Provençal rosé is often crisp, light, and easygoing, but Domaine du Bagnol’s Cassis Rosé 2023 offers something more. Cassis, a tiny appellation between limestone cliffs and the Mediterranean, produces wines with real depth and character. While roses from nearby Côtes de Provence are simple and refreshing and nearby Bandol’s rosés are deep and structured, Bagnol’s rosé strikes a balance: mineral, bright, and complex, yet effortlessly drinkable.

Brad Friedman is making wines with Italian varieties and the wines have true varietal character. The Sagrantino has the traditional darkness, a note that might remind you of a Paulo Bea wine. But Brad’s aren’t Italian wines and his Sagrantino also has California joy, a coastal freshness, a new world sense of delight. 

What makes Moulin-à-Vent special is the presence of manganese in the soils. This has a tendency to deepen Gamay and to give it more structure. It’s no wonder that for centuries Moulin-à-Vent has been considered a grand vin, comparable to a great Burgundy. And indeed, it’s a Cru Beaujolais that can age incredibly well, often tasting more and more like Premier Cru Burgundy as it develops.

The wine name, "No Es Pituko," is Chilean slang for "it ain't fancy" – and that tells you exactly what these wines are about.

Sure, they're made from rare, ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines that the Echeverria family has farmed since 1923. And yes, the farming is biodynamic and the winemaking is natural. But there's nothing pretentious here. Just pure, natural wine from hand-harvested fruit, fermented with wild yeasts and bottled without fining or filtration. Even the price is as far as you can get from snob appeal.

It’s tempting to keep this article short because people will buy this wine almost no matter what we say here. But we are here to educate as well as to sell, so we thought it would make sense to take a couple of paragraphs to remind everyone why it is that Gonon is so well loved.

For years we’ve heard your complaints, and we’ve done plenty of the same sort of grumbling ourselves. Yes, we love California artisanry, and we think it is a huge improvement over industrial production that has long dominated – and still dominates – our state’s wine industry. But those artisanal wines are so expensive! Yes, most of us are happy to spend $30, or even far more, for a great bottle of wine. But what about something simple and inexpensive? Do we really have to turn to industrial concerns to provide them?

No we don’t. There is just starting to emerge a new class of wine in California that may be the most exciting of recent trends.  New wineries with true artisanal spirits are making everyday, affordable wines. One of the best we’ve come across is Valravn.

Why aren’t there more Valravns out there? Probably, it’s because producing wine this good for such a low price is really hard. It takes a force of nature. Someone like proprietor Baron Ziegler, the kind of guy who bought Bordeaux futures when he was 15 and then flipped them for enough profit to make his first real estate purchase. Baron already had several wine projects behind him (he started Banshee for example) before he founded Valravn.

Their 2023 Sonoma Pinot Noir is a shockingly good under $20 value. It delivers juicy fruity freshness with an undertone of Pinot “earth”. It’s the kind of simple, joyful wine that makes up a big part of day-to-day life in European wine regions (think Dolcetto) but that is just not a big enough part of our culture here. 

We are so happy that, just maybe, it’s becoming a thing:

Valravn Sonoma County Pinot Noir 2023 - $19.99

 

This story was originally featured in our newsletter, where it was offered at a special subscribers-only discount. Subscribers get special offers, the first look at new discoveries, invites to events, and stories about wines and the artisans that make them.

This story was originally featured in our newsletter, where it was offered at a special subscribers-only discount. Subscribers get special offers, the first look at new discoveries, invites to events, and stories about wines and the artisans that make them.

The historic Burgundy figure Jean Gros had numerous children. Under French law, property is divided equally among one’s offspring. So Jean had a problem: each child would inherit a parcel of Burgundy that was too small for efficient wine production.

Jean had a solution to this problem: the Hautes Côtes de Nuits.

In fairy tales, there are often young men who go out to seek their fortune, a sack on their back. Sometimes, in the world of wine, it happens in real life. This is the story of Manuel “Manu” Michelini.

Back when the less adventurous voices of the wine world confidently proclaimed that Georgian wine would "never" be a thing, that Movia was "too weird" and skin-contact white wine was "too niche" (seriously), we already knew Radikon was something special, authoritatively defining an emerging category. And as we've watched orange wine's popularity skyrocket, with producers around the world crafting their own versions to varying degrees of success, Radikon has never, ever let us down.

In Champagne, everyone talks about their "mastery of blending." But few take it to the level of Eric Rodez. After eight generations in Ambonnay and a stint as chef de cave at Krug, Rodez doesn't just blend different vintages and varieties – he maintains 15 separate perpetual reserves (like a complex sourdough starter, but for Champagne) to create layers of complexity that seem impossible.

Every now and then, we drink wine that makes us remember why we first fell in love with white Burgundy. No, we’re not talking about a Corton Charlemagne or a Batard Montrachet. It is no mystery that those wines are great.

We’re talking about village white wine from one of the great Chardonnay villages of the Cote d’Or: Chassagne Montrachet.