After leaving Chablis, Richard Rottiers traveled to gain winemaking experience is South Africa, New Zealand and the sourth of France. Back to France he started his domaine in Beaujolais, purchasing very old vines in the Moulin a Vent appellation and converting to organic agriculture.
Today he owns 5ha of vines and makes fresh, pure and red fruit driven Beaujolais, with a good concentration and structure to evolve in bottle.
Once a supplier of bulk grapes and wines to Maison Louis Latour, Jean Pierre Latour decided to step up its vine growing and winemaking techniques to make its own wines, and has now reach an exceptional quality across its range.
From it's Bourgogne Chardonnay to Meursault Perrieres, Latour Giraud is now a name to be aware.
The vines are grown organically, and the wines whole bunch pressed, barrel fermented and barrel aged for 12 months in around 25-35% new oak.
In the heart of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Didier Vergnon and his son Clement are the 4th and 5th generations to lead this small 5 hectare estate.
All the cuvees are 100% Chardonnay (blanc de blancs), sourced from their own vineyards in the Grand Cru Vineyards in the Cote de Blanc.
Low dosage across the range endows this true expression of typical terroir, vivacity, and nerve combined with the unique finesse of chardonnay.
This is highly recommended for the Champagne fans looking for high quality blanc de blancs.
Mother Rock is a project developed by Johan Meyer and Ben Henshaw (Indigo Wine - UK).
The idea behind Mother Rock is to make "terroir focused" wines that are sourced from vines grown in a variety of of soil types and made with minimum intervention in the winery.
Mother Rock and Force Celeste offer great concentration and flavor whilst remaining elegant and light bodied. These are well made natural wines with accessible prices.
Producing organically grown single vineyards Pinot Noir, from multiple sites with various soil types, Johan quickly became one of the most interesting names for Pinot Noir in South Africa. His gentle extraction technique and previous experience in New Zealand and Santa Barbara allowed him to manage color, tannins, and oak use with great precision, delivering wines that are not only light in alcohol level, but also elegant and truth to its fruit character.
Productions are very small and yields are similar to some of the lowest yields from Burgundian producers.
The wines are fermented naturally with 100% whole clusters, and with one punch down performed daily for color and tannin extraction.
Those are great quality wines, that will surprise most of the pinot noir fans.
This famous Bolgheri estate was founded in 1981 by Marchese Ludovico Antinori trying to follow a similar path to the project that his uncle Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta was successfully managing also in Bolgheri, the Tenuta di San Guido, with the iconic Sassicaia.
The estate has been recently working towards sustainability certification, renewable energy sources, lighter glass bottles to reduce its carbon footprints.
The very first reference to Clos des Lambrays traces back to the fourteenth century. After the French Revolution, the Clos was sold in parcels and became extremely fragmented.
Multiple owners helped to put the plots together in the end of the 19th century and begining of 20th century. The Clos was finally promoted to Grand Cru in 1981.Vega Sicilia has stood out since it was founded in 1864 under the name Bodegas Eloy Lecanda, when it was the only winery at the heart of Castilla region. They were rewarded at the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, an unprecedented feat for a Spanish wine. The Alvarez family acquired Vega Sicilia in 1982 and from 1983 started converting it to biodynamic.
Vega Sicilia celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2014, and it's one of the most wine producers in Spain.
Holger Koch, once cellar master at Fritz Keller, has run his own small, eight-hectare property in Kaiserstuhl (Baden) since 1999.
His vineyard management is virtually organic, and profiles of the wine favor a refreshing and finessed, elegant style of Pinot.
