France

• Alsace
• Bergerac
• Bordeaux
  • Barsac
  • Bordeaux Supérieur
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  • Graves
  • Haut-Medoc
  • Listrac
  • Pauillac
  • Pomerol
  • Saint Emilion
  • Saint Estephe
  • Saint Julian
  • Sauternes
• Burgundy
  • Beaujolais
  • Bourgogne
  • Chablis
  • Côte de Nuits
  • Mercurey
• Cahors
• Champagne
• Cognac
• Corsica
• Gascony
• Jura
  • Arbois
• Languedoc-Roussillon
  • Minervois
• Loire Valley
  • Bourgueil
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  • Muscadet
  • Mont Louis
  • Sancerre
  • Saumur
  • Savennières
  • Touraine
  • Vouvray
• Rhone (Rhône)
  • Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  • Cornas
  • Crozes-Hermitage
  • Gigondas
  • Hermitage
  • Lirac
  • Saint Joseph
• Provence
  • Bandol
• Savoie
• Tavel

With most of my favorite Chablis producers now selling their wines for (well) north of $100 per bottle, Dampt has become one of our go to Chablis.  Golden in color, clear and bright.  The nose is slightly chalky with some minerality and slight lemon.  Also some salinity.  Full bodied.  Crisp acidity.  On the palate, lemons, chalk and minerality.  Long finish.  Delicious.  This drinks well but better with food.  Shellfish is ideal but so is Hummus and Roasted Veggies.  Drink over the next seven to ten years.  

Chidaine is one of our favorite producers of win es in the Loire Valley.  Compared to most Sancerre's or Pouilly Fume's, this is a tremendous value if you like Lorie Sauvignon Blanc (the ancestral home of the grape).  Not sure, well for the price, it sure seems worth checking out.  Light golden in color, clear and bright.  The nose has minerality, hay, peach and slight grapefruit.  Light bodied.  Good balance.  On the palate, minerality with grapefruit.

This is a very nice premier cru Burgundy.  Garnet in color, clear and bright.  The nose has cherries, slight cinnamon, and spice.  Medium bodied.  Very light tannins.  On the palate, cherries, slight sour cherries with a bit of spice.  Nice finish.  Drinking well now and should continue for another seven to ten years.  Nice on its own but probably better with food.  Salmon would be a nice choice.

This wine appeared on the market in large quantities a few years back.  This may have had something to do with the sale of the estate in 2014 from the Lurton family to Dennis Debourdieu.

From the excellent 2007 vintage, this winery consistently makes some of the better Gigondas wines.  Ruby/brown in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, black raspberries, black pepper and slight dried flower note.  Medium to full bodied.  Light tannins.  On the palate, black raspberries, some cherries, spice and some earthiness.  Good finish.  This seems to be at peak, but will probably start declining soon, so, drink up.  A nice wine with braised lamb of beef.  

Nice to revisit this.  Back in the day, this was our house wine ($20), but then it was awarded the Wine Spectator WOTY and overnight, the price doubled and that was that.  New vintages are around $65, so it hasn't gone up a lot in 20 years since.  Too bad, because while this might not be a top CdP, it is a very nice wine and this one has held up great.  Ruby in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose has cherries, and Provencal spice.  Light to medium bodied.  Tannins completely integrated.  On the palate, cherries with some char.  Moderate finish.  Drink up if you have any.  A nice wine

This is a really interesting wine.  As the story goes, Xavier Vignon is a Rhone producer who also consults.  In his travels, he discovered this wine as it was sitting in a concrete tank with very low levels of oxygen.  It is unclear who made the wine originally.  It was bottle recently and released.

Nice showing for this wine.  In its youth, this was full throttle oak, but at age 23, the fruit, oak and tannins have all integrated and mellowed and come together.  Purple/black in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose has clay, black cherries, spice and chocolate.  Medium tannins.  Nice texture.  On the palate, nice black cherry fruit with a hint of black olives.  The finish is a bit bitter and drying.  Overall, this seems at peak.  Drink over the next five to ten years.  It will work better with food.  A nice wine with a burger.  

This is 87% Merlot and 13% Cabernet Franc from the difficult 2013 vintage.  Ruby/purple in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose cherries, chocolate, tobacco and spice.  Nice texture.  Medium bodied.  Firm tannins.  On the palate, black cherries with some cherries with some clay and spice notes.  The finish is a bit clipped.  A very nice effort for the vintage.  It may not have enough fruit to outlast the tannins.  drink over the next ten years.  Nice on its own, but better with food.  A nice wine to open with Ahi Tuna off the grill.  

The 2005 vintage was excellent in Bordeaux and most are open and drinking well right now.  This wine showed wonderfully.  Ruby in color with some browning.  The nose is classic with cassis, char, tobacco, leather and cherries.  Medium bodied.  Good acidity.  On the palate, cassis and black cherries with some spice and a bit of dry earthiness.  Some complexity.  Nice texture.  Good finish.  This wine is just about at peak (or maybe a bit past).  Drink these sooner than later.  It will be better with food.  Beef stew with roasted root vegetables would be a nice match.