Vincent Gaudry

To drink Vincent and Séverine’s Sancerres is to fall in love with wine all over again. Not the characterless, green Sancerres so loved in Paris, nor the tarted up, Kiwi-accented Sancerres found on shelves across Asia, and most definitely not the ‘prestige’ Sancerres which blight wine publications and blogs. The wines are unabashedly, nakedly honest, exemplary in a region filled with mediocre, pedestrian facsimiles.

So it’s a good thing that the love is requited – the 2011 Tournebride coos and makes all the other right noises, while the more grown up 2010 Melodie de Vieilles Vignes touches, soothes, and its sibling l’Esprit de Rudolf is even more tactile, caressing and caring. Then there’s the 2009 A Mi-Chemin, where words finally and always fail, just as they do when one is really in love.

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2010 La Jalousie

Jancis Robinson has just included Evelyne’s terrific 2010 La Jalousie in her 14 Jul Financial Times column on “25 winners at £10-30“. We have a bit left, and you can also drink it at DB Bistro. It’s a lovely petite Savennières, a wine we’re very fond of!

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Patience

Please do not order the 2010 Nicolas Joly Les Vieux Clos at a restaurant and send it back, claiming heat damage. The grapes were harvested at above 15° potential alcohol, went through a fairly hot fermentation, and spent time in oak barrels. Do not order such a wine if that is not what you want. If you don’t like the wine, just say so. Claiming it was heat damaged is ridiculous – the bottles in question were picked up from the estate in a reefer truck, flown in (covered by a thermal blanket to reduce temperature shock), transported to our temperature-controlled warehouse in a reefer truck, and from what I know, stored properly at the restaurant.

The 2010 does not have the freshness of the 2008 (and most likely never will), but it does have the exotic notes typical of the Joly parcels, and a fair measure of botrytis. Drink this wine with something strongly flavoured, and take time to savour it. Don’t be foolish and disrespectful.

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Kaiseke at Goto

Join us for an intimate lunch at Goto to try some of the new sparkling wines we have in stock: new champagnes from de Sousa and Laherte, and two Vouvray pétillants from Huet. Hisao Goto runs one of the best kaiseke-style restaurants in town, and we are delighted to be able to work with him for this lunch.

Owing to the nature of his cuisine, we won’t know the exact menu until closer to the lunch, but we will be pouring the ‘Les Empreintes’ and ‘Les Vignes d’Autrefois’ from Laherte, de Sousa’s excellent ‘Cuvée 3A’ and ‘Réserve’, and the 2007 and 2002 Huet pétillants (the latter a reserve release).

Venue: Goto, 14 Ann Siang Road (next to Screening Room)
Date: Sat 2 June 2012
Time: Staggered seatings from 12 noon onwards
Price: $150 nett per person

Please contact us if you would like to make a reservation.

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France portfolio updated!

You can download our latest portfolio, which includes wines from Huet, Vincent Gaudry, Benoît Courault and Château de Fosse-Sèche. Enjoy reading!

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Frost in the Loire – Touraine and Centre

Eastern Chinon was hit as well, we’re awaiting reports from our winegrowers. From what we know, it’s quite site-specific.

Report in French: La Revue du Vin de France

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Latour ceases en primeur sales

So Latour has announced that the 2011 vintage will be the last one it is releasing en primeur, and will henceforth only release vintages that it considers ready to drink. It’s too early to say whether this marks the end of the negociant system (which relies heavily on en primeur sales for cashflow), but we think it’s a move in the right direction. There are very few Bordeaux estates which deal directly with importers and distributors, preferring to work via negociants, but that’s an anomaly placed against the context of developments elsewhere – e.g. the rise of recoltants-manipulants in Champagne, domaine bottling in Burgundy and Barolo/Barbaresco, and importers working directly with wine estates.

Perhaps in a few years’ time we’ll be importing Bordeaux – there are two estates which we love, neither of which are first growths. Both make delicious, age-worthy and elegant claret, a rarity nowadays.

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Rhône tasting – early May

We are putting together a Rhône tasting (North and South) for early May. Once we have a finalised date and location, we’ll let everyone know.

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Drink more Beaujolais!

We don’t usually read Le Monde, but here’s an interesting article on the super-conductivity of Beaujolais. For the geekier amongst us, ArXiv has a great summary. We are somewhat surprised that a 2009 Beaujolais has the highest tartaric acid concentration (other grape varieties tested include Pinot Noir and Sangiovese, both of which can hit fairly high concentrations as well).

Electrifying Beaujolais!

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April Portfolio available!

We’ve just finished updating our portfolio and it is now available for download! Read about our favourite winegrowers, discover which wines to pair with roti prata, and see what we have available.

Portfolio – France April 2012 (PDF)

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