tannins. Chambolle grace with Baden nerve.

Rhini is Ziereisen’s Pinot blade in velvet: 100% whole cluster, dark cherry, black raspberry, plum skin, violets, iron, herbs, graphite, and limestone voltage. Deeper and more structured than Schulen, but still all glide and finesse. German Premier Cru energy at human pricing.

Germany’s Hermitage in all but name. Ziereisen’s 2022 Jaspis “Däublin” Syrah is deep, mineral, meaty, and electric: black cherry, blueberry skin, olive, cocoa, iron, lavender, limestone, and velvet tannin. Wine Advocate called the 2020 world class. The 2022 is even better.

Rhini is the Ziereisen middle child that drinks like Premier Cru Vosne with a broadsword. 100% whole cluster, black plum, dark cherry, violets, iron, pine tar, graphite, herbs, and limestone voltage. Silk over steel, built for 15-20 years, and wildly underpriced

Fass Selections’ first Rosé of the Year, and not remotely poolside pink air: Tavel with blood-orange color, Grenache backbone, old-vine Syrah depth and Clairette lift. Nectarine oil, salted plum, sour cherry, pomegranate, olive brine, rosemary, smoked salt, bitter orange, fennel, oyster shell and hot limestone move through dense, sapid, red-wine texture and white-wine zip. Serious rosé with teeth,

The Meunier-driven day-two miracle: 50% Pinot Meunier, 35% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay, full of red fruit, sap, green tea, almond, smoke, brioche, citrus zest, iodine, wet rock and mineral perfume. Reflets is generous but precise, creamy but saline, a little feral but beautifully clean, with the old Marne soul of the estate and a finish far too serious for under $45.

100% Meunier, zero dosage, 100% new oak, no malo, and somehow pure elegance: oceanic chalk, apple skins, citrus oil, white pepper, grapefruit pith, toasted hazelnut, smoked salt, cold iron and oyster-shell salinity. Dense 2018 fruit gives it meat, Brut Nature gives it cut, and the mousse glides like silk over granite. The steak Champagne, and a Meunier throne bottle.

Brut Zero Pinot Noir Rosé Sekt from Stefan Steinmetz, and the man somehow conquered bubbles too: wild strawberry, red currant, cranberry, sour cherry, red apple skin, slate, salt, brioche, mountain herbs and chalky grip, with zero dosage and three years on lees. Fine bubbles, silk-over-steel texture, Mosel precision, and a finish so dry and clean it feels carved from cold stone.

Burgundy’s secret weapon fizz: 80% Aligoté, 20% Chardonnay, with fine mousse, brioche, salted toast, white peach, pear, Meyer lemon, pomelo, grapefruit pith, hazelnut, marzipan, white flowers and stony mineral snap. Dry, salty, bready, rich and lean at once, this is serious Crémant de Bourgogne at $26.99 that makes basic Champagne look very nervous.

Jürgen von der Mark’s 2021 Brut Nature Blanc de Noir is German sparkling at cathedral level: 50% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 20% Grünfränkisch, with microscopic mousse, brioche, chalk, lemon oil, cherry skin, salt and alpine precision. Champagne quality, Baden postcode, and a price the market still has not understood.

Marie Demets Singularité Pinot Blanc Extra Brut is a 9.5 Champagne revelation from the Frionnes plot, and only 60 bottles landed. Vanilla, red apple, white flowers, honey, herbs, chalk, seashell, pineapple and pear ride a whisper-fine mousse with saline lift and electric precision. At $53.99, this drinks like the next cult Côtes de Bar Champagne before the market wakes up.

Post-rebirth Demets in weapon form: 67% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay, 1g dosage, and 9.6-level precision for under $50. Wet stone, oyster shell, apple skin, lime pith, green tea, white pepper, clove, smoke, quince, cherry skin and salt ride a fine-vibration mousse and knife-edge minerality. This is Intransigeance sharpened, and the price is still living in the old era.

A 9.8 Blanc de Blancs that makes $88 Champagne feel like a loophole: 100% Chardonnay, 0.5g dosage, and a mousse so fine it reads as levitation. Green apple skin, Mirabelle, melon, mint, baking spice, iodine, smoke, lemon flower and mineral all shimmer through bone-dry purity, insane cut and world-class elegance. Les Fins is the Demets revolution in one bottle.

Post-rebirth Demets in weapon form: 67% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay, 1g dosage, and 9.6-level precision for under $50. Wet stone, oyster shell, apple skin, lime pith, green tea, white pepper, clove, smoke, quince, cherry skin and salt ride a fine-vibration mousse and knife-edge minerality. This is Intransigeance sharpened, and the price is still living in the old era.

2021-fruit Blanc de Blancs at mid-$40s is the Demets loophole: 1.5g dosage, Extra Brut, all citrus skin, green apple peel, pear, mandarin oil, white flowers, chalk, sea spray, iodine, lemon cake and cold mineral wind. Surgical, juicy, saline and alive, with the new Demets precision fully online. This drinks like $75+ grower Champagne hiding under the old price tag.

The greatest $38 Champagne I’ve ever tasted: 100% Pinot Noir, 2020/2021 fruit, Extra Brut, with mousse so fine it feels like silk under pressure. White flowers, chalk, sea air, pear skin, lemon oil, wet shell, pale red berry and deep salinity move in one clean line. This is the front door to the new Demets era, and it drinks like the price forgot to wake up.

The Cassaneas of Champagne: Perseval-Farge “Terres de Sables” delivers two-rung value violence, with ultra-fine mousse, minerals, brioche, hickory smoke, raspberry, blood orange, morello cherry, citrus, guava and pineapple over sandy-soil lift. Air turns it from excellent to explosive, with sap, saline grip, chewy depth and top-flight finesse that should cost far more.

Ancient-grape Champagne at cult-cuvée level: 67% Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Fromenteau, with Chardonnay holding the blade steady. Pistachio, rhubarb, lime zest, sandalwood, pear, ocean iodine, hickory smoke, citrus rind and salt ride scandalously fine mousse and surgical precision. Les Goulats is rare, electric, wildly refined, and better than many bottles at twice the price.

The fourth horseman and the best Blanc de Blancs in the Perseval-Farge stable: old-vine 2013 fruit, no malo, 72% barrel, 3g dosage and mousse so fine it feels engineered. Lemon balm, green apple skin, oyster shell, smoked salt, thyme, fennel, saffron, almond, matchstick and white tea ride velvet-wrapped acidity, massive salinity and a finish that dissolves into chalk dust and citrus light.

Später-Veit’s NV (2019) Blanc de Blancs is Mosel Chardonnay with Champagne architecture: 75 months on lees, 100% Chardonnay, and $28.99 by the case. Brioche, salted butter, lemon oil, green apple, yuzu, almond, chalk and crushed slate ride a tiny, elegant mousse and a long saline finish. German sparkling is in its golden age, and this is the sleeper-cell bottle.

Grand Cru Champagne energy from a Swiss WWII bunker, built from 100% Pinot Noir with a 2020 base, 1.4 g/L dosage and Patrick Adank’s freakish precision. Salted brioche, red berries, iodine, apple skin, chalk, yeast and cherry glide through impossibly fine mousse, vinous depth and a salivary, mineral finish. Extra Brut, alpine, atomic, and one of the great non-Champagne sparklers.

9.8 from me, 96 from Stuart Pigott, and maybe Stefan’s best Juffer Kabinett ever: 2024 Brauneberger Juffer is Fuji apple, vanilla, mint, crushed slate, wet-stone minerality and Mosel electricity. True Kabinett, not Spätlese cosplay, with 11g acid, silk, snap, balance and a dancing 50-year finish. $26.99 by the case, 150 bottles left.

Marbach is pure Spätlese joy. Orchard fruit, citrus, flowers, and soaring acidity come together in a wine that somehow finishes dry despite its richness. I have scored it 9.7 twice. Eight years old and still breathtakingly youthful, this is my favorite Marbach Spätlese Andy has ever produced.

97-point Schmoll Auslese, and the best wine I’ve had this year: apricot in its purest form, caramelized mandarin, peach skin, honey, citrus oil, wet slate, salt, spice and Mosel electricity. Dense but floating, sweet but surgical, with Muellen’s 2023 acid shock lifting all that stone-fruit richness into an endless, fresh, mythically balanced finish.

A time-capsule Mosel Spätlese from an old-school estate Stefan Steinmetz found for us. The 1992 Weber-Osterman is shockingly youthful: red apple, slate, petrol, white flowers, wild mint, butter cookie, citrus tea, and explosive old Mosel acidity. A 30+ year-old Riesling with 15-20 years ahead.

The aperitif blade of the pair: 50% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Noir, 25% Meunier, with barrel giving architecture instead of oak flavor. Grapefruit, tangelo, tart cherry, citrus peel, chalk, crushed rock, yeast, salt and biscuit ride a bone-dry but juicy frame, with fine mousse and serious mineral grip. Extra Brut Champagne that drinks like a Mosel laser in Damery clothing.

Chavy-Chouet’s 2024 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs Gains is Romaric’s crown jewel in full 2024 voltage: white flowers, citrus, chalk, oyster shell and a diamond-cut mineral spine. Dense yet weightless, floral yet fiercely precise, this is Puligny at its most aristocratic, built for a decade and limited to 24 bottles.

The 2024 Meursault Narvaux is an automatic yes: elite Meursault dirt beside Genevrières and Poruzots, priced like the market forgot to wake up. Lime blossom, wet stone, hazelnut, salt, lemon pith and silk-wrapped limestone energy. Racy, broad, pure and explosive, this is Romaric’s evolution in one ridiculous bottle.

2024 Chavy-Chouet Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes is the velvet hammer with a spine. All the breadth, orchard fruit, nutty depth and scale of Charmes are here, but 2024 pulls it tight with electric acidity, crushed stone, purity and line. A monster of power and energy, but disciplined, chiseled, and absurdly refined.

2024 Chavy-Chouet Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières is Grand Cru in everything but paperwork. In this acid-lit, high-tension vintage, Romaric turns one of Meursault’s great sites into sea air, citrus pith, oyster shell, white flowers, hazelnut and live-wire minerality. Only 12 bottles. This is crown-jewel Chavy.

Puligny-coded Bourgogne Blanc from four parcels just outside the village: tangerine oil, green apple, grapefruit pith, blood orange, iodine, sea spray, chalk, limestone, smoke, white flowers, acacia and hazelnut skin. The 2024 Femelottes is pure Chavy voltage, saline, crystalline, finely textured and wildly precise, with Puligny tailoring under a humble Bourgogne label.

024 Chavy-Chouet Meursault Vireuils is the Rosetta Stone for Romaric’s style: Meursault flesh pulled tight over a cold, high-altitude mineral frame. Frozen lemon peel, crushed rock, hazelnut, ginger, salt and electric acidity. At $89.99, this is serious, structural Meursault from a site bottled by Coche and Roulot.

Berlancourt’s 2023 Les Equinces is Bourgogne Blanc refusing its name: 23hl/ha yields, two years in old oak, and 1er Cru-level precision. Green apple, hazelnut, cake icing, iodine, spice, florals and saline mineral ride electric acidity, chewy density and shocking finesse. Puligny-coded, compact, alive, and built like Robuchon potatoes with limestone.

The anti-Riesling in full old-vine Saint-Joseph form: creamy Marsanne wax, white flowers, honey, orchard fruit, citrus peel, wet stone, granite, savory herbs and a faint tropical shimmer. Dense, chewy and grand, but 2025 gives it posture, freshness and mineral line, so the richness never slumps. Rhône breadth with a spine, finishing long, saline, floral and stony.

Domaine des Pierres Sèches’ 2024 Saint-Joseph Blanc is the sleeper revelation of the vintage: Roussanne and Marsanne on granite, all white peach, apricot, fennel, beeswax, almond, orange blossom, crushed stone and saline lift. Rich but wired, creamy but precise, this is serious Northern Rhône white with a spine, and absurd at $35.99

Domaine Grosbot-Barbara’s 2024 Saint-Pourçain Blanc “SAS Prince Charles-Henri de Lobkowicz” was my 2025 White Wine of the Year: 70% Chardonnay, 30% Tressallier, and pure white-Burgundy shock at $42.99. Lemon flower, pear, beeswax, almond, matchstick, sea salt, honeycomb and chalk ride a creamy, electric, endlessly mineral frame. Drink some now, age the rest.

Le Fossile is the anti-Mâcon: 2023 Pierreclos Chardonnay with lemon blossom, acacia, green apple skin, pear, mirabelle, vineyard peach, yuzu, grapefruit pith, fennel, wet chalk, iodine, smoke and crushed shell. Built on enormous but clean acidity, saline force and real mid-palate depth, it drinks like Puligny wired with Mosel voltage at a human price.

A 2000 botrytized Chardonnay relic from Mâcon-Pierreclos in 500ml: molten quince honey, brown butter, roasted pineapple, saffron, wet tobacco, smoky honey, bruised pear, sultana, toasted almond, candied ginger and old apothecary spice. Sweet, wild and electric, with treacle-rich texture, huge acid lift and a finish so long it feels preserved in amber.

Marc Jambon’s 2024 Mâcon-Pierreclos Le Carruge is the Mâcon white Burgundy unicorn: old-vine Chardonnay with Côte d’Or density, Puligny-like iodine, green apple, pear, lemon flowers, wet stone, salt and huge 2024 acidity. At $31.99 by the case, this is serious white Burgundy in disguise, all nerve, mineral and voltage.

97-point Coteau de Vernon, the white rhino of the Rhône: 2022 Vernay is 84 and 60-year-old Viognier on vertical granite, with honeyed orange, yellow flowers, chalk, spice, tropical fruit, cold slate and Montrachet-level gravitas. Rich but surgical, floral but mineral, dense but feline, with integrated acidity and a finish that rolls through sap, spice and stone. Viognier purified, Condrieu resurre

Steinmetz’s 2024 Rosengärtchen “Am Fels” is the shadow twin of his sacred 99-point site: third vintage ever, 98 Pigott, and a future legend at $43.99. Lemon curd, lime blossom, crushed slate, mint, apricot, white flowers and a super-salty endless finish. Huge, electric, mineral Mosel with monk-still composure.

The 2023 Steinmetz Wintricher Ohligsberg Rondel is a 96-point Stuart Pigott baby GG at $24.99 by the case. Green tea, lemon flesh, white cherry, passion fruit, slate, herbs and sweet-salty grip, with the architecture of great dry Mosel Riesling and the joy of a bottle you can open right now.

Steinmetz’s 2024 Brauneberger Juffer Kabinett Trocken is dry Mosel lightning: 96 Pigott, 9.8 from me, and $26.99 by the case. Green apple, lime zest, mint, crushed slate, sponti lift and 11 g/L acidity somehow glide like silk over wire. Feral, surgical, weightless, and the best dry Juffer Kabinett I’ve tasted.

Steinmetz’s 2024 Dhroner Hofberger Reserve is 98 Pigott, 9.9 from me, and Stefan’s Coche-in-the-Mosel statement piece. Only 500L from brutally low yields, it marries Meursault density to Mosel lift: acacia, peach skin, mirabelle, wet stone, mint, ginger, saline grip and a finish that echoes like a relic.

Steinmetz’s 2024 Detzemer Maximin Klosterlay Riesling is first-vintage Mosel lightning: 98 Pigott, only 60 bottles, and Stefan calling it “not completely dry, but a freaking monster.” Dark, dense, enormously slatey, with breathtaking mouthfeel, giant energy, and a no-holds-barred finish that turns 2024 upside down.

The 2024 Steinmetz Brauneberger Juffer “GB” is 97 Pigott and, for me, the greatest Juffer I’ve ever tasted. Yellow peach soul, Fuji apple, Mirabelle, herbs, custard, slate, salt and a finish that fans out forever. Medium-bodied but staggeringly concentrated, this is golden filigree Mosel: polished, electric, original and emotional.

The 2024 Steinmetz Kestener Paulinsberg Chenin Blanc is Mosel Chenin’s origin myth, 93 Pigott and wildly underpriced at $29.99 by the case. Ripe peach, floral honey, Meyer lemon, herbs, fresh nuts, pear, chalk and pulsing acidity. Loire soul, Mosel voltage, cool elegance, and a mineral finish that feels like a new category being born.

Steinmetz’s 2024 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett is 95 Pigott, the third straight 95 for this tiny Mosel beam of light. Peach, grapefruit, lime, white flowers, crushed herbs and cathedral-dust minerality ride 11.5 g/L acidity with insane grace. Only 600 bottles made, 90 for us, and $26.99 by the case.

Steinmetz’s 2024 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr GZ is 97 Pigott and pure Mosel elegance sharpened to a blade. Green apple, delicate peach, herbs, rainwater, crushed slate, citrus oil and airborne minerality, all lifted by 2024’s acid and nerve. Limited, allocated, and one of Stefan’s most refined dry Rieslings.

2015 Gut Hermannsberg Kupfergrube GG Reserve is a 100-point Anne Krebiehl masterpiece and one of Germany’s greatest white wines. I called it 9.7 in 2020, and now it has arrived: candied lemon, apricot, mint, chamomile, salt, smoke, stone and laser acidity, endlessly long and bone-dry. Only 60 bottles. Kupfergrube eternal.

Oyster shell, Meyer lemon, green apple, apple butter, chalk, sea spray and spice all locked into perfect alignment. Silky, almost creamy texture meets blazing acidity and real dry extract, giving it size without weight and tension without severity. Long élevage adds the echo, and this may be Fabien’s best young Vaillons since 2014.

Quiet at first, then blooming into slate, herbs, citrus rind, sea spray, faint smoke and serious mineral power. Dense and sculpted but never heavy, this unfurls frame by frame, with a buzzing stone finish that stretches for half a minute. Shape-shifting, deep, and way too serious for the price.

Broad-shouldered, glowing, and cut straight through with Chablis stone. Lime blossom, seashell, crushed limestone, green apple, flint, salt and citrus ride a dense, sappy palate with juicy acidity and huge persistence. This is the unofficial Grand Cru of Fabien’s cellar, and if it said Valmur, the price would look like a typo

The estate Chablis is the bloodstream of Jean Dauvissat Père & Fils, and 2023 is the leap: lemon, lime, oyster shell, sea breeze, wet stone, pear skin and savory cheese-rind depth, with opulent texture snapping back into sizzling acid and Kimmeridgian grip. Flesh, salt, spine and electricity, all at a price that still feels like Chablis before the world noticed.

Girard Corton-Charlemagne in full King Lear mode: hazelnut, ripe green apple, iodine, grilled nuts, wet stone, apple pie crust, brown sugar, pear, caramel, spice and saline mineral wrapped around massive dry extract and whip-crack acid. Dense but aristocratic, young but already regal, this is cold golden architecture built for 20+ years. Buy, bury, thank yourself later.

The 2024 Cruchandeau Puligny-Montrachet 1er Hameau de Blagny is a steal hiding in plain sight at $89.99. Rare Puligny with Meursault muscle, it delivers jasmine, Meyer lemon, crushed limestone, sea spray, hazelnut and relentless saline length. Electric now, but at 9-10 years it will stand with far grander names.

Julien Cruchandeau’s 2024 Saint-Aubin 1er Cru L’Amandier is Puligny in witness protection: white flowers, lemon oil, pear, apricot, seashell, iodine, moss, spice, hickory smoke and cold stone. Half Champeaux, half Chatenière, with 2024’s acid voltage and just enough oak for shape. At $67.99, this is elite white Burgundy hiding in Saint-Aubin.

Domberg is the intellectual of the pair compared to Marbach. Cooler, more mineral, and laser-focused, it delivers electric acidity, slate, citrus, and orchard fruit in perfect balance. Eight years of bottle age have only sharpened its voice. One of the finest, most serious Spätlesen Andy Schneider has ever made.

K.H. Schneider’s 2024 Felsenberg Trocken is Andi’s dry-wine breakthrough, following a 97-point Pigott 2023 from this legendary volcanic site. Smoke, stone fruit, lemon, sea air, salt and radical minerality cut through a linear, electric, almost tannic frame. A GG-style Nahe giant killer at $37.99.

9.7, my highest score ever for a Schneider dry Riesling, and the densest Riesling I have ever sold: 2022 Marbach Trocken “GG” is Meyer lemon, lime zest, green apple skin, jasmine, orange blossom, wet chalk, flint, apricot pit and liquefied quartz. Dry, massive, electric and immortal, with Nahe Gothic density and a finish that feels carved from citrus, stone and time.

The wine that convinced me America had been importing the waiting room instead of the concert. Laible’s Klingelberger is one of the original pillars of Fass: razor-sharp, mineral, impossibly pure, and built to age for decades. The 2024 is the finest young Klingelberger I’ve tasted. A $35 bottle that drinks like a serious GG.

One of the finest white Burgundies in the portfolio. From the tiny 1.5-hectare La Taupine Premier Cru, Laurent Boussey has crafted a wine of remarkable depth, electric minerality, and Grand Cru poise. Dense yet weightless, with soaring florals, white orchard fruit, and a long saline finish, this is the bottle that proves Monthélie Blanc now belongs in the same conversation as Meursault and Puligny

A 90–93 Burghound Côte de Léchet with classic Tribut architecture: iodine, seaweed, flowers, lemongrass, lychee and passion fruit over a rich but tightly wound Chablis frame. The mid-palate is open and lush, the finish clean, dry and youthfully austere. Linear, mineral, built for a decade, and from a domaine now firmly in Chablis’s top tier.

Michelle Luyton’s final Hermitage, and what a curtain call: blackcurrant, sour raspberry, wild blackberry, grilled meat, iron, blood, violets, lavender, cracked pepper, olive tapenade, rosemary smoke, cassis, graphite and crushed granite. Dense but lifted, sleek but powerful, with dark silk texture, stone-spiked structure and that unmistakable Luyton grace. Real Hermitage with bones, blood and ele

2022 Pierre Brisset Bourgogne Blanc Cuvee Cassaneas at $35.99 by the case should not exist. The 2022 drinks like Premier Cru Chassagne hiding behind a Bourgogne Blanc label: lemon oil, wet stone, white flowers, salt, iodine and that unmistakable Brisset glide. No 2024 exists, so this is the reload moment for serious white Burgundy you can actually open.

Brisset Saint-Aubin Sur Roche du Gamay is the smiling assassin: Meyer lemon, lime blossom, green apple skin, white peach, cold mint, wet earth, crushed slate, chalk dust, flint smoke and saline shimmer. Dense but weightless, opulent but electric, it drinks like white Burgundy crossed with dry Riesling and pure light. Benchmark Saint-Aubin, full stop.

The 2023 Brisset Bourgogne Blanc Cuvée Cassaneas is Premier Cru Chassagne smuggled into a Bourgogne label: lime zest, oyster shell, sea spray, green apple, pear, lemon cream, almond, chamomile, saffron and that Brisset glide. A 9.6 flirting with 9.7, top-two Cassaneas ever, and one of the great white Burgundy values we sell.

2024 Molitor Zeltinger Himmelreich Kabinett Green Capsule is fineherb fury from Slate Death Mountain: nectarine, lime, green apple, salt, herbs, sunlit slate and savage 2024 acidity. Green-capsule Kabinett from Molitor is rare for a reason, the sugar is invisible under the voltage. Cheap, elite, dangerous and built to age.

2024 Molitor Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett Green Capsule is the sleeper-cell Mosel bottle: lemon oil, stone fruit, green herbs, black slate, citrus peel, mineral smoke and blade-in-silk acidity. Badstube usually reads stern and serious, but here it dances, feather-light and electric, with sugar, salt and acid locked in perfect crystalline tension.

One of the true Fass Freak Show wines. Martin Müllen’s 2018 Hühnerberg Spätlese* 3te Terrasse feinherb is a rare top-site, older feinherb with 96 points from Wine Advocate: apricot, citrus peel, slate, salt, herbs, electric acidity, and huge Mosel tension wrapped in silk.