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Our blog was created to help make the world of wine and beer easier to understand and fun to navigate. There are a million things to know in this industry, we just want to help you understand the latest news and trends from around the globe. So sit back with your favorite sip and let's go on an adventure.

September 29, 2020 | Allan Crum

Bubbles to Fall for 6-Pack

BUBBLES TO FALL FOR 6-PACK, SHOP HERE

J. Laurens Cremant de Limoux Brut NV

Cremant de Limoux, France
60% Chardonnay, 30% Chenin blanc, 5% Mauzac, 5% Pinot noir
Traditional method
12 months on lees
91 points WE
Lemon, pineapple, cardamom pod

Antech Cuvée Eugénie Cremant de Limoux Brut 2017

Cremant de Limoux, France
Chardonnay, Chenin blanc, Mauzac
20 - 40-year old vines
Hand picked
18 months on lees
8 g/l dosage
Granny smith, honeydew rind, brioche

Szigeti Gustav Klimt Blanc de Blancs Brut 2016

Burgenland, Austria
100% Chardonnay
Handpicked
Stainless steel fermentation
26-48 months on lees
Local sweet wine used for 8 g/l dosage
Gustav Klimt painting on label
Baked apple, peach, mango lassi

Le Monde Pinot Nero Rosé Sparkling NV

Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy
100% Pinot Noir
Gravel, clay, and calcareous soils
39-year old vines
August harvest
Charmat method, 60 days on lees
8 g/l dosage
Raspberry, red currant, rose petal

Francois Montand Méthode Traditionelle Brut Rosé NV

Gascony, France
Clay and limestone
Grenache, Cinsault
Traditional method
9 months on lees
10 g/l dosage
Raspberry, dry cherry, watermelon rind

Jansz Tasmania Brut Rosé NV

Tasmania, Australia
78% Pinot Noir, 22% Chardonnay
Handpicked
Whole cluster pressed
Traditional method, first traditional method wine from Tasmania (1989)
Fermented in stainless steel and oak barrels
18-24 months on lees
Full malolactic fermentation
92 points DC, 91 points JH, 91 points WE, 91 points WS, 90 points JS, 90 points W&S
Strawberry, cranberry, white rose

BUBBLES TO FALL FOR 6-PACK, SHOP HERE

Sep 29, 2020 at 8:12 AM

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September 21, 2020 | Allan Crum

Into the Outback: Hip Australian 3-Packs for Autumn

Pack #1 – McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley & Eden Valley, SHOP HERE

Pewsey Vale Eden Valley Dry Riesling 2018

Eden Valley, South Australia
Winery founded in 1847
Sandy loam
30-year-old vines
Native yeast
Stainless steel fermented and aged
3.1 ph, .9 g/l residual
94 points JS, 92 points WE
Dried grapefruit, peach, sorrel

Bink Wines ‘Sergeant J’ Red Wine 2018

Barossa Valley, South Australia
Solo project from Koen Janssens of Yetti and the Kokonut
Grenache
Native yeast fermented
Unfined, unfiltered
Sour cherry, red currant, red clay

S. C. Pannell ‘Smart Vineyard’ Grenache 2017

McClaren Vale, South Australia
“This is a label which is quite certain to become thoroughly iconic in the years ahead.” James Halliday
80 year old bush vines
Red clay loam with iron and quartz
100% destemmed
10 days on skins
Aged 11 months in 2500l foudre and 500l puncheon
Unfined, unfiltered
93 points WE
Red cherry, fresh strawberry, Thai basil

Pack #2 – Punk as...Ochota Barrels, SHOP HERE

‘The Green Room’ Grenache 2019

Mclaren Vale
82% Grenache, 18% Syrah
Planted 1946
Limestone and schist
85% whole cluster fermentation
28-88 day maceration
Aged 2 months
Unfined, unfiltered
Red plum, black cap, thyme

‘From The North’ Mourvedre 2018

Barossa Valley
Sand
Planted 1869
Biodynamic viticulture
100% whole cluster
5 day cold soak, 12 day fermentation
Aged 3 months
Unfined, unfiltered
20 ppm SO2
Black cherry, smoked tea, anise seed

‘The Mark of Cain’ Pinot Meunier 2019

Adelaide Hills
Clay
Planted 1985
Named after a punk band Taras Ochota once toured with
Half carbonic maceration for one month, half whole cluster traditional ferment for 6 days
Unfined, unfiltered
20 ppm SO2
Red grapefruit, rhubarb, rose hips

Sep 21, 2020 at 3:52 PM

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September 15, 2020 | Allan Crum

More Joy, Less Stress Italian Red 3-Pack

More Joy, Less Stress Italian Red 3-Pack, SHOP HERE

Feudo Montoni Nero D’Avola 2016

Cammarata, Sicily
Clay and sand soils
Certified organic
35-year old vineyard
Fermented in cement
Aged 20 months in cement, followed by 4 months in barrel
Red cherry, raspberry, star anise

Rocca di Frassinello Le Sughere di Frassinello 2016

Maremma, Tuscany
Collaboration between Castellare and Lafite Rothschild
50% Sangiovese, 25% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon
2008 vintage made Wine Spectator Top 100 list
Fermented in stainless steel
Aged 12 months in 50% new barriques
93 points WS, 91 points JS
Black currant, rosemary, iron

Iuli Umberta 2018

Monferrato, Piedmont
Limestone and clay soils
Certified organic
Vineyards planted from 1940-1999
Native yeasts
Fermented in concrete with a 20-day maceration
Aged in concrete for 10-11 months
Unfined, unfiltered
Blackberry, black plum, fennel seed

More Joy, Less Stress Italian Red 3-Pack, SHOP HERE

Sep 15, 2020 at 11:29 AM

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September 11, 2020 | Allan Crum

Enfant Terrible: Didier Dagueneau

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“France’s most physically messianic winemaker…” “Dagueneau glared at tasters; he poured samples with studiedly curt swiftness; all questions were met with monosyllabic replies. He would rather, one felt, have been racing huskies in Finland (as he did for three months the following winter). His wines smelled not of Sauvignon Blanc, nor of gooseberries or asparagus or of micturating felines, but of......Spring. Sipping the Buisson Renard was like standing beneath a waterfall: the flavours were clean, limpid, eerily palpable, a soft shock. The Silex was not the parody flintlock of popular myth; it was pure, sappy, soaring, rich, finishing with just a hint of stone after rain. I had not been expecting this calm and majestic retreat from the varietal. I learnt something new.” Andrew Jefford, The New France

“Due to a titanic level of work in the vineyard, his pure-bred Sauvignon Blancs act like a terroir sponge.” Michel Bettane, Le Grand Guide des Vins de France

“I had a few scores to settle with the family,’ he said. ‘So, I decided to make wine, to make better wine than them. That was my first motivation. So, I decided to make the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world. Not at all pretentious for someone who’s been making wine for two years.” Didier Dagueneau, in Decanter

“In my opinion, 80% of the growers are thick and lazy.” Didier Dagueneau, to Jancis Robinson

Exacting. Motivated. Perfectionist. Iconoclast. Daredevil. Hirsute. Didier Dagueneau looms over the Loire Valley appellation of Pouilly-Fumé 12 years after his death, as famous for his strutting rejection of conventionality and his neighbors’ still ruffled feathers as for his transcendent Sauvignon Blancs. In an era of chemical farming and overcropped, watery wines, Dagueneau demanded parsimonious yields and delicate, labor-intensive handwork in the vineyard, employing one worker for every 2.5 acres (the same ratio as Domaine Romanee-Conti). He forsook his family domaine in favor of establishing his own, forging a reputation for both brilliantly expressive single parcel cuvees and brutally frank opinions. Finally, he rebuffed the orthodoxy that Pouilly-Fumé and other Sauvignon Blanc based wines were meant for early consumption. His first wines from the mid-80’s are still (reportedly) drinking quite well.

After a short career as a motorbike racer (he retired after two severe crashes), he turned to winemaking, establishing his domaine with rented vineyards beginning in 1982. He would slowly add cuvees throughout his tenure, beginning with his flagship Silex (named for the siliceous terroir it is planted on) in 1985, and continuing until his 2006 acquisition of a small plot in the storied Sancerre vineyard of Monts Damnes, overlooking Chavignol. Didier’s winemaking idols included legendary producers Edmond Vatan of Sancerre and Henri Jayer of Vosne-Romanee, vignerons renowned for marrying transparent site expression to a singular house style.

Dagueneau, forever restless, experimented over the years with native yeast fermentation, extensive battonage, a low sulfur regime, and various types of oak, but the domaine’s core principles always remained the same. It began with massal selection vines pruned very aggressively, producing less than half the total yield allowed by the appellation. A practitioner of organics and biodynamics (though not certified; Didier did not mix well with bureaucracy), herbicides were eschewed in favor of plowing, whether by horse (he was one of the first growers to revive the practice, well before DRC adopted it) or tractor. At harvest, Dagueneau’s late harvesting and rigorous selection led to phenologically ripe wines without the damp heaviness of rot and botrytis. Elevage always took place in oak, though the vessels’ size and shape varied considerably over the years. Didier is famous for pioneering the use of 350l oblong “cigar” barrels with very low levels of toast, which allowed the piercing minerality and Satnav terroir of his cuvees to shine.

“A chip off the old Silex”

When Didier Dagueneau died following an ultralight plane crash in 2008, many assumed that his domaine was doomed. Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau, having studied with biodynamic Loire luminary Francois Chidaine and Olivier Jullien of shop favorite Mas Jullien, was ready to strike out on his own, much like his father before him. Instead, Louis-Benjamin took up his father’s considerable legacy, expanding upon the domaine’s fame with a string of successful vintages that have left some wondering if the son has surpassed the father. The vineyards are cared for with the same laborious intensity, and the work in the cellar has only become more precise and translucent. Methinks his father would be proud.

“Didier was more than a light, he was a natural phenomenon, a storm, a commotion and a celebration in a world that is often too dull and glum.”...“Yes, he was bigger than life. But Dagueneau was a man who didn't suffer fools and clichés lightly.” Joe Dressner