Friday Newsletter 5-1-2020

Newly Reviewed & In Stock Now:

“Emphasizing old vines, low yields and ripe grapes, these Champagnes [from Pierre Gimonnet] are site-driven wines…” – William Kelley, Wine Advocate

Pierre Gimonnet et Fils Blanc de Blancs Cuis Premier Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ML ($59.95) $49 special, 10 bottles in stock now
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 91 points “Disgorged in July 2019 with six grams per liter dosage, the latest rendition of Gimonnet’s NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Cuis is based on the 2016 vintage, complemented by some 30% reserve wines matured in magnum. Offering up aromas of citrus oil, fresh peach, clear honey, white flowers and oyster shell, it’s medium to full-bodied, pillowy and elegantly fleshy, with crisp acids, elegant mousse and chalky back-end grip. Amounting to some 130,000 bottles per annum, this is Gimonnet’s largest cuvée by some margin.”

Bereche et Fils Brut Reserve, Champagne NV 750ML ($49.95) $40.90 special, 6 bottles in stock now
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 92 points “The latest release of the NV Brut Réserve was disgorged in October 2019 with seven grams per liter dosage, and it’s based on the 2017 vintage. Exhibiting a glass bouquet of citrus oil, oyster shell, fresh peach and toasted nuts, it’s medium to full-bodied, racy and tensile, with lovely depth and concentration, fine energy and a long, penetrating finish.”

This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The average price is $52

Newly Reviewed & Arriving in May

Pierre Gimonnet et Fils Chouilly Grand Cru Special Club, Champagne 2012 750ML ($169.95) $138 pre-arrival special, only 5 bottles available!
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94 points “Produced exclusively from lieu-dit Montaigu in Chouilly, which represents some 30% of the regular Special Club bottling from Gimonnet, the 2012 Brut Special Club Chouilly Grand Cru is showing very well, revealing aromas of peach, pear, warm bread and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, textural and enveloping, it’s intense and racy, with lovely concentration and chalky structure.”

Pierre Gimonnet et Fils Cuvee Fleuron Premier Cru Brut Millesime, Champagne 2010 750ML ($79.95) $66 pre-arrival special, only 6 bottles available!
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 92 points “The 2010 Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Fleuron included some wine from Oger—which Gimonnet has subsequently eliminated from the blend, feeling it matures too fast and dominates the style of the blend. Offering up aromas of pear, peach, wheat toast and mandarin, it’s medium to full-bodied, rich but incisive, with a youthfully frothy mousse and a saline finish.”

Pierre Gimonnet et Fils Blanc de Blancs ‘Millesime de Collection Vieilles Vignes de Chardonnay,’ Champagne 2008 1.5L ($349.95) $299 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 95+ points “Released only in magnum, the 2008 Brut Millésime de Collection Vieilles Vignes is the same wine as Gimonnet’s Special Club, bit it sees more than 10 years sur lattes before disgorgement. Unwinding in the glass with a deep and complex bouquet of pear, green apple, citrus zest, oyster shell, smoke and pastry cream, it’s full-bodied, chalky and incisive, with terrific depth at the core, promising reserve and a long, resonant finish.”

“The essential point of Aubry is to limn the very fine line between a kind of country classicism and an absolute embrace of the avant-garde… When I first introduced the wines I was thrilled to highlight all the heirloom varieties, and the many ways Aubrys were true originals. I still am, and they still are.  But what’s striking me more and more of late is the dignity these wines have been showing. My marketing side—as pathetic as that is—keeps wanting to be playful about the novelties of the wines, but my human side keeps pausing before them, noticing their basic and unfussy truths.” –Terry Theise

Aubry ‘Sable’ Premier Cru Brut Rose, Champagne 2014 750ML ($119.95) $99 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 93 points “Disgorged in October 2018, Aubry’s 2014 Brut Nature Rosé Sablé Premier Cru is showing very well, wafting from the glass with a complex bouquet of oatmeal, fresh peach, woodsmoke, orange oil and dried linden blossom. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, vinous and crisply textural, with racy acids, a delicate low-pressure mousse and a long, penetrating finish. While I found the 2013 rendition—reviewed last year—a little austere, the more generous 2014 vintage is more naturally giving and inviting in the wine’s chiseled, bone-dry register. A saignée of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier gives the wine its color and amounts to some 30% of the unusual blend, complemented by fully 20% Arbanne and 25% Petit Meslier, the balance coming from Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay.”

This is the lowest listed price on the West Coast!

Aubry ‘Ivoire et Ebene’ Premier Cru Brut, Champagne 2013 750ML ($59.95) $49 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 93 points “Offering up a lovely bouquet of blanched almonds, citrus oil, white flowers and subtle hints of peat, Aubry’s 2013 Brut Ivoire et Ebene is medium to full-bodied, taut and incisive, with racy acids, a vibrant core of fruit and a penetratingly saline finish. The wine’s delicate, low-pressure mousse sets off its racy profile to fine effect. This new release was disgorged in November 2018.”

This is the lowest listed price on the West Coast!

Aubry Le Nombre d’Or Sable Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne 2013 750ML ($99.95) $79 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94 points “Disgorged in April 2019, Aubry’s 2013 Brut Nature Sablé Blanc de Blancs Le Nombre d’Or Campaniae Veteres Vites is showing well, opening in the glass with scents of grapefruit oil, white flowers, crisp green apple and rock salt. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, vinous and elegantly textural, with terrific tension at the minimalist but multidimensional core, ripe but racy acids and a mineral finish. As usual, this represents an unusual field blend of 25% Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc, 25% Petit Meslier, 20% Arbanne, 20% Pinot Noir and 10% Chardonnay.”

Aubry ‘Aubry de Humbert’ Premier Cru, Champagne 2012 750ML ($79.95) $59 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94 points “Disgorged in December 2018, the 2012 Brut Aubry de Humbert opens in the glass with a lovely bouquet of lemon oil, orange zest, honeyed pears, fresh pastry and brioche. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, tensile and incisive, with a concentrated and tight-knit core, brisk acids and a delicate low-pressure mousse. Long and penetrating, this will really unwind with time on cork, even though it’s already approachable today.”

This is the lowest listed price on the West Coast!

Based in Vertus, Doyard specializes in Chardonnay-based Champagne from their villages and a few neighboring towns—all of which are some of the best places to grow the grape in the world.  With holdings in Avize, Mesnil and Cremant, as well as Vertus, their wines have the chalkiness and precision that we always look for in Cotes des Blancs Champagne.

Doyard Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut, Champagne 2008 750ML ($119.95) $89 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 96 points “Disgorged in October 2018 with three grams per liter dosage, the 2008 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru goes from strength to strength, soaring from the glass with aromas of almond paste, buttered citrus, verbena, crisp white peach, gingerbread and a subtle hint of olorosso sherry. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a racy spine of acidity, superb tension at the core and a long, saline finish. This is produced from Doyard’s finest grand cru holdings, mainly in Avize, and derives from just the first and second press, not even all the cuvée.”

This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The average price is $104

Doyard Clos de l’Abbaye Premier Cru Extra Brut, Champagne 2013 750ML ($119.95) $99 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 96+ points “Disgorged in March 2019 with two grams per liter dosage, the 2013 Extra-Brut Premier Cru Clos de l’Abbaye is brilliant, mingling notes of citrus oil, peach and pear with hints of wheat toast and walnuts in an incipiently complex bouquet. Full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, the vintage’s racy acid spine is cloaked in a textural, enveloping core of fruit, concluding with a long and resonant finish. This derives from a walled 40-are plot of 60-year-old cordon-pruned vines just behind the winery in Vertus; only the first press juice is used. This is a strikingly good Champagne.”

Newly Reviewed & Arriving in June

Benoit Marguet is one of the hottest names in Champagne. A young grower who is one of the leading voices for organic and biodynamic farming (in a region that’s not exactly known for progressive attitudes towards agriculture), his single-parcel wines have attracted attention of Michelin starred restaurants across Europe.  These are wines that are rich across the palate yet incredibly mineral and precise in their flavors.

Marguet Pere & Fils ‘Sapience’ Premier Cru Extra-Brut, Champagne 2009 750ML ($269.95) $179 pre-arrival special, only 21 bottles available!
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 96 points “This is the fourth vintage of Benoît Marguet’s Sapience, Champagne’s first organic prestige cuvée, which he began producing before he took over his family vineyards, using purchased grapes: Bouzy Pinot Noir from  Benoît Lahaye, Cumières Pinot Meunier from Vincent Laval and Trépail Chardonnay from David Leclapart. Disgorged in June 2019 without dosage, the 2009 Brut Nature Premier Cru is showing brilliantly, wafting from the glass with a complex bouquet of citrus oil, dried orange peel, white flowers and subtle hints of praline. Full-bodied, layered and textural, it’s seamless and complete, with a deep core, ripe but racy acids and a long, intense finish.”

This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The next best price is $274 
Yup, we’re almost $100 below the next best price…!!!

 

Please note that some producers release several disgorgement dates of the same wine or will offer slightly different disgorgements to our excellent Oregon-based importers. Thus, reviews for vintage and non-vintage Champagnes may show different disgorgement dates than the bottles, but are only listed above if the base wine(s) are the same.

Leonetti is always one of our most anticipated offers of the year.  The winery is one of the two or three most collectible in Washington and they’ve been a standard bearer in both quality and scarcity for decades.  These are powerful, bold reds with a long track record of ageability and complexity.  From their iconic Reserve bottling on down, each of these wines is one of the pinnacles of their categories.

Because we’ve been selling the wines for over a decade and so get a healthy allocation—by Leonetti standards.  That’s to say that there are no more than twelve bottles of any of these trophies (plus a mere twelve bottles of the Figgins Estate red featured alongside).  Washington collectors shouldn’t dally—normally these wines sell out in a flash and these will be no different.

Leonetti & Figgins Wines Arriving Friday, May 8th:

Only twelve bottles available!
Leonetti Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla Valley 2017 750ML ($149.95) $119 pre-arrival special
Jeb Dunnuck 97 points “Lots of cassis, camphor, spice, and violets notes as well as background oak emerge from the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, which is all Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 22 months in new barrels. With full-bodied richness, awesome purity of fruit, and a powerful, mouthfilling style, it’s in the top two or three Bordeaux blends in the vintage. Give this remarkable 2017 3-5 years of bottle age, longer if you can, and it’s going to be very long-lived. There are 2,863 cases produced.”

Only six bottles available!
Leonetti Cellar Merlot, Walla Walla Valley 2018 750ML ($119.95) $99 pre-arrival special
Jeb Dunnuck 94 points “Already bottled, the 2018 Merlot comes from a mix of vineyards in Walla Walla (Loess, Mill Creek, and Leonetti) and spent 15 months in new and once-used French oak. Juicy, vibrant, and pure, yet also with plenty of power, it is loaded with ripe currants and black cherry fruit as well as notes of chocolate, leafy herbs, and graphite. Rich, full-bodied, and concentrated, with ripe tannins, it’s a rocking Merlot that’s going to benefit from just a year or two of bottle age and drink brilliantly for 8-10 years.”

This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!

Only six bottles available!
Leonetti Cellar Reserve, Walla Walla Valley 2017 750ML ($219.95) $179 pre-arrival special
Jeb Dunnuck 97+ points “I had two off bottles of the 2017 Reserve, both showing huge volatile acidity, yet I had two great bottles as well, which are represented by this note. A blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Petit Verdot, and 10% Malbec, all aged 22 months in new barrels (as well as some neutral oval botti), it reveals a stunning bouquet of lead pencil shavings, toasty oak, incense, and dried tobacco, and it’s complex, nuanced, and layered aromatically. There’s not a hard edge to be found in this deep purple-hued effort, which offers the essence of blackberry liqueur fruits as well as full-bodied richness, beautiful concentration, and an opulent, expansive, yet precise mouthfeel. Made in a more elegant style than the 2015 and not far off the magical 2016, it’s going to benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and should have 3-4 decades of overall longevity.”

This is the lowest listed price on the West Coast!
The average price nationally is $187

Only six bottles available!
Leonetti Cellar Sangiovese, Walla Walla Valley 2017 750ML ($119.95) $95 pre-arrival special

Only twelve bottles available!
Figgins Estate Red, Walla Walla Valley 2016 750ML ($119.95) $99 pre-arrival special
Jeb Dunnuck 98 points “Winemaker Chris Figgins has produced one of the wines of the vintage and his 2016 Estate Red Wine checks in as a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot that spent 23 months in 50% new French oak. It offers a deep ruby/purple color as well as a killer bouquet of crème de cassis, toasted spice, tobacco, and earth. Incredibly pure, full-bodied, and layered on the palate, it’s a magical wine that has no hard edges, building tannins, and a gorgeous finish. It’s the finest wine under this label to date.”