Characteristics: As a lover of the world's honeys and one whose honey is a fiber artist, it is no wonder I absolutely adore this wine. Chenin Blacn is at its best grown in the French village of Savennieres and to my mind makes up the jewel of the Loire's crown. Here Chenin speaks of its true character and beaqrs its soul: one of dry honeycomb and scents of wooly lanolin, of lime leaves and a polished texture braced by the scaffold of citrus-y acidity and haunting for its lingering finish. 13% alc by vol.
- wine tasting note by NDL, June 2012

100% Chenin Blanc. Slight aromas of green olives and apple. Great concentration and minerality in the mouth, green apple flavors with crisp acidity. The finish is long and lingering. This wine should last at least 10 years.
- wine tasting note by MN, 9/9/11

Characteristics: Here's Sauvignon Blanc a la Pouilly Fumé vines that are at last of an age to be admired by adults, but don't fool yourself; "vielle vignes" may refer to its mature vines but this is no spinister! No this is more of a young beauty whose golden sun kissed nonchalance and freckled cheek bones only fool one into feeling the same age at the same shining position in life. This Pouilly Fumé makes you feel young and reminds you why you fell in love with wine in the first place -for that siezing discovery of fresh joys, for great foods, and bright mineral Sauvignon Blanc rounded out with a touch of baby fat, lime leaves, and limestone, gunflint, lemon rinds and a haunting memory like that in Eric Rohmer's "Claire's Knee" -that French film "Le Genou de Claire". Buy a bottle and drink it while watching this highly acclaimed film.
13% alc by vol
-wine tasting note by NDL, June 2012

Characteristics: This aromatic, dry white has persistent perfumes and is quite beguiling on the palate. Oddly enough, the aromas remind me of white Burgundy. The texture of the wine on the tongue is both creamy and very mineral. It's all a rather unique sensory experience. This is a great foil for almost any dish—sushi or any rich fish, a creamy pasta dish or roast chicken. 60% Gros Manseng and 40% Camaralet.
- wine tasting note by JN, 9/9/11

Domaine Cauhape Jurancon Sec Chant des Vignes
60% Gros Manseng, 40% Camaralet harvested at the end of September. Situated in the southwest corner of France, the Jurancon region produces exceptional dry and sweet white wines. The introduction of Camaralet in the 2010 Chant des Vignes defines a new wine style. Combined with Gros Manseng it creates a vibrant, refined wine that is pure pleasure for the senses. Distinguished as an aperitif and a remarkable companion to shell fish, seafood and grilled fish.
Tasting notes from the winery

Characteristics: A delightful zippy citrus nose that invites you into a round mouth of juicy candied lemons. A mid palate with echoes of minerality and a finish with a pleasing acidity. On a hot summer day this wine is tantamount to dipping your feet in a cool lake. Refreshing and easy. (Alcohol 11.5%)
- wine tasting notes by TL, 4/13/12

Characteristics: 100% Malbec. Definitive Malbec from the hands of Chateau du Cedre. Cedrus shows the merits of varietal Malbec from Fance's southwest(vin de pays du Comte Tolosan). Hot and sunny, this region ripens the Malbec variety to a rich depth of blueberry and blackberry fruit, cloves and spice. A fragrant palate with a tannic flex reveals that a great house of Cahors is behind this full, fresh, and engaging varietal Malbec.
12.5% alc by vol.
- wine tasting note by NDL, June 2012

Characteristics: Sipping a Picpoul de Pinet is to peek into the Languedoc region of southeastern France and what it is they need in a white wine. Isn't it what we all need? Pinet is a designated commune in southern France that possesses many compliments to summer fare and bears many antidotes to summer hear. On a balmy day who doesn't enjoy fresh apples? Check. A sqeeze of lemon? Check. A light to medium bodied white wine? Yep. One to accompany a salad Nicoise? Absolutely. It's a thirst slaking white you could drink all damn day...and some days we do!
13.5% alc by volume
- wine tasting note by NDL, June 2012

Characteristics: Big, broad nose; masculine with huge meat aromas, meat with pan juices and porcini. Later there comes a home-made beef jerky aroma. Marvelous flavours, savoury and rich; lots of Syrah fruit but not so much black pepper as one might expect. In spite of the wine’s dimension there is fine balance and an uplifting finish. Really a wonderful wine. 13.5% alcohol. Note by LAC. January 3, 2012.

Characteristics: 85% Grenache, 15% Syrah.
This is classic Cotes du Rhone combining equal parts plum, spice, garrigue, and the fleurs de provence on both the nose and all over the palate long into the finish. This is just the red to set just about any table and a very pleasing discovery. 13.5% alc by vol.
- wine tasting note by NDL, June 2012

Characteristics: At the way top of La Roche de Vergisson at over 1,300 feet, this vineyard lies on a northeasterly slope of younger calcareous soil –only 160 million years old. Right from the very start you might guess this is declassified Pouilly Fuisse for its lovely fragrance, crispy citrus minerality, and an incredible texture that brings every scent into a flavor. Tasting with Eric in his cellar in February of 2010, my notes reveal my astonished joy at this affordable luxury, “already this has a delicious verve of rounded citrus as only Burgundy can do.” Tasting this a year on, my hopes are gratified by a truly remarkable wine: faint fennel, sappy lemon rinds, that varietal bruised apple, and well balanced a by piney rosemary nuance; this “Sur la Roche” is focused, lasting, and promising. Hard to believe but this will further improve with another 12 to 24 months judging by its texture, complete balance and evocative fruit and fragrance. Ever wondered what Pouilly Fuisse should taste like? Now you may know and for a song. Like this? 2008s of Macon are incomparably good and warrant your attention and some room in your cellar for the mid term. Next time try the Barraud’s Macon Chaintre –one of Eric Forest’s friendly neighbors who are also blessed with gifted plots. 13% alcohol by volume
Wine review by Nicholas D. Livingston, February 2011

Characteristics: Bright, fresh, and clean with a top note of watermelon near but not quite to the rind and replete with bright alpen strawberries –juicy fresh in the mouth, alive on the lifted and minty palate. As one with an appetite for food friendly wine and not looking for a stiff cocktail 12.5% is welcomed. In a world where few rosés are more than merely quaffable, this wine has presence, spice, texture and confidence –a delight! Welcome to Grenache Gris from the Languedoc Coast of Golfe de Lion.
Wine review by Nicholas Livingston, May 2012

Characteristics: Outstanding proof Chenin Blanc wields an exhilarating contribution to the scintillating world of sparkling wine! If mineral tension, fine bubbles, creamy texture, and layered length set Champagne apart from most other bubblies, then the time has come for such great dry sparkling Vouvray as this from Foreau to wile its way into you’re highest esteem. Orchard fruit of apple, quince, and pear balance a chalky mineral core and a nuanced depth of scents ranging from cider to lanolin -ah, as only Vouvray can! Foreau marries its inimitable tuffeau soils with the region’s signature grape in a holy matrimony unique to Foreau; this is absolute bliss.
Wine review by Nicholas D. Livingston, January 2012

Two Foreau Brut non-vintage? Yup, we love this wine. As it ages in our warehouse, temp-controlled as you probably know, it evolves a flattering, highly desirable richness. We want to drink this wine and for you to have access to it as well but wait. When it is just released its as crisp and lively as a champagne blanc de blancs; totally enervating. That is why we age some cases and buy Recently Disgourged “RD” just released wine to sell and drink as well. Who loves you, Baby?
- wine note by LAC, July 2010

Characteristics: Both fruit and perfume at first strike the nose with the gravitas that goes with the vintage and Puligny terroir but then… it exhales and smiles with the familiarity of a nobleman returning home to at last drop his shoulders and be himself among his family. Grilled papaya and confectioner’s sugar keep the nose from any robust mineral that might otherwise dominate and the palate is a mélange of textural fruit and fragrance. Perhaps this is Chardonnay’s darling side that packs fried chicken picnics for drives up the hills above Monte Carlo like Grace Kelly at her best in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief. Do you remember when she playfully asks Cary Grant what sort of piece he’d like “a leg or a breast?” Carillon’s 2009 is the cheery sort of Puligny that engages more than intimidates and wraps its arms about your neck making you feel like the only one in the world. “That’s warm, friendly France for you!”
Wine review by Nicholas D. Livingston, September 2011

Characteristics: Floral top notes twist into wafts of pepper and freshly sliced plums both red and black –and that’s just the beginning for this miraculous Saint Joseph… which is a sound reason to take pause in order to emphasize an extremely important point: though Saint Joseph (san zhoh-ZEHF) so often lives in the shadow of its solid and much more famous neighbors of Hermitage across the Rhone River to the East and the even more opaque Cornas to the South, it can be extraordinary and Gaillard’s wines arguably bear the mantle best. Through savory sweet scents with an energetic core of fruit, Gaillard’s Saint Joseph can be picked out of a blind lineup by its floral charms which hint at the garrigue of herbal aromas that combine to great effect with violets and rose petals high above the ripe, full bodied center and long into the finish. Syrah at this price point has no equal.
Wine review by Nicholas Livingston, March 2012

Characteristics: Deep and dark color heralds in an elegant and fragrant powerhouse of a sensory experience unique to this pocket of France's northern Rhone. And yet more robust and more expressive than many neighboring Crozes-Hermitage. This is a Syrah unique to France, limestone soils, 85 year old vines, steep exposure, 18 months in oak casks and unique to Guigal. Rich fruit, white smoke, a veritable hot house of blooming roses greet the nose. Garrigue fragrant hardwood, Japanese temple incense, nervy plum fruit and a well burnished texture embody rustic elegance that has not drunk the new world kool-aid of simply fruit and oak driven syrah. No, this is edging on the sublime and ripe for the table. 13% alc by vol.
- wine tasting note by NDL, June 2012

Characteristics: Deep red color, the nose is big spice and black pepper, very robust and full flavored, shows some berry and plum flavors, could cellar for 10 or more years, a classic blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre.
- wine tasting note by MN, February 2011

Characteristics: I have been drinking Patrick Javillier's reds for five or six years and his whites for twice that long. This wine marks a departure; it is made by his daughter who has taken on the winemaking with the reds. Her wines are nowhere close to masculine yet far less feminine than her fathers. There is appreciatively deeper colour with a smoky, spicy nose. The mouth is fleshy; red fruit, gooseberry, cranberry sauced but also marvelously balanced. A remarkable if slightly less familiar wine from this fine estate. Note by LAC. 11/07/2011.

Characteristics: Chateau L’Ermitage 2011 Costieres de Nimes
50% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre
Ah, this is a rosé that just calls out for a garden party! Here’s just the rosé for the deck or picnic or any other sun soaked afternoon. Fresh berries, bright texture, and an engaging balance of fresh fruit washing over the palate, this is a quaffing beauty to slake any thirst.
Wine review by Nicholas Livingston, May 2012

Characteristics: The Liger-Belair’s 2010 Moulin-a-Vent Vieilles Vignes delivers ripe, juicy black raspberry accented by smoked meat and brown spices. Saliva-including salinity; tingling berry tartness; and a faint tannic graininess all combine for an invigorating impression. The toasty and faintly caramelized notes from barrel are a bit less well-integrated than in the corresponding Les Rouchaux, though I am almost willing to overlook them in the interest of a substantial yet energetic overall effect. This might well integrate and pick up some polish in the back stretch of its elevage (in fact, there was talk of leaving it a bit longer in cask than its two siblings); and it might also want a year in bottle as well, before it really shows its stuff. I suspect it will be best drunk within four years, but there is of course no track record established yet for Liger-Belair Moulin-a-Vent.

Characteristics: Clos du Mont-Olivet Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2009 "Le Petit Mont" - Great Grenache based wines have a profusion of raspberry and rosemary. Add a top quality vintage and it just explodes with everything there is to love about these wines. Aromas of mushroom dust, au jus, raw rib eye steak, and wild raspberry. Absolutely seamless and incredibly sexy. Balanced and harmonious, and not showing any of the overblown aspects of many current CDP releases. Man oh man this is good. Second taste (five minutes later): this is opening up beautifully so. The complexity of the wine is showing in profound ways, with incredible detail and panache. Quite the wine.
Wine review by Jason Kallsen, January 2012

Characteristics: Le Rosé des Acanthes, Pays du Gard
50% Grenache, 30% Carignan, 20% Cinsault.
Dry, fresh, and polished. Floral, fragrant, and soft spoken with engagning phrases of strawberry dreams and a fresh melon acidity. This is an absolute bliss of discovery from the Gard Department ripe for grilling, picnics and exotic cuisine.
12% alc by vol
- wine tasting note by NDL, June 2012

Characteristics: From Burgundy’s southerly sloped granite Fleurie vineyards, “the queen of the Crus,” this land glistens in a coruscating pink granite. The wine has beautiful garnet color, this opens and carries on with peony floral notes, lush red berries, and orange rinds. Some of the fruit going into this is crushed under foot to prevent green tannin notes. Aged for seven months in 30% 2-5 year old barrels, this is well integrated and stylish throughout -from start to finish.
Wine review by Nicholas Livingston, April 2013


What ho! What have we here?! There are all sorts of red berry scents and floral top notes one anticipates from a top Fleurie, but a whole lot more. Something akin to pepper and meat pan juices on the nose with a rich expression and more textural albeit ripe tannin on a palate whose more masculine bone structure will cause a double take. This is the most serious Fleurie I've tried and yet it is still true to Fleurie! 12.5% alc by vol.
- wine tasting note by NDL, June 2012