“Eau de Roche,” wrote an astute and quite early wine writer to describe Chablis…back in 1328! Sounds like people have been pitching Chablis on its rocky minerality for at least 697 years now. Note, though, that in 1328 Europe was in the midst of what’s been called the “Little Ice Age,” so perhaps Chablis tasted like rock and not much else. The year 2023 was anything but an ice age in these parts, and the sun shines through in this Vaillons. It still has the stone for sure, but layered with lemon curd and almonds, and is just a pure joy to sip, as Savary always is.

Two From Roland Lavantureux

Roland Lavantureux, whose name still graces the label, is one of those vignerons who “retired” long ago but whom you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere other than the vineyards working the day away. It’s a true vigneron’s happy spot. Roland’s sons, David and Arnaud, are hardly new arrivals to the estate, having been at the helm for fifteen years already. Why then, I asked them recently, don’t they put their name on the label? “Everything we have here is thanks to Roland. He built this slowly, with hard work over four decades, and handed it all to us, with full confidence and independence to continue as we please. It was Domaine Roland Lavantureux before, it is now, and it will be forever, out of respect.” Now those are grateful children!
     Check out the fruits of Roland and sons’ labor in these two takes on premier cru Chablis. The Vau de Vey is famously steep (over 50% incline in parts—so we are in black diamond ski territory here) and worked exclusively by hand year-round. It also happens to be east-facing, which provides a nice citrus intensity and focus up front, with the signature Lavantureux unctuous finish thanks to long aging on lees. The Beauroy, the yin to the Vau de Vey yang, is from a full south-facing slope and allows us to venture to some lovely exotic fruit tones wrapped up in a wonderfully rich and silky structure.

Here in California where I grew up, pizza used to be a tough crust oozing with the cheapest cheese money could buy and a tomato sauce so raunchy it took a dose of macho red wine to wash it down. Cleanse the palate, as we gourmets say today. But the pizza scene has evolved, and I’m here to suggest that nowadays certain rosés can be perfectly appropriate with pizza. No, I’m not talking about those faceless rosés that flood the market. Here at 1605? At Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant? Where have you been? While almost no one was looking, there was a teensy swell of revolution in a few French wine cellars, an experiment to try to recreate what rosé used to be before the wine scientists fangled up the rosé winemaking recipe. As importers, KLWM encouraged that budding revolution and we are seeing occasional bottled results to offer for your approval and enjoyment at table.
     For one thing, these are rosés that, like all red wines, finish their malolactic fermentation. It is not artificially blocked as it is in 99.9% of rosé wines. Most are bottled without filtration. Bottled intact, in other words. They ferment completely dry, can be light or full-bodied, and often they offer more tannin than we’ve learned to expect, a tannin that can come in handy with a classic pizza. Some look like rosé but have a purple heart.
     I find them interesting gastronomically, because they don’t overpower the taste of whatever you serve. And of course, imagine how useful they are if, like me, you don’t always want white wine with fish.
     Our stocks change. These are not assembly-line productions. Nor are they like Beaujolais Nouveau with a given release date. And I don’t want to forget mentioning, these rosés are totally appropriate during all four seasons. A Vivaldian wine, anyone?
     Drop by to talk to our staff or call 510.524.1524. In the kitchen and at table, I’m having a lot of fun with these precursors. They are paving the way for the success of a more natural, old-fashioned style rosé vinification. It’s like a new toy. Here are some great rosés available now and there will be more as time goes by.

Beaujolais may be a lighter wine, but we at KLWM don’t take our Beaujolais lightly! Our appetite for bright, pure-fruited Gamay has been insatiable ever since Kermit’s first trip exploring the region in 1974. It has been our joy to introduce you to benchmark domaines such as Lapierre, Foillard, and Château Thivin, and now there is a new name to remember from these undulating hillsides north of Lyon.
     Paul-Henri Thillardon often worked in his family’s vines in the southern Beaujolais as a kid, and aspired to one day make his own wine. At age twenty-one, he purchased a small vineyard in the cru of Chénas, seeing potential in an appellation that lacked the superstar talent of nearby Morgon and Fleurie. It wasn’t easy at first: “Paulo” didn’t know anybody and slept in the back of his car, parked amid the vines, while he struggled to make ends meet.
     He farmed organically from the start and soon became exposed to the world of natural wine, eagerly soaking up advice from mentors such as Guy Breton, Jean-Louis Dutraive, and Yvon Métras. As the budding vigneron began to find his feet, he seized an opportunity to purchase an old farmhouse surrounded by stubby centenarian Gamay trunks on the upper slopes of Chénas. Paul-Henri’s sister and two brothers soon joined him at the domaine, and today the Thillardon siblings have increased their holdings to ten hectares on a polyculture farm featuring cows, pigs, and a horse trained to help them work their steep hillside parcels.
     The Thillardons have carved out a niche across the varied terroirs of Chénas, the smallest of Beaujolais’ ten crus. They also tend some vines in neighboring Moulin-à-Vent, giving them a wide palette of soils, exposures, and elevations with which to play.
     In the cellar, Paulo has adopted time-tested methods pioneered by Jules Chauvet and Morgon’s Gang of Four to yield Beaujolais with vivacious fruit and a strong soil signature. Fermentations are 100% whole-cluster with native yeast, and he bottles unfiltered with little to no sulfur. It’s no wonder the Thillardons have earned a reputation for their explosively fresh, low-alcohol, irresistibly silky expressions of Gamay from a previously unheralded corner of Beaujolais’ crus. The purity and vibrancy of their cuvées put them in elite company with the region’s most talented vignerons, brilliantly utilizing natural methods to create terroir-driven wines full of pleasure and conviviality.