Organically grown on 30 to 60 year old vines in one of France’s smallest appellations, this mouth-filling blend of rich Marsanne and rare, aromatic Rousanne is both opulent and refreshing. This wine is from the Saint-Peray appellation in the Rhone-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is one of 26 regions of France, located on the [...read more]

Just about every glorious adjective in the book has been spent in the name of describing 2007 vintage wines from the Southern Rhône. Robert Parker gave the wines his benediction when he wrote that it is “the greatest vintage I have tasted in my thirty years in that region.” More importantly, our own Chris Parker [...read more]

Here is a sweet-natured, fragant Rhône wine.  It is lighter than some and openly appealing.  It is organic.  It is a little floral — more field flower than scented garden.  The taste is lively with just enough stone and wood at the back of our mouth to remind us that this is no summer-time idler, [...read more]

2008 Les Pallières au petit bonheur rosé.  This is a very beautiful rosé from the Gigondas region in the southern Rhone valley.  I do not say it lightly.  I never turn down a glass of rosé, especially at lunch, but it is not a wine I would seek out.  Usually bright, acidic, very pink, very [...read more]

The northern Rhône produces the world’s finest expression of the syrah grape.  The famous districts include Côte-Rôtie (the “burnt or roasted hillside”), St.-Joseph, and Hermitage.  These wines will put a dent in an AIG bonus.  But there is good news: just west of the Rhône river, the region known as Collines Rhodaniennes also produces marvelous [...read more]

Sometimes the things we overlook astound us when they actually come into focus. Saint-Péray is one of those things. The tiny appellation in France’s northern Rhône bears the burden of Napoleon’s first wine-drinking experience as a young cadet. Back then, the sparkling wines of the region rivaled those from Champagne both in terms of their [...read more]

Grape growing in the Rhône is an arduous physical and spiritual sacrifice. Many of the Vineyards are carved into the treacherous mountains that descend dramatically, down towards the banks of the the Rhône river. Here, machine harvesting is impossible, and the small terraces that create a visual topography of the mountains are so narrow and [...read more]

Sunday, January 11th from 3:00 – 4:30 $35/Person Grape growing in the Rhône is an arduous physical and spiritual sacrifice. Many of the Vineyards are carved into the treacherous mountains that descend dramatically, down towards the banks of the the Rhône river. Here, machine harvesting is impossible, and the small terraces that create a visual [...read more]

Sunday, February 22nd from 3:00 – 4:30 $35/Person Grape growing in the Rhône is an arduous physical and spiritual sacrifice. Many of the Vineyards are carved into the treacherous mountains that descend dramatically, down towards the banks of the the Rhône river. Here, machine harvesting is impossible, and the small terraces that create a visual [...read more]

We’re like the wine equivalent of the truffle pig. We snuffle around wine portfolios and big trade tastings hunting for the rarest of the rare: everyday drinking-wines that are anything but “everyday”. The ’06 Ségriès Côtes-du-Rhône is anything but mundane. It’s easy drinking, chock-full-o’ juicy red fruit – red cherry, cranberry, mostly -  and equipped [...read more]