Ample

VY Ancestral Sparkling White 2015

Partida Creus
Finely sparkling, lively and fresh, creamy and full-bodied on the palate, this is a superb natural sparkling wine made from Vinyater (a traditional Catalan grape variety) that should be enjoyed, especially now that this magnum has aged a little and gained depth, having had time to develop the full richness of its fresh notes – white flowers, almonds, white fruits – and its magnificent length. This festive vintage, classified as a Vino de Mesa (table wine), will shine as an aperitif, for any celebration, and at the table with seafood, grilled white meats, sweetbreads, or a beautiful vol-au-vent financier. The vinyater harvest is manual; alcoholic fermentation takes place on the skins and with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel vats. The wine completes its fermentation for ten months in bottles on fine lees.

Find out more
Partida Creus is an important estate, both from a winemaking and historical perspective – we are talking here about the history of the vine in Catalonia. Massimo Marchiori and Antonella Gerosa, originally from Piedmont – and even from the Langhe region, where wine is well-known – first pursued careers as architects in Barcelona. But the wine bug bit them, and they soon abandoned the big city and its sophistication for the vineyards of southern Catalonia, in Bonastre in Baix-Penedés. There they find a quantity of abandoned vineyards planted with a dizzying diversity of traditional Catalan grape varieties that they passionately revive to save these varieties – and their wines – from oblivion. For them, it is not just a matter of heritage rescue, no: it is a matter of taste and nature. Of natural wines, which they will never stop making from now on on these sandy, poor, clay-limestone or clay-gravel soils, poor and poorly irrigated, where the vines suffer to give their best juice. Massimo and Antonella practice organic, biodynamic viticulture, entirely manual and natural in order to give new life to these wines. Vinyater, sumoll, garrut, monastrell, ull de perdiu, ull de llebre, sumoll, queixal de llop, cariñena, trepat, subirat parent, maccabeu, parellada, pansé, vinel·lo, bobal, cartoixà vermell or xarel·lo: Partida Creus is a veritable conservatory of native Catalan grape varieties. It also grows moscatel, grenache, merlot and cabernet (among others). Few wineries can boast growing so many different grape varieties. The wines reflect this diversity, with the winemakers striving to best convey the signature of the soil and the grape variety: single-variety wines are common among them, alongside extensive blends, all in the styles dear to Catalonia: still wine, "ancestral" sparkling wine, and even vermouth. The bottles themselves are works of art: bare glass, simply marked with two large stenciled initials that denote the vintage. The wines, fresh, vibrant, lush but always straightforward and impeccably juicy and fruity, breathe life. The arrival of a Partida Creus at the table always elicits cries of satisfaction.

Vin de France Cuvée Madloba White 2020

Paul Estève

Madloba blanc is an orange wine that asserts itself from the first intensely floral nose, full of character and depth. The floral nature is confirmed on the palate with an abundance of tea rose, accompanied by a surprising, exotic expression of lychee and mango. With a rather rich and dense body, the freshness acts as a balance, and lovely bitter touches mark the finish. This white Madloba ("thank you" in Georgian) is produced in the Saint-Joseph AOP. It is a blend of 50% Marsanne and 50% Viognier. The vines, almost forty years old, are planted at an altitude of 350 meters, on a hillside plot with granite and black mica soils. The two grape varieties are fermented together for six months in tinajas, unburied terracotta jars, and after pressing the wine returns to the tinaja for six months of aging. This aging method promotes the wine's texture and develops the fruit. Decant one hour before serving. Perfect for oriental, Asian, and exotic cuisines in general.

Find out more
Paul Estève and Chrystelle Vareille are the creators of the Domaine des Miquettes, whose great specificity is the use of Georgian techniques. They are passionate about this Caucasian country, the cradle of wine, where eight thousand year old winemaking techniques are still used. At the heart of this viticulture is the qvevri, the buried jar where all the winemaking takes place: fermentation with skin maceration and aging. They set out to explore this country and returned with the decision to age all their wines in buried jars. They have twenty-six, but distinguish between tinajas (Spanish jars) for fermentation-maceration and buried "amphorae" for aging. No sulfur is added. For both reds and whites, the terracotta erases astringency and transmutes it into a velvety texture, a fruity and supple material.
The estate, located in Ardèche, is south of the Saint-Joseph appellation. Paul trained with René-Jean Dard and François Ribo, two great figures of natural wine in the Rhône Valley. With Chrystelle, he began by taking over Paul's family farm with two ares of vines, then in 2004 the entire estate, which now covers 4.3 hectares. The white grape varieties are located around the house, the red grape varieties are planted on steep hillsides, between 300 and 450 meters above sea level. The plots rest on a granite base with light soils: black mica granite, schist and gneiss. Everything is cultivated organically (Ecocert) with biodynamic practices. The vines are cared for and fortified using plant decoctions and clay. The soils are worked by horse or winch and pickaxe. No chemical inputs are added to the vineyard work. The harvest is entirely manual.