Now through Saturday, April 1st, take 20% off dozens of selections from France and Italy.

We have been importing Corsican wines since 1981, when Kermit, armed with a list of potential producers from Domine Tempier’s Lucien Peyraud, first scouted the island.

Guy “Max” Breton, who has been making wine in Villié-Morgon since the late ’80s, is at the peak of his powers, drawing on decades of experience in combination with a handful of new appellations for inspiration. 

From Bandol to Tuscany, we have received dozens of exciting wines from many distinct regions in France and Italy.

Four Pinot Noirs from some of the wildest and most beautiful land in the Côte d’Or...

Thanks to their versatility at table, transportive aromatics, and uncanny ability to warm the bones as much as they refresh, Italian whites belong on everybody’s winter table. And if you’re still not convinced, treat yourself to some seasonal specialties from the sea like Dungeness crab or oysters on the half shell—so crisp and briny in the cool months—and see how they are flattered by any bottle in this collection. 

We often associate winter as a season for rich hearty food and wine, and rightly so. But if you’re feeling a bit contrarian, the season also has more than its share of delicate flavors that shine with a dry rosé.      

Our first-ever foray into the heel of the Italian boot might not be what you expect. It certainly wasn’t what I expected! I discovered a terroir perfectly suited to producing dry, aromatic white wines of character and freshness. Puglia is the likely birthplace of Italian wine (and, as follows, French wine!), with the vine originally traveling here via Greek settlers who crossed the Adriatic channel. Today it is the second-largest producer of wine out of Italy’s twenty regions. While the region is best known for inky, concentrated reds from grapes such as Primitivo and Negroamaro, the first KLWM Puglian imports are in fact white wines.

This collection includes a set of two bottlings (one for now, one for later) from six regions: Chardonnay from Burgundy, Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley, Marsanne from northern Rhône, Gamay from Beaujolais, Nebbiolo from Piedmont, and Sangiovese from Tuscany. While every bottle is enjoyable right now, each set features one example meant for immediate consumption and one capable of significant aging. 

This kind of “overachiever”—a wine that delivers the elegance, complexity, or flat-out deliciousness regularly displayed by bottles much more expensive—isn’t limited to any price category. My colleagues and I have been as enamored in recent months with $19 Dolcetto from northwestern Italy as we have with soulful grand cru Saint-Émilion.

The only thing we like better than great wine is great wine that doesn’t cost much and we’re happy to report that a bottle of great wine can still be found for $20 or less.  We’ve put together a collection of our favorites all in one place for your browsing pleasure: bargain whites, rosés, reds, and a couple of sparklers.