The Modern and Traditional Red Wines of France’s Deep South

Stop by for a taste of Mas Amiel Maury that was aged in cask for a minimum of 20 years. We’ll also be pouring their inexpensive, dry, and earthy 2014 Côtes du Roussillon, cuvée “Vertigo”.

Mas Amiel is located in the Agly valley, in France’s Roussillon region. This is a land of sunshine (over 300 days per year) and schist soils that give the region’s wines a fresh touch. Since being purchased by Olivier Decelle in 1999, Mas Amiel has seen extensive renovation of their 400+ acres of centuries old vineyards, started using biodynamic farming practices, and have expanded the range of wines they offer.

Yields at Mas Amiel are quite small, ranging from 10–22 hectoliters/hectare, allowing for wines with greater depth and concentration. At harvest time, young and talented winemaker Nicolas Raffy will work with the vineyard manager to establish when each parcel is ready to be picked, ensuring the fruit has reached peak ripeness. Today, Mas Amiel is recognized as one of the top producers of both sweet and dry Roussillon wines.

The heart of the Mas Amiel range is formed by the traditional sweet fortified wines (Vins Doux Naturels). The Maury type is made by allowing fermentation to start, but then stopping it by adding alcohol, which kills the yeasts and leaves natural sugar in the wine, similar to Port production. Then comes the stage unique to Maury: the wine is placed into glass “bonbonne” demi-johns and left outside for a year. This is called Rancio and it causes an intentional oxidation. After that it goes into large oak casks, where it ages over many years. The result is a medium to full-bodied sweet wine loaded with notes of herb, figs, licorice, leather, and caramel, with a fresh acidity to balance out all those complex flavors. It’s a natural pairing for liver pâté, cured duck breast, and strong blue cheese.

We have the 100% Grenache non-vintage Maury 20 year (~$44). It’s a cask selection with the youngest cask being 20 years in age. We also have a few bottles of the 1985 vintage Maury (~$62). It’s made in the same way as the 20 year but the wine comes from a superb single vintage. If you think the 20 year is full-flavored, the vintage is bound to astonish.

Although production is still majority sweet wines, since purchasing the estate Olivier Decelle has put a focus on creating dry wines that emphasize the terroir of Roussillon. 2014 Cuvée “Vertigo” (~$16) is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Carignan elaborated from a selection of young parcels and raised in concrete vats to preserve its fresh fruit characteristics and it’s peppery, violet and blue fruit aromatics. In it you can taste the dry, rugged terrain of Mediterranean France.

Check out Mas Amiel’s website for more insight into their operation (plus pretty pictures).

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Posted on 2016.01.13 in France, Saturday Sips Wines, Languedoc-Roussillon  |  Read more...

Pure, Crystalline Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc from the Middle Loire Valley

Mix-and-Match any six or more Thierry Germain Saumur and Saumur-Champigny wines and receive 10% off.

Thierry Germain conjures heady and uncompromising wines from his 69 acre estate, Domaine des Roches Neuves, just south of the city of Saumur. This is the Middle Loire valley, known for its malleable limestone (tuffeau) that has been built into many a castle and cold, dark underground cellar. Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc vines love to feed on this stone, in the best hands producing wines of crystal clear purity.

Raised in Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux, at the family winery of Château Yon-Figeac, Thierry set out on his own at the tender age of 23 to make his name in the more challenging climate of northern France. Although receiving accolades nearly from the start, his winemaking style has gone through several stages of metamorphosis over the years, ultimately eschewing new oak and blowsy fruit for precision and sense of place. Thierry believes that the wines he has made over the past four vintages truly exhibit the highest expressions of Saumur.

We’re using the word “style” to talk about Thierry’s winemaking but the adjustment has really been about moving away from wines created in the cellar and toward wines created in the vineyard. The domaine has been certified biodynamic since 2002. Harvesting is done completely by hand in over 30 parcels, all of which are vinified separately with indigenous yeast. Yields are small and almost all of his wines are matured in larger casks, although he particularly likes the three-year-old barrels that he buys each year from the Burgundy producer Méo-Camuzet in Vosne-Romanée. Which is no surprise as one of Thierry’s goals is having his Saumur-Champigny rival the silky elegance of high level Burgundy.

We are offering 12 different cuvées from Domaine des Roches Neuves. The majority of the production is 100% Cabernet Franc classified as Saumur-Champigny. His base level wine (~$15) made from 25-year-old vines and tank-aged is a great introduction to the region and the estate that won’t break the bank. We’ll be featuring cuvée “Les Mémoires” (~$44) made from 108-year-old vines from a parcel overlooking the River Loire. And we were able to get our hands on a tiny amount of the amphora vinified and aged cuvée “Outre Terre” (~$53).

We also have a handful of his Chenin Blanc based white wines classified as Saumur, featuring the compelling cuvée “L’Insolite” (~$25) from 95-year-old vines grown on silex soil. Throw a few bottles of what Thierry Germain refers to as his Meursault into the cellar, cuvée “Clos Romans” (~$53) comes from an 11th century walled vineyard. With concentration and depth, it’s full of stone, slate, wool, and honey, yet somehow beautifully understated.

The majority of these wines will develop in a proper cellar for years if not decades to come. Stock up now before they reach the cult status/price of Clos Rougeard.

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Posted on 2016.01.06 in Saturday Sips Wines, France, Loire  |  Read more...

Spanish Wine Sale – All Bottles 15% Off This Saturday Only

With deep discounts on any Spanish wine in the shop, this Saturday, January 2, will be a great time to replenish the cellar, grab yourself a special bottle that has developed with some age, or just stock up on every day wines.

John Radford, author of The New Spain, makes the claim that Spanish wine is more vibrant, happening, and fascinating than it has ever been. We could not agree more.

Although Elie Wine Co. is first and foremost a French wine shop, we are fiercely proud of our thoughtful selection of Spanish wines that include everything from inexpensive, easy-drinking wines to cellar-worthy, world-class wines. It’s a selection with an emphasis on small producers that control the winemaking process from vineyard to bottle.

Like husband and wife team Enrique Basarte and Elisa Úcar of Domaines Lupier, who are farming old-vine Garnacha in the northern region of Navarra. More specifically, the cool and mountainous sub-zone of Baja Montaña, where wines can show harmony of ripeness and freshness with all the precision of an oceanic climate. Their 2011 “El Terroir” is a deeply colored wine with a crystal clear purity of fruit rarely found in Garnacha-based wines. Aromatically complex with layers of floral, berry, and spice – a sip is anything but jammy and practically begs another in short measure.

Like Englishwoman Charlotte Allen of Almaroja, coaxing glorious wines from rare and indigenous varieties in the savagely beautiful landscape of Las Arribes del Duero near the border of Portugal. She employs organic and biodynamic methods in the vineyards and the wines are fermented using indigenous yeasts. The base variety for the 2011 vintage is 65% Juan García, a low-growing bush vine native to the region that produces medium-bodied, brilliantly colored, and highly aromatic wines. Production is tiny with less than 300 cases of red and white “Pirita” produced.

Like another husband and wife team, Irene Alemany and Laurent Corrio, true garagistes producing a range of world-class wines in the Alt Penedès, the most inland and mountainous subzone of the Penedès wine region of Catalunya. The two are recognized as being among the top winemakers in all of Spain. All of their wines show classic French techniques expertly executed and a Mediterranean soul. Their top cuvée, Sot Lefriec, is much like a Premier Grand Cru Classé from Saint-Émilion. It is a blend of 50% Merlot, 30% Carinyena, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon from the miniscule yields of their very best parcels.

And many, many more.

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Posted on 2015.12.28 in Saturday Sips Wines, Misc Spanish, Spain DO, Penedes, Priorat DOQ, Ribero del Duero, Rioja DOC, Catalunya, Cigales, Bierzo, Sherry/Jerez, Cava, Montsant, Arribes, Navarra, Costers del Segre, Tierra de Leon, Ribeiro  |  Read more...

Exciting Grower Champagne

Wake up from your Holiday stupor with a tasting of some of the World’s finest Champagne. 10% off all Champagne this Saturday.

These wines are the work of passionate grower/producers who are deeply connected to the particularities of each of their vine parcels and believe that wine is made in the vineyard first. They craft Champagne that express terroir by rigorous work in the vineyards, picking fruit at its peak, and employing minimal intervention in the cellar. We have over 50 different world-class Champagnes in stock and we’ll be featuring bottles from some of the leading producers in the region, like:

Jean-Etienne Bonnaire works out of the Grand Cru village of Cramant. Cramant is known for its exceptional terroir for the production of Chardonnay and Jean-Etienne makes model Cramant Blanc des Blancs for the sensualist.

Fifth generation winemaker Alexandre Penet holds 15 acres of vines located across the Grand Cru villages of Verzy and Verzenay known for its Pinot Noir. His selections are a perfect introduction to the world of low dosage Champagnes.

Erick de Sousa biodynamically farms 23 acres, mainly prime plots in the foremost Grand Cru villages of the Côte des Blancs. Erick harvests as late as possible, believing it makes the wines richer. His wines can be easygoing yet profoundly delicious.

Intense and impeccable are the words most often used to describe the wines of father and son winemakers, Jean-Pierre and Raphael Bérêche. Their Champagne is known for concentration and purity of fruit with generally low dosage.

Ninth generation and biodynamic producer Éric Rodez farms a little over 20 acres in Ambonnay. Éric is a hardcore “terroirist” – believing Champagne should express the vineyards it came from.

There are many reasons to break out a bottle or two of Champagne but the holiday season seems to demand it. Whether it is for a gift, to pair with an elaborate meal, to ring in the New Year, or to christen the yacht that Santa left under the tree, we’ll have you covered with all levels of Champagne that speak of place and the singular aesthetics of the producer.

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Posted on 2015.12.21 in France, Saturday Sips Wines, Champagne  |  Read more...

The Quintessence of Côte de Beaune

Domaine Demougeot “Les Vignots” (Pommard, 2013) Red
$318/6-pack (~$53/bottle)

Rodolphe Demougeot’s star is on the rise. Based out of Meursault, since 1992 he has assembled nearly 20 acres of vines, many in distinguished Premier Cru vineyards of Côte de Beaune. Besides being full of richness and finesse, his wines are a superb value – at least for now.

As with all the best winemakers, Rodolphe believes that wine is made in the vineyard. No chemical herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers are applied. He follows the rhythm of the lunar cycle when moving his wines and making picking decisions. He plows his vineyards by horse to aerate the soils. Everything is done by hand and it shows in the wines.

Les Vignots vineyard is located on the northern edge of the commune abutting the Premier Cru vineyard of La Chanière. Here Rodolphe Demougeot owns a half-acre plot planted in 1983. Grapes are hand-harvested and sorted. Depending on the wine, up to two thirds of the grapes are vinified in whole bunches, which give a heady perfume to the finished wine, and add a bit of strength and firmness to the tannins. The wine is aged in barrels for 16 months, including 30% new wood, and then three months in tanks before being bottled by gravity according to the lunar calendar.

The result is gloriously pure Pommard. Well-muscled but lithe, with aromas of cocoa and tart cherries. Ideal for elegant parties or snuggling near a hardwood fire.

Also available are Rodolphe Demougeot’s Beaune “Les Beaux Fougets”, Savigny-lès-Beaune Premier Cru “Les Peuillets”, and Pommard Premier Cru “Les Charmots – Le Coeur des Dames”.

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Château de la Maltroye (Chassagne-Montrachet, 2014) White
$297/6-pack (~$49/bottle)

Jean-Pierre Cournut owns some of the best plots in Chassagne-Montrachet and is considered one of the finest producers in the village. We still have a handful of his red wine from the 2002 vintage and they are presently singing – a testament to the power and longevity of Chassagne-Montrachet in the right hands.

With cellars dating back to the fifteenth century, the domaine covers around 37 acres, the majority in the Premier Cru of Maltroie, including the walled Clos de la Maltroye that’s named after the Château. The domaine has enough vineyard holdings for two barrels per year of Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru as well as small Premier Cru plots in Les Grand Ruchottes and La Romanée, the former producing wines of steely minerality, the latter producing wines with a richness that rivals many a Grand Cru. We have a handful of each of these highly allocated wines also available at Elie Wine Co.

In the vineyards Jean-Pierre employs la lutte raisonnée (the reasoned struggle), intervening only when absolutely necessary to the health of the vines. Grapes are harvested and sorted by hand. The Chardonnay is slowly pressed using a pneumatic press and after low temperature fermentation transferred to barrel. The percentage of new oak varies depending on the appellation with wines seeing around 30% to 100% new oak aging depending on the potential of the vineyard.

Château de la Maltroye Chassagne-Montrachet is loaded with ripe yellow fruits and citrus. There is exceptionally good concentration for a village level Chassagne-Montrachet as the round and rich flavors possess impressive size and weight while retaining good balance and length.

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Posted on 2015.12.16 in France, Saturday Sips Wines, Burgundy  |  Read more...

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