1/8/26 - 

Regular shoppers at Chambers Street understand that truly unique and delicious wines do not need to be expensive! Today's offer features new arrivals from three of our favorite small estates in France that make superb wines both for everyday current enjoyment, and for cellaring of ten to fifteen years. Yes, there is some Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot and Pinot Noir in this email, but you will find fascinating wines made with Verdesse, Jacquere, Etraire de la Dhuy, Grenache Blanc, Macabeo, Vermentino, Marsanne and Roussanne as well. 
Why not try them all?

Domaine Finot 
We're proud to once again offer the wines of Thomas Finot (pictured above), a young winemaker who, after experience in different regions of France, discovered abandoned vineyards in the Coteaux du Grésivaudan (Isère) northeast of Grenoble, and is working to restore the vineyards and the region's potential. With great passion, he is reviving local varieties such as the white Verdesse and the reds Persan and Étraire de la Dhuy as well as working with the appellation's permitted grapes including Jacquère, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Thomas is committed to organic and biodynamic farming to best express the regions quality. The terroir is an ancient valley with soils of glacial stones and sands with limestone scree and clay and the daytime temperatures are among the highest in France, but with very cool nights. Domaine Finot is also producing a small quantity of superb Crozes-Hermitage from his grandfather's 1.8 hectare of old vines on great sites in Larnage on both limestone and granite with white clay (kaolin) soils.
The estate also makes delicious everyday wines from varieties found in the area: Tracteur Rouge from Mondeuse, Gamay, Persan and Pinot Noir and Tracteur Blanc, from Jacquère, Chardonnay and Altesse. The "Tractor" wines are deliciously different and refreshing and will accompany just about anything - our last shipment of Tractors sold out quickly, so don't delay... 

"Thomas Finot, originally from Crozes-Hermitage, offers flamboyant wines, rich in taste, whose ingredients remain fresh, based on fruit of first-rate intensity and frankness" says the Revue du Vin de France in an awkward translation! We couldn't agree more!

Domaine Laguerre
A visit to Eric, Corinne and Paul Laguerre in Saint-Martin de Fenouillet requires steep climbs through a mountain pass up to the highest vineyards in the Roussillon. Here the granite soils, cooler climate, very low yields and Eric's superb organic farming produce distinctive, balanced wines with bright fruit and firm acidities. Eric has been farming without pesticides or herbicides for decades, and, speaking of regenerative agriculture, he hasn't plowed in 20 years! His vineyards are beautiful and full of life, and the wines are as vibrant as the place and the people.

The entry-level Eos Blanc made from Grenache Blanc, Maccabeo and Vermentino is, in our opinion, one of the greatest values in the world of wine.  Laguerre's Eos Rouge is perfect for all occasions, similar to a good Cotes du Rhone but with the high elevation and granite soils giving freshness and vibrant fruit. The top wines here are named after a flowering bush called Ciste that grows throughout the vineyards contributing to biodiversity and wind protection. Le Ciste Blanc is a unique blend of Marsanne, Roussanne, Vermentino, Grenache Blanc and Maccabeu, and is one of the most complex and delicious whites of the Roussillon. The 2023 Le Ciste Rouge is once again a Châteauneuf-du-Pape of the mountains to enjoy now or in ten years. And for you Vin Jaune lovers, don't forget the unique 2018 Oxy - a superb Grenache Blanc that spends 5 years sous-voile!

Planquette!
During our search for organic and natural Bordeaux back in 2013, we were ecstatic to find Didier Michaud's "Chateau Planquette." Not exactly a "chateau," M. Michaud farmed 1.7 hectares in Saint Yzans and Couquèques in the northern Medoc on high ground of gravel and clay over the limestone plateau, equal parts Cab and Merlot with a small percentage of an old strain of Petit Verdot. It's a tiny artisanal production, a unique and delicious wine of terroir with zero additives, in the midst of a sea of over-oaked, over-extracted, badly farmed Bordeaux...The terroir is mostly stony clay and silica over the "Dome de Couquèques," a bed of limestone near the surface whch is quite unusual for the Medoc. The grapes are hand-harvested in small baskets  and undergo a long fermentation with wild yeasts, with no attempt to extract - "more of an infusion" said M. Michaud, followed by two years in old barriques. There are no additives or corrections - the finished wine is analyzed at approximately 2 mg/liter total SO2. Didier has taken a much-deserved retirement and happily the estate is being continued with the same philosophy by Blandine Prévot and Jérémy Borde. This is one of the very finest natural wines of Bordeaux - it's delicious now but cellaring of 5 to 15 years is highly recommended!

-David Lillie

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