La Hermandad De La Uva Syrah

La Petite Gargotte

The Comte Tolosan region encompasses famed wine regions: Jurancon, Cahors and Armagnac. Typically, the white wines are based upon neutral grapes like Ugni Blanc, Colombard, and Folle Blanche, or more aromatic grapes like Petit Manseng or Gros Manseng. While few of these grapes have distinctive personalities, if you put them into a harmonious blend, they can be pretty charming.

Ladron del Palacio

The powers behind Bodegas Lo Nuevo are crucial to the modern success of Spanish wine, especially wines from the Levante, the Africa-facing south. Here the Almansa region grows Garnacha, among other traditional Spanish red grapes, but unlike the oxidized, alcoholic wines of yore, the new wines are bright and sunny with all the original fruits from the grape preserved. Bodegas Lo Nuevo would be the first to insist that their success is conditioned upon old vines grown at high altitudes. Here the Garnacha is at nearly 3500 feet, where the otherwise relentlessly warm temperatures see nighttime cooling into the 40s.

Larme en Rose

If you stick around the wine business long enough, you’ll have seen it all. Where once wine coolers were cooler than Liebfraumilch, now hard seltzer is hot (served cold). White Zin was once de rigeur, though it was never French; it was from the good ol’ US of A. But then that became too sweet and the category died. Or seemed to. Because then rosé rose up like a zombie eager for fresh meat, though the current iteration of the pink stuff is more often French than not. Provence is the epicenter of it and the French have figured out how we like it: dry, pale pink, light and refreshing.

Le Cabas Sauvignon Blanc

Gascony ain't just the Three Muskateers, though they have a place in our hearts as well. More than anything, Gascony is foie gras, delicious plums and apricots, rich dinners with Armagnac to follow. But the white grapes grown here are not just for great brandy, they have always been consumed as wine too and the last decade or so has seen an embrace of clean, cold winemaking to preserve the aromas of otherwise neutral grapes like Ugni Blanc or Folle Blanche. It's also seen new plantings of Sauvignon Blanc, a grape that requires no heroic measures to reveal its aromatic riches. Whats fun here is that these same winemaking methods generate something bright and vibrant but without much resemblance to other such Sauvignon Blancs (I'm looking at you, New Zealand), many of which have begun to seem like self-caricature. This one is comfortably itself, needing only an ice bucket and a big glass.

Le Paria

From the Cabardés region inside Langeudoc, and a little town called Ventenac, in the rolling foothills of the Pyrenees. For France, this is warm climate viticulture though it is not so different from the southern Rhone Valley climatically speaking. In general, the Languedoc doesn't cool off in the same manner as the Rhone but Grenache is happily at home in such a sunny place. And the family is invested not only in their historical sites and vines on the side of Montagne Noire but also in sustainable viticulture. The vineyard is free of chemical inputs and the wine has no added sulfites; it’s aged only in traditional concrete tanks.

Le Petit Bassin

So, is it okay if I predict that Sauvignon Blanc becomes the world’s most widely planted grape in the next decade? In southern France, with the collection of hills, valleys, and plains rolling down to the Mediterranean, it thrives. Sure, the plains are not where you grow Sauvignon Blanc, but there are plenty of other spots where you do. There these wines are vibrant, expressive and tangy – and it’s rare that those three descriptors go together.

Le Refuge Sauvignon Blanc

A Bordeaux group making wines since 1949, Producta Vignobles blends this crisp, tangy white from throughout the Bordeaux region, but especially from under-appreciated places like Bergerac. From Sauvignon Blanc with a trace of Semillon, this is the kind of steely, refreshing white wine that comprises a small but significant portion of what has made Bordeaux the centerpiece of French wine production. Drink this well-chilled and with rapidity.

Les Borgnottes Pinot Noir

Forget delicate, polite Pinot. This one’s got attitude. Juicy cherry and wild berry flavors with a streak of earthiness that keeps things real. Smooth, but not afraid to get a little scrappy. Basically James Dean in a bottle — cool, classic, and gone too soon

Les Peyrautins Pinot Noir

You have been told that Pinot Noir is the most finicky of grapes; indeed, it’s supposed to be the “heartbreak grape.” The statement is not false but it’s also not completely true. To make great Pinot noir is bloody difficult and to do it consistently is virtually impossible, unless you’re in some famous place. But that’s true of most grapes. It’s true that Pinot noir grown in the wrong place is pretty dreadful, maybe more dreadful than most other grapes. But the middle ground has plenty of wealth to it – you need a friendly place for grape growing but not too friendly. With France’s Pays d’Oc, there are places where it’s easy to ripen grapes and areas that offer just enough challenge to coax Pinot Noir into showing its friendly and compelling side. This is an ideal example.