France

Fleurie Red 2022

Frédéric Cossard

Vinified by Frédéric Cossard, this vintage is an organic and natural red wine from Beaujolais, in the AOC Fleurie, one of the ten Beaujolais appellations located in the northern part of the country. It combines the typical characteristics of the granite soils and the Gamay grape variety of Beaujolais with the Frédéric Cossard touch, with fullness and respect for the terroir.

Vinification

100% Gamay from Beaujolais growing on granite soils, harvested by hand, it first undergoes a carbonic maceration of fifteen days in whole bunches. After pressing, it is aged for a year in concrete eggs, which rounds it out and highlights the fruit.

Tasting

A superb Cossard in Beaujolais version: this Fleurie is fruity, tangy, delicious, fine and elegant, typical of its appellation. Lovely bright color, raspberry, cherry, a touch of violet. It is made to accompany the best charcuterie, but you can also accompany any kind of cooked dish, red meats, white meats or roast poultry.

Learn more about Frédéric Cossard and the domaine de Chassorney

Frédéric Cossard and the domaine de Chassorney give the floor in organic and natural mode to the wines of Burgundy (and elsewhere), undistorted by agricultural chemicals, according to the style and convictions of this winegrower and merchant. Wherever the grapes come from, its wines bear the Cossard brand, both classic and creative.

Between viticulture and trade

Frédéric Cossard created the domaine de Chassorney in 1996: initially a few ares of vines in Saint-Romain, Auxey-Duresses and Savigny-lès-Beaune, and currently ten hectares spread across the Nuits-Saint-Georges, Pommard, Volnay, Bourgogne-Hautes-Côtes-de-Beaune and Bourgogne appellations. In 2006, he created his own trading house and buys organic grapes from the greatest climates of Burgundy, but also from Jura, Languedoc and elsewhere.

A solid commitment to nature

At Frédéric Cossard, the work of the soil and the vines is done naturally: plowing by horse, biodynamics, no chemical fertilizers or weedkillers. The harvest, by hand, is carried out at full maturity. Frédéric Cossard's vintages are rare and sought-after, wines that are always highly anticipated but which sometimes require waiting.

Gentiane

La Jeannette

"Auvergne is more of a secret than a province; we never seek it as much as when we've already found it." This beautiful phrase by Alexandre Vialatte expresses, in a way, the research of the creators of La Jeannette. These pure Auvergnats had the wonderful idea of reviving gentian, this traditional Auvergne liqueur, which is mainly drunk as an aperitif and blends well with blackcurrant liqueur. You know it: it has lit up many a bar counter with its bright yellow flash, tinged slightly with green, in the clinking of ice cubes. You may have found it, from one brand to another, a little too sweet. It is precisely on its flavor that the creators of La Jeannette have worked.
Many traditional liqueurs have been dusted off in recent years. Generally, this dusting consists of a reduction in sugar content, accompanied by an intensification of flavors and a firm intention to focus on wild, organic, and natural ingredients. For La Jeannette, it's a success. The products are 100% Auvergne: first, fresh gentian roots harvested on the slopes of the Auvergne volcanoes. This is the main element. Next, lemon verbena, also known to Auvergne liqueur makers, an infusion of vine peaches, and a touch of peppermint.
One small sip and you immediately understand that this is no longer Grandpa's gentian, even if it's a grandmother laughing at you on the label. You first perceive that no excess sugar hides the freshness of the ingredients. Because the attack is fresh: the peppermint overlaps the continuous bitter note of the gentian. It's very balanced and very successful. In the mid-palate, the verbena asserts itself and adds to the overall sensation of freshness. It's a beautiful bitterness, the flavor that cures all and lifts the spirits. Needless to say, any cocktail with a hint of bitterness is allowed (negroni, americano, spritz, etc.), but we find it so delicious that we enjoy it on its own over ice, or with one of our favorite tonics, Hysope.
What's more, Jeannette is involved: she's working to save wild gentian. During an Ulule campaign, one euro per bottle sold was donated to an Auvergne association dedicated to preserving this precious root, promoting its replanting in its natural environment. If our aperitif can also be eco-friendly, who's going to complain?

Ah! Ramon!!! Red 2017

La Sorga
Antony Tortul loves old vineyards: he devotes his life to finding them and making wine in them. Just as there are landless shepherds, he can be defined as a landless winemaker, in other words, a wine merchant whose area of ​​activity extends throughout Languedoc and, eastward, as far as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, in search of the best terroirs. Born in Foix, with six years of experience as a wine technician and oenologist in various vineyards in the south of France, he created La Sorga in 2008. His enthusiasm leads him on a path made of favorites, and each of these favorites is a vineyard. The result is a dizzying mosaic of natural, lively and spirited wines, which reinvents itself each year with around thirty cuvées per vintage. Few winemakers can include such a variety of grape varieties: the whole of southern France is there with muscats, grenaches, picpoul, mauzac, carignan, cinsault, marsanne, alicante, braucol, duras, viognier, len-de-l’el, and tutti quanti.
Ah! Ramon!!! is a tightly packed blend: Aramon, Cinsault, Terret Bourret, Noir de La Calmette, Alicante Bouschet, but it is clearly the Aramon that dominates. The vines are approaching a century old. The grapes come from Vieussan, in the Saint-Chinian appellation area, on schist soils. All the blended grape varieties macerate for forty days in sandstone jars, almost as an infusion. The average is manually destemmed, and anything less ripe or less attractive is pressed directly. The aging continues in sandstone jars for a year. The profile is empyreumatic (meaning toasted, roasted), distinguished, camphorated, loaded with black cherry, tobacco, garrigue and sweet spices. The palate is very refined with a very Burgundian profile, also smoky and kirsch: characteristics that are ultimately quite typical of Aramon. This wine will be a lovely accompaniment to cooked pasta (lasagna) or lamb chops, but it can do anything. Aging potential: twenty years.
Natural wine with no added sulfites.

Toile de Fond White 2022

Fond Cyprès

Lovely texture, fluidity, citrus notes (lemon), and a seductive liveliness. We present to you for the first time Toile de Fond Blanc, the little white brother of Toile de Fond Rouge. This white wine, classified as a Vin de France, is very fresh, with non-filtration explaining its slightly cloudy color. A lovely, thirst-quenching white wine, it is made from Grenache Blanc and Roussanne grown on the same plot and therefore sharing the qualities of their native soil. These grapes are from the excellent 2022 harvest, vinified entirely in stainless steel vats and bottled in the spring. It's typically a summer wine, perfect with raw seafood, raw fish, and delicate tapas. Drink before fall.

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This Languedoc estate is built on solid foundations: its two winemakers, Rodolphe and Laetitia, are also descendants of winemakers. Even before planting their first vine, they already had a clear objective: "to make southern wines that reflect us, wines with character, rooted in our soils, with freshness and refined tannins." They want to create entirely natural wines, concentrated terroir. In the old Corbières massif, they are taking over an old heart of the estate already planted with abandoned Carignan and Grenache grapes, which have seen neither fertilizer nor pesticides for years: these clean, vibrant soils are ideal conditions for launching into natural wine. Around this historic heart, they first planted Grenache Noir and Syrah, then a plot of white grape varieties: Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne. The estate has been Ecocert certified since 2010 and also complies with the Nature & Progrès charter. The vinification is done without the addition of sulfites or exogenous yeasts. "We make wines for pleasure," say Laetitia and Rodolphe. For them, natural wine is first assessed by taste, from the harvest. The vintages closely follow the plots, the musts are fruity, fluid, and complex. The wines of Fond Cyprès poetically evoke the estate's ecosystem and the vegetation that protects the plots: the pine forests, the shady springs, the beauty of the natural environment that brings freshness to the wines and leaves the soil's signature. Deliciously balanced between mineral imprint, vegetal environment and expression of fruit, the wines of Fond Cyprès reflect the South: the caress of its sun, but also the freshness of its shadows.

MO Mondeuse Rouge 2020

Patrick Bouju
Patrick Bouju, from his merchant repertoire, offers us his interpretation of the Mondeuse grape variety from Savoie, used here 100%. The grapes undergo a short maceration, followed by aging in amphorae.

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Near Billom, the Limagne clermontoise rises eastward to form a hilly area with a mild climate, dominated by volcanic hills. This is the Auvergne Tuscany, so named because of its resemblance to the Italian province. This land of mixed subsistence farming was once covered in vines and was the preferred domain of Gamay d'Auvergne, a robust ancient strain, the origin of dense, deep, and fruity wines. This is where Patrick Bouju cultivates and vinifies, on these high-quality volcanic soils and mainly on old vines. The soils vary between basalt, limestone, clay-limestone, and pozzolan. Patrick collects and cares for the best terroirs of Puy-de-Dôme, often abandoned, and gives them new life. He also preserves the indigenous grape varieties, of which he cultivates a good fifty, and simultaneously works as a wine merchant using purchased organic grapes. The current renaissance of the Auvergne vineyard (which was once the third largest in France) owes much to Patrick. The fact that he enjoys lending a helping hand to his winegrowing friends from France and elsewhere only confirms his image as a model, a leader. His partnerships are famous: with Action Bronson for the series A la Natural, with Jason Ligas in Greece for Sous le Végétal… Patrick practices long macerations, and the wines rest for up to six months after bottling. Very sensitive to sulfites in wines, Patrick has found that his own do very well without them. He has also noted that if the grapes are healthy and concentrated, balance occurs on its own, regardless of the successive phases a vintage goes through. His noble, chiseled, distinguished, never bland wines are immediately recognizable in the glass. They are straight, clean, precise, often marked by floral notes and a spicy minerality. They also constitute a formidable anthology of the terroirs and ancient vines of Basse-Auvergne and its volcanic soils.

Sans ordonnance White 2021,

Les Vignes du Domaine du Temps

The nose of Sans ordonnance is fine, complex, exotic without being excessive: the musky notes of the Muscat à Petit Grain are initially very discreet and then develop in the glass. The aroma unfolds on the palate with very controlled notes of ripeness, wisteria, honey candy, and yellow peach on a lovely acidic base. The freshness is wonderful, tempered by a touch of richness. A rich and expressive wine, excellent with fish and seafood. Sans ordonnance is composed of 60% Muscat à petits grains and 40% Viognier, grown on the clay-limestone soils of the Carcassonne region, near the Montagne Noire. The harvest ferments naturally in stainless steel vats before aging for nine months in oak barrels. Sans ordonnance is neither fined nor filtered.

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Domaine du Temps is located in Cabardès, a small region of Languedoc that was once a subdivision of Cathar Country. Stretching from the southern slope of the Montagne Noire to the city of Carcassonne, it is bordered to the west by the Lauragais and to the east by the Minervois. Hilly, wild, rich in Mediterranean flora, it is a preserved ecosystem, especially since the Domaine du Temps, in the place called Font Juvénal, is a magical place: around a former 18th-century priory, sixty hectares of forests and scrubland protect thirteen hectares of vineyards on stony clay-limestone soils. The balance between dryness and coolness is a boon for viticulture, with a wide range of grape varieties. In addition to the Languedoc grape varieties (Syrah, Grenache, Roussanne, Viognier, Muscat), Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Sémillon and Chenin are grown. The estate has been Ecocert certified since 1998, is entirely managed biodynamically, and has dedicated itself to natural wine since 2015. The work in the vineyard and cellar is methodical, rigorous, and attentive: only the best grapes are kept, resulting in small yields, and destemming is determined based on the ripeness of the bunch. The reds are vinified using carbonic maceration of individual grape varieties, with the blending taking place before the year's aging. The whites are slowly and gently pressed to extract only the best from the grapes. These precautions result in smooth, controlled wines with great integrity and very supple tannins. They are fresh, delicious, and expressive.

Aphrodite Blanc 2019

La Grapperie
Candied apples, spices, freshness, tension, and balance: plenty of structure and minerality. A little residual sugar adds richness and fullness without the slightest trace of heaviness. The signature of the old vines (over a hundred years old) is evident. Pure Chenin Blanc, Aphrodite is a charming wine made from vines planted in 1935 on flint-clay soils. The grapes are pressed directly at low pressure and then transferred by gravity before undergoing barrel fermentation with indigenous yeasts followed by aging for twenty-four months in tuffeau cellars. On the nose, notes of undergrowth are found on the palate with slightly caramelized and brioche aromas, balanced by some herbaceous notes at the end. A very, very great wine.

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In the Coteaux du Loir appellation, La Grapperie is the name of the estate of Renaud Guettier, who can be described as a master of Chenin, but also of Pineau d'Aunis, which is one of the oldest grape varieties in the Loire Valley. His principle, he confides, is "to produce complex, rich wines with good aging potential and imbued with the minerality of their terroir." The vines are located on hillsides, between 60 and 120 meters above sea level, protected from the north winds by the Bercé forest. Depending on the altitude, the terroirs are dominated by clay (at the bottom of the slope), flint (mid-slope), or sand (on the higher ground). The 60-hectare vineyard comprises around fifteen plots. The grape varieties are the two traditionally authorized varieties in the appellation: Chenin for the whites and Pineau d'Aunis for 90% of the reds, the remainder consisting of a few ares of Côt, Gamay, and Grolleau. The average age of the vines is seventy years, including almost two hectares of century-old vines and one and a half hectares of vines aged sixty to eighty years. Convinced of the enormous potential that these old vines can bring to his vintages, Renaud is meticulous in restoring the vineyard. The entire estate is cultivated organically. The soils are worked and all viticultural interventions are manual, including the harvests, carried out at full maturity, which is reflected in the fullness and smoothness of the wines. For the reds, the Pineaux d'Aunis are partially destemmed (depending on the plot) and the macerations are quite long, three to four weeks, with punching down, to promote aging potential. The wines are aged in barrels for between twelve and twenty-four months, then racked, blended and bottled without filtration. For the whites, the Chenins are pressed directly at low pressure and then poured into barrels by gravity. Fermentation takes place in barrels, on indigenous yeasts, with complete malolactic fermentation, for at least eighteen months and sometimes up to thirty-six months.

Les années folles Rosé Pétillant 2020,

Jean-Pierre Robinot
Here is a seductive natural sparkling rosé with an intense peach, salmon, and almost orange color. The delicate bubbles convey the finesse of the Pineau d'Aunis—very old vines growing on clay-limestone soil—and its characteristic profile: red fruits, spices, white pepper, and minerality. Produced directly after hand-harvesting and fermented in vats with indigenous yeasts, it remains in the bottle for nine months on its lees before being disgorged by hand. No filtration, no clarification, and no added sulfites. As his name suggests, he is sure to create a great atmosphere.

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Anyone interested in natural wine in France has certainly come across Jean-Pierre Robinot at some point and has never forgotten this smiling, bouncy figure. It is clear that while it has not yet been proven that all wines resemble their winemaker (a study to be undertaken), the wines produced by Jean-Pierre, warm, friendly, and bright, are a reflection of their creator. After running the L’Ange Vin wine bar on rue Richard-Lenoir in the 11th arrondissement of Paris for nearly fifteen years, Jean-Pierre returned to his native Chahaignes, a small village in the south of Sarthe, on the borders of Anjou and Touraine. His dream is to acquire his vineyard and make sulfur-free wines. He reclaims hillside wasteland on large terroirs, as well as troglodyte cellars dug into the tuffeau stone. 2002 will be his first vintage. At the same time, under the L’Opéra du vin brand, he vinifies grapes purchased from local winegrowers. Jean-Pierre Robinot practices demanding organic viticulture, without chemical weed control. The soil is worked and amended using natural composts. All harvests, carried out at maturity on healthy grapes, are done by hand. The location and climate favor noble rot.