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Daily highlights, recent releases and top picks selected by our fine wine team, including direct allocations, private cellars and rare wines from the world’s greatest producers, with excellent provenance.
Campaigns
Grower Champagne is fast overtaking white Burgundy as a collectible favorite for regular consumption and has been vastly undervalued in the market, as many people are not yet familiar with all of the producers and their individual cuvees.
That has begun to change, as the major critics are now covering these wines with widespread interest.
Distribution is still fragmented though, and restaurantsommeliers (who often get the first look) tend to buy-up the available supply for their menu pairings and by-the-glass pours.
We are particularly interested in this category, which offers more quality-for-value and much greater long-term aging predictability than white Burgundy too.
For $40 – $80 / bottle, you have an enormous amount of food-friendly wines, with real depth and complexity, that will age and improve for 15+ years – read some of the reviews below, and see what the professionals say.
We’re pleased to offer a large selection of top-rated Champagnes, direct from the producer’s cellars and at very sharp prices.
Wines are subject to availability.
Henri Billiot, Nicolas Maillart, Ployez-Jacquemart, Rene Geoffroy, Vazart-Coquart
Grower Champagne The Selosse School and Beyond
David Leclapart: A Connoiseur’s Champagne
“As to the 2015s [in the North], this is a truly sensational vintage that should not be missed by any Rhone lover out there. Let me say that one more time: 2015 is a truly sensational vintage.
Nearly every appellation has produced profound wines and the vintage is almost universally loved by vignerons. Marcel Guigal told me it was the greatest vintage he had ever seen.
Across the board, the wines possess saturated purple colors (sometimes with hints of blue), thick, unctuous textures, beautiful concentration and ripe, yet present tannin. In addition, the wines retain a sense of freshness and purity. At this point, the 2015s show more flamboyance and sexiness than the 2010s (tannin levels are similar), with slightly more freshness than the 2009s.
A number of vignerons compared the vintage to 1990, but for those of us with shorter tasting histories, the vintage comes closest in my mind to a hypothetical blend of 2009 and 2010.”
– Jeb Dunnuck, Wine Advocate
Wines are subject to availability.
Courbis, Johann Michel, Emmanuel Darnaud, Coursodon
Beaucastel, Janasse, Clos St. Jean, Bosquet des Papes
Vaudieu, Clos du Caillou, Mordoree, Vieux Donjon
Clos des Papes
Rhone Valley 2015 A Very Very Good Vintage
“2016 Southern Rhone vintage is ‘heavenly’ and ‘truly profound’” – Jeb Dunnuck
With many new and highly anticipated releases now appearing, we are excited to move our focus from Chateauneufs very good 2015s to these ‘heavenly’ 2016s.
We commence our campaign with an old favorite; Grand Veneur, who have produced a fabulous set of wines. All are extremely affordable and hard to see a reason not to buy.
Jeb Dunnuck on the 2016 vintage:
“The wines are beautifully concentrated and structured – on par with 2010 – yet have a more open, sexy, voluptuous style due to the larger yields. The tannin quality is beautiful, the wines have notable freshness and purity, their alcohol is integrated, and quality is incredibly high across all the regions. In fact, the biggest surprise was the consistency of the vintage, which is even more homogenous than 2015. This is truly an extraordinary vintage.”
Wines are subject to availability.
Grand Veneur
Grand Veneur
Pierre Usseglio
Vieux Donjon
St. Prefert
“2015 is a genuinely great vintage and it’s a great vintage from top to bottom…[these] are wines to search out and acquire.
In fact, in all my years of visiting Burgundy I have never seen a better vintage for wines at the bottom of the appellation hierarchy. To be sure, it’s great at the top as well but if ever there was a vintage to explore for value, it’s this one.
There are many intriguing aspects of the 2015 vintage but arguably the most impressive is how fruit that was clearly very ripe and had very little in the way of malic acidity, managed to produce wines that are so remarkably fresh. Moreover, they do not drink like ‘hot vintage’ burgundies because they do not have particularly high alcohol levels, and the aromas, while definitely arising from the darker side of the fruit spectrum, are not roasted or particularly surmature.
So, as with every vintage, the two questions that take precedence over everything else always are: Should I buy the wines and if so, how much of them? As I observed at the very beginning of the 2015 vintage summary, the best wines are wonderfully refreshing, concentrated yet highly drinkable with solid but not aggressive tannic spines supplemented by sufficient but not high acidities. They are balanced wines built for medium to long-term aging yet should be reasonably approachable young if youthful fruit is your preference.
As to longevity, the average upper level 2015 is built for mid-to longer term (and in some cases, very long-term) cellaring though as I also noted, many wines will very likely drink well on the younger side. By contrast some 2015s are unapologetically built-to-age and will require a minimum of 15+ years of cellaring before they will be reach their apogees. Moreover, there is a not insignificant segment of the 2015s (mainly the grands crus) that possess the scaffolding to improve over a very long period of time, which is to say 20 to 30 years or in a few cases, even longer. In general I would say that the average 2015 is more structured than its 2009 or 2010 counterparts but somewhat less structured than its equivalents from 2005.”
– Allen Meadows, Burghound
Wines are subject to availability.
Ponsot, Vogue, Trapet, Groffier, Anne Gros
Michel Gros, Clos de Tart, Faiveley, Drouhin
Jadot, Harmand-Geoffroy, Albert Morot
Clos de la Chapelle, Pousse d’Or
Red Burgundy 2015 The Greatest Since the Legendary 2005 (UPDATE)
Maison de Partage is a unique portfolio of wines carefully selected and sourced straight from the cellars of top producers in Burgundy, with impeccable provenance.
Including:
Clos de la Roche, Latricieres Chambertin, Chambertin, Clos Vougeot, Chambolle Musigny Vieilles Vignes, Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Vieilles Vignes, Vosne Romanee Vieilles Vignes
Maison de Partage
Bordeaux produces a lot of wine. There is plenty of it in the market-place. With so much younger wine washing around in the market, we find it difficult to see any compelling need or urgent reason to buy wines prior to maturity. At Courtier we are still happy to advise our clients what to buy and often find rich veins of mature wines from our connections with excellent private cellars, but with younger vintages traded more or less as a commodity, we are wary of that market.
No Future in Futures!
Indeed the myopic and careless price inflation in the futures market, together with notorious and spectacular failures has made the ‘Futures’ or ‘En Primeur’ market redundant and totally irrelevant. Why anyone would still be willing and trusting enough to stump up cash two years in advance to a middle-man, in the vague hope that they will be getting some advantage in price or presuming superior provenance, is a complete mystery.
Ex-Cellars Direct
With several notable vintages now cheaper than their original en-primeur price, it is easy to demonstrate the lack of financial justification for buying futures, but there is still good reason to purchase wine at release because of the assurance of provenance. This can really be the only reason anyone would still consider a futures purchase.
However, at Courtier, we would like to bring our clients to a better way of buying Bordeaux.
By establishing strong links with well-placed negociants, we now have access to stocks of wine that are still lying in the cellars of the chateau, these reserves have never been moved and never released. These wines are generally several years older than the current vintage and no matter how confident any of us may be about how wines are handled in the market after release, the certainty and integrity of provenance that comes with an ex-cellars purchase is priceless.
The wines purchased in these offers generally come with some authentification and are imported directly to us in California by refrigerated sea freight, the gentlest and safest method of moving fine wine. They are stored at Courtier’s climate controlled wine storage until you are ready to take possession.
We aim to bring a series of these offers in this ‘campaign’ over the coming months.
Wines are subject to availability.
Cheval Blanc: Ex Chateau, direct from their cellars
The Finest 2000 Vintage Bordeaux Ex-Chateau: A Blue-Chip Refuge from Volatility?
Back to Bordeaux! Two Outstanding 2009s at Great Prices
Wines are subject to availability.
Wines are subject to availability.