Spotlight on a Producer or Grower within the Rosenthal Wine Merchant and Madrose Group
Our biannual visits with the Foreau clan in Vouvray have developed a certain reassuring rhythm over the many years of our partnership. We convene in the house, toasting with the latest disgorgement of their peerless Brut (which routinely spends at least five years on its lees).
The story of the Conti sisters in Boca is a twofold triumph: as ultra-committed winegrowers who are reclaiming and replanting old vineyards in this difficult-to-farm zone, they are part of a larger effort to restore the Alto Piemonte to its pre-phylloxera glory and productivity; and, as visionary, trend-bucking women in a deeply conservative rural area,
Broad and imposing, the hill of Corton visually dominates its immediate environs, announcing the commencement of the Côte de Beaune in dramatic fashion as one heads from north to south. Here, the rigorous unbroken east-facing procession of the Côte de Nuits yields to a circular orientation, as the vineyards of Ladoix, Aloxe-Corton, and Pernand-Vergelesses fan out 360 degrees from Corton’s densely forested cap—echoing the more variegated orientations and multiple diversionary combes of the Côte de Beaune itself.
We at Rosenthal Wine Merchant have been working with the Rollin family in Pernand-Vergelesses since 1982. Over the years, first with Maurice and his son Remi, and today with Remi and his son Simon, this rock-solid domaine has provided us with wines of finesse, character, and startling purity—and at prices that put to rest the
Martino Manetti remarked during our visit last April that no two consecutive vintages at Montevertine have had remotely the same character since 2007, and perhaps no pair underlines that more forcefully than 2014 and 2015.
France harbors a vast multitude of talented growers, fascinating appellations, and deep veins of viticultural history. Even among this embarrassment of riches, however, the Rougier family’s Chateau Simone is a true jewel—an estate with a singular terroir, owned by the same family for many generations, with no break in tradition along the way.
Some folks are so amazingly productive, you’d swear they had figured out a way to clone themselves—or at least bargained to add a few hours to each of their days that the rest of us can’t access. Our old friend, the indefatigable Yves Cuilleron, is one such person. When Neal began working with the Cuilleron domaine in the early 1980s—with Yves’s uncle Antoine—there were three wines in play: a Saint-Joseph Rouge, a Saint-Joseph Blanc, and a Condrieu.
A New Summit Gevrey-Chambertin accounts for the largest surface area under vine in the entire Cote de Nuits, and it can be challenging to get a handle on its broad range of terroirs. How fortunate we at Rosenthal Wine Merchant are, then, to work with Harmand-Geoffroy—a long-established domaine whose enviable holdings lie entirely within the
A new round of releases from the legendary Montevertine estate, high in the hills above Radda-in-Chianti, is always a cause for celebration. Montevertine as we know it today began in 1967, when Milanese steel magnate Sergio Manetti acquired the property as a summer home. Within a few years, and with the help of a beloved
For those enraptured by terroir, perhaps no region in France holds a greater capacity for wonderment than Alsace. Not even Burgundy, with its immensely intricate patchwork of subtly varying Jurassic limestone, can approach Alsace’s geological complexity. We consumers often think of Alsace first and foremost in terms of grape variety; after all, nearly all of
Great vintages are a tango. Nature leads the grower, and the dance is certainly strenuous, but she seems ultimately to want to create something beautiful. Some growing seasons, however, are 15-round boxing matches, with Nature doing her damndest to leave her much smaller opponent utterly crushed. And in 2014 in the Langhe, Mother Nature was
The combination of 2015 white wines and 2014 red wines produced by Domaine Prudhon comprises a rock-solid source of Burgundy of incredible-value.. While the natural richness of a solar vintage like 2015 had the potential to yield unwieldy, unbalanced white Burgundies for those growers who favor a more heavy-handed approach, Prudhon’s chiseled, acid-driven style counterbalanced
Each year, a rapt audience of Piemonte die-hards eagerly awaits the release of a new vintage from the Cappellano family in Serralunga d’Alba. In a zone so seduced by modern methods over the past few decades, Cappellano is the rare estate that never made concessions to technological trickery, never changed their wines to suit the
Twenty years ago, no one could have predicted the Jura’s current popularity. Twenty years or so ago, when we first crossed the threshold of Jacques Puffeney’s cellar door, there was nary a true Jura wine present in the US market. The oxidative whites and perplexing reds produced from the unheard of Trousseau and Poulsard varieties
A New Face in Sancerre Our market here in the United States seems to possess an unquenchable thirst for Sancerre. A clean, fresh wine with plenty of character; a lovely and easy-to-pronounce name; a grape variety everybody knows; what’s not to like? Unfortunately, much like Provençal rosé, the lion’s share of Sancerre is produced from
New Releases: 2016 “Coenobium” and “Ruscum” It’s hard to believe that we are about to receive our twelfth vintage from the sisters of Monastero Suore Cistercensi. Led by Adriana and Fabiola (pictured left), these nuns have been organically farming their five hectares of vines in Vitorchiano (an hour or so north of Rome) in the
Arriving December 16th Giampiero Bea, one of our dearest friends and collaborators, has an uncanny knack for finding and cultivating talent. As co-founder and president of ViniVeri—a well-respected consortium of winegrowers dedicated to producing wine as naturally as possible—he has introduced us to numerous growers whose ethos and aesthetics align with our own (Giovanna Morganti
Power, Precision, and Purity Nuits-Saint-Georges is rarely the first village mentioned when Burgundy enthusiasts begin to wax rhapsodic about their favorite appellations. With their assertive, articulate nature, their ability to deliver visceral mineral intensity, and their sometimes tough and savory flavors, they possess neither the seductive lusciousness of Chambolle-Musigny nor the warm earthiness of Gevrey-Chambertin—and
2015 Pian del Ciampolo and 2014 Montevertine “Montevertine” Few releases garner as much interest and excitement as those from Montevertine. Ever since we announced our partnership in 2006, Martino Manetti’s wines have been touchstones of the RWM portfolio. Fittingly, the duo of wines arriving this September—the 2014 Montevertine “Montevertine” and the 2015 Montevertine “Pian del
It is with much anticipation that we await the release of the 2015 vintage from Domaine Fourrier toward the middle of August. Our tastings of the 2015s with Jean-Marie Fourrier last September (out of barrel) and this past March (just after bottling) revealed another impressive vintage from one of our most exciting and reliable growers.
Benjamin Zidarich and Paolo Vodopivec Terroir, of course, is more than the soil beneath our feet. It is the air around us, and the sky above us. It is the people who work the land, and the cellars in which the wines come to life. It is the distinct soul of a distinct place—a spirit,
Tasting wine in the dark, cool cellar at the fabled Domaine du Clos Naudin is one of the greatest pleasures of our grower visits. Philippe Foreau’s ambient cellar was dug beneath his vineyards and formed from the same tuffeau stone that donates its mineral complexity to these remarkable wines. Philippe always comes prepared and sets
It has been our custom in recent years to let many noteworthy releases arrive at our NY warehouse without any fanfare. Within any given year, there are a throng of important and extremely limited wines that we are compelled to offer and allocate to our clients. We often call your attention to wines that are
Those who decry the lack of access to fine Burgundy need look no further than Domaine Henri Prudhon in Saint-Aubin. While it is undeniably true that the prices of many wines from the most battled-after growers have reached the level of pure commodity, there are still areas of this hallowed region where one can find
2017 marks the 35th year of our partnership with the Rollin family in Pernand-Vergelesses. Over the years, first with Maurice and his son Remi, and today with Remi and his son Simon, this remarkable domaine has provided us with wines of finesse, character, and startling purity—and at prices that put to rest the notion there
On February 6th, we will receive the impressive 2014 vintage wines from Regis Forey. Our visit to his cellar this past September unveiled one of the best lineups we have experienced, perhaps since the great ’89/’90 vintages. Both the 2014 and 2015 vintages show enormous potential, though we were particularly captivated with the purity and
The tiny Cappellano estate in Serralunga d’Alba is beloved worldwide for its steadfastly traditional, charming, and profound Barolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto. But did you know the family invented the sublime elixir known as Barolo Chinato? That’s right: Dr. Giuseppe Cappellano, a pharmacist by trade, developed this uncanny mixture of vintage Barolo with herbs and spices steeped in
Generational shifts in Burgundy can be fraught with anxiety for both winegrower and consumer. The younger generation of vigneron attempts to balance a sense of duty toward tradition and history with a desire to execute a personal vision and philosophy. And the consumer waits with bated breath to see if wines she’s cherished in the
Next year, 2017, Rosenthal Wine Merchant begins its fortieth year in the wine trade. That seems like a very long time. It isn’t actually, I suppose, when you place our presence in the commerce of wine alongside that of several of our producers whose families have been caring for the vine and crafting wines for
Courtesy of our long friendship with Giampiero Bea, the Umbrian wunderkind and son of Paolo Bea, we had the special good fortune of meeting Gaetano and Nicoletta Gargano, the proprietors of Il Censo, an estate of 65 hectares situated in Bivona in the south-central zone of Sicily near the town of Palazzo Adriana, the site