February Adventures Club ~ Consistently one of the Loire’s finest Sauvignon Blancs

Fine, with bright acid, sleek silkiness, and great length, it is the most elegant of all of Thierry’s red wines.

Intensely dry and mineral, the structured Les Arceaux is a bottle to pair with a meal rather than to drink as an apéritif.

A cold glass hits the spot every single time, bursting over the taste buds with bright citrus, wild strawberry, and a juicy finish.

Tuscan Pinot Noir—or Pinot Nero, as it’s called there—has no right to be this good.

This wine marries the sunny influence of the south with chewy mountain tannins and a fresh streak of cool stone.

A single barrel was produced of this delicate, peppery, low-alcohol red from a forgotten grape variety. Serve chilled.

Old-vine Pinot Noir blended from several sites across Gevrey-Chambertin provides a textbook rendition of this village.

March Adventures Club ~ A longtime personal favorite for the weeknight go-to blanc, citrusy fresh with just the right hint of salted butter to round it out.

Durban does here what they do best, keeping the focus and precision of the terroir as well as loads of fruit and pleasure.

This low-alcohol, youthful bianco has a subtle, chalky texture you might find in much pricier French Chablis.

Muriel Giudicelli’s Patrimonio rouge is elegant, deep, bursting with ripe black fruits, silky smooth, and offering great length.

100% Carignan from very old vines with immense depth but the immediate drinkability of a Cru Beaujolais.

The flavors are mostly deep and dark—stones, licorice, black olive, and blackberry—but the frame is lithe.

You have never tasted Sauvignon quite like this.

While charming now, Le Coste di Monforte will reward you for many years to come.

The unique blend of Favorita, Moscato, Arneis, and Chardonnay is dry but not tart, fruity but not cloying, and held together with a gentle effervescence.

You’d be right to be skeptical of a Nebbiolo from Sardinia, but from a top-notch terroir high in the mountains, it is something else entirely.

Deep, concentrated, and refreshingly saline, this is like great Cornas with Mediterranean influences.

A nod to the island’s rich history of viticulture, the Général is simply a stunning bottle of white wine.

A gently flowery, low-alcohol white that presents a barely noticeable spritz.

Always a standout, it is lithe, racy, and elegant, while not lacking the stony backbone for which great Greve is known.

Crisp and lean with mouthwatering minerality, Nössing’s Riesling is one of great finesse and precision.

This full-bodied rouge, with notes of dark fruit and fragrant garrigue, is built for grilled lamb or pork chops.

This old-vine Carricante gets its luxurious golden hue from four days of skin contact, a traditional process on Etna that really brings out the distinctive scents of this special place.

A fleshy, full-bodied Sancerre with great freshness and the ability to age in bottle for a few years after release.

This cuvée is dark-fruited velvet in a bottle.

A blend of multiple grapes and multiple vintages crafted in a fresh, easy-drinking style.

This inky, chewy blend of Cannonau with the native Muristellu boasts a strikingingly wild perfume that soars from the glass.

This Pinot Blanc is weightless, sultry, and lengthy as the day is long.

Contrary to the usual rough and tannic reds of the far-reaching Côtes de Provence appellation, this is fresh and lively! A gem hidden in the hills.

If Hermitage were grown in the Provençal Alps...

A crystal-clear translation of the Kimmeridgian limestone of Chablis—Chardonnay the way it can only taste from these soils.

Already elegant, this Barolo shows astonishing poise and a different mesmerizing feature of its kaleidoscopic personality every time you take a sip.

A wine of striking finesse that shows off the crunchy red fruit, floral notes, and peppery spice typical of Pinot Noir from Burgundy’s far north.

A rosé made via ancient methods from ashy soils high on Mount Etna.

First, it is impeccable. Second, it does not exceed its appellation; it is not a substitute Romanée Conti; it is a perfect Côte de Nuits-Villages.

A delightfully crisp seaside quaffer that transports us to the Mediterranean coast with bright, lemony freshness and sea-breeze salinity.

Crystalline purity, mouthwatering salinity, and complexity without weight make this akin to an Alpine premier cru.?

Notes of Cassis, black cherries, and espresso draw you into the glass and keep you coming back to decipher what makes this cuvée and terroir so special.

It’s like Corsican Chablis: pure Vermentinu planted in seashell-encrusted limestone.

Lush with distinctive minerality and great nerve, this is an exceptional white Bordeaux value.

The Follin family’s reds are some of the most delicious I have tasted, none more so than their incredibly vibrant and pure Aloxe-Corton.

February Club Gourmand ~ Delicate, ethereal aroma—gently floral. Rose water, citrus zest, blood orange. Round and airy on the palate. Bright, clean, pure. Crisp finish.

You’ll find whiffs of both Burgundy and Barolo in this single-vineyard bottling from vines planted in 1930, but it is unmistakably Etna: smoky and suave.

Often featuring grand cru fruit, this bottling is arguably the ideal entry point to Boxler’s range of magnificent white wines.

Golden ripe Vermentinu berries are responsible for this fleshy, succulent dry white.

A complex blend of one part Niellucciu for structure, one part Minustellu for silky tannins, and one part Grenache for a splash of wild blackberry and sunbaked earth, there is both power and elegance.

If you’re like me, a glass of Corsican Muscatellu sparks visions of evening cheese plates laden with Marcona almonds and gemlike fruits.

Layered and textural, this tightly bound opus will open and unfurl itself with time, be it an hour in a decanter or decades in the cellar.

From vines that are more than eighty years old comes this Marsanne with magnificent floral, pit fruit, and bitter notes.

A delicate, aromatic red in the “drink now!” vein.

Imagine a red straddling the Loire, Médoc, and Madiran with Basque flair and a Pyrenean freshness. You’ll see that Irouléguy is in a world apart.

A generous wine dominated by ripe black fruit with very supple, approachable tannins.

February Club Gourmand ~ Reminiscent of ripe wild blackberries crushed on a hot stone, “Le Vin Coule” is utterly gulpable—give it a light chill and revel in this unique Corsican rouge.

The Chotards are some of the lucky few who have Sancerre parcels that are ideal for growing Pinot Noir, and theirs have been planted to Pinot for well over fifty years, so the vines are at full maturity.

A simply stunning white that seems to not just elevate the food on your plate, but your entire mood. Your surroundings will melt away as you get lost in your glass.

A stony, spicy cuvée full of Mediterranean sunshine, aromatic garrigue, and a hint of salinity that offers a perfect match for grilled rosemary lamb chops.

A full-bodied dose of Terrebrune terroir you can enjoy over the next thirty years.

Aligoté may actually be an even more precise conduit for Burgundian terroir than Chardonnay.

Redolent of almonds, honey, and a wide range of citrus, this kaleidoscopic Chenin finishes with a faint tannin, making it ideal alongside sushi, roast chicken, or a hard and flavorful cheese like Comté.

The Cuvée Sarah, an aromatic mix of roasted, smoking herbs with plenty of tannins to chew on, goes down with pleasure and calls for another round (and a grill).

The violets, tapenade, and juicy black fruit in your glass is much unchanged from how it’s always been (and should be).

A Corsican red from a rosé specialist.

This lithe and expressive “orange” wine is an ideal palate-opener with a dry, cleansing finish and a fresh, cooling effect like coastal sage and seaspray.

Fronholz’s vibrant mix of fruit and earth, flesh and structure, is Domaine Ostertag’s hallmark.

Sleek, crisp, light, and luminous, with a steely, saline finish.

A rare Jurassian specialty, this dessert wine is made from Chardonnay must and a neutral grape spirit, then aged for five years in barrel.

There is a crisp toffee-like nose on this wine that’s a hint reductive but attractive and explosive.

The blend is equal parts Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, and Clairette. Together, they create a wine that has a complex mouth-feel that finishes with a nice refreshing acidity.

The new vintage shows great freshness and brightness, making me think of tart berries picked in the forest just a touch below full ripeness.

March Club Bianco ~ Harvested early and fermented in stainless steel tanks to maintain a vibrant quality, balanced by lush notes of flowers, spice, and citrus that will pair well with any number of foods.

Lightly golden in color, it conjures up a day spent in the sun: seabreezes and ripe honeydew, including its subtle, savory rind.

Charly Thévenet and his father, Jean Paul, now bottle a range of five different wines in their cellars in Villié-Morgon

Though we’re firmly in Alsace here, it would be a fun nod to pair it with bœuf bourguignon on a cozy fall eve.

This bears a rich bouquet of wild strawberry, flowers, garrigue, and sweet spices, culminating in a long, stony finale.

Showcasing impressive texture and flavors of citrus, stone fruit, and spring flowers, this offers a great pairing for grilled fish or seared scallops.

Just different and obscure enough to deliver the thrill of introducing someone to a gorgeous wine that is familiar, but new.

That grapes can be cajoled and fashioned to make such a liquid is miraculous. This aroma is beyond belief.

Vauprin showcases Chardonnay’s ability to produce a wine that is simultaneously both round and taut in this mighty northern Burgundian terroir.

Displaying both the oyster shell quality we love about Chablis and the sunny orchard fruit notes that make Bourgogne blancs so delicious.

From the flowers on the nose to the fruit on the palate, and on through the succulent finish, it’s simply a joy to drink.

It has often been likened to a cross between Pinot Noir and Syrah: bright, elegant, and floral, with suggestions of wild fruit, blood, and minerals.

Gentle and refreshing on the palate, it boasts a delightful balance of stony minerality with luscious, almost honeyed fruit and flowery notes.

A terroir-driven rosé redolent of a Provençal summer with notes of thyme and white peach, and a mouthwateringly salty finish.

Genuinely reflecting the down-home, country soulfulness we love about the Languedoc.

Ready to drink tonight, it’s both elegant and eminently quaffable with explosive aromatics.

The Piccoli brothers farm their vines in the grand cru area of Bardolino, just southeast of Lake Garda, giving us an absolutely lip-smacking rosso.

An electric lightning bolt of Gamay from a steep, windy hillside.

Hailing from the rugged and windswept hills of Corbières, which teem with garrigue and olive groves, La Demoiselle delivers a glorious taste of the South.

This brisk, fizzy, stony nectar has an undeniable gift for bestowing unparalleled palate stimulation and mental reinvigoration.

March Club Chevalier ~ Brambly, vigorous, and gourmand with sour plum, fig and a touch of smoke.

Lime blossoms delivered via a lightning bolt of minerally refreshment.

An opulent, mouth-filling expression of granitic terroir, this bottling has the delicate floral nuances and fine-grained tannin that differentiates Fleurie from the other crus.

You’ll detect a steely quality on the finish, and the slightest hint of the petrol often associated with Riesling. Delicious!

Intense in both color and character, the most dense and vinous I can ever remember from this cuvée.

The grape is better known as the Loire Valley’s delicate, citrusy Muscadet, but grown in the land from whence it’s named, it takes on lovely length and texture.