Made of Gamay and Poulsard grapes, farmed biodynamically in the Bugey, in the foothills of the Jura mountains in the Savoie, Renardat-Fache Cerdon is a rose sparkling wine that is a veritable tonic for dulled senses. First you notice the color, an incredible, resonant magenta tone with streaks of super fine bubbles running up the sides of the glass. Aromatically this wines is all about strawberries and wet stone. On the palate it simply explodes with luscious, light-hearted, un-cloying sweetness, leading to a finish that is super crisp and makes you want to gulp down the glass and pour another.  This wine is fermented in what is known as “methode ancestrale”  whereas the still wine is left unfinished with a certain percentage of residual sugar, after bottling the naturally present sugar and yeast initiate the secondary fermentation and the bubbles are created. Afterwards the wine is filtered and capped with a Champagne cork. Yes the wine is a bit sweet, but it is so crisp and delicious that even the most dry-obsessed drinker can’t helped be charmed. Crafted with care and tasting of untamed deliciousness, Renardat-Fache Cerdon is the perfect way to begin a dinner party, a night on the town, or just a great way to perk up your afternoon. Fear not the sugar and embrace the goodness of this most singular vinous delight.

Though no longer entirely unknown in the U.S. the Sherry bottlings from Equipo Navazos are still largely under the radar of most wine lovers. Headed by Jesus Barquin, Equipo Navazos is a “team” of experts in Southern Spain that travel tirelessly throughout Jerez searching for the most profound casks or “butts” that they than purchase and bottle as La Bota de . . . (fino, manzanilla etc.) number . . .

Sherry, as many wine writers and critics love to point out, has never really caught on in the U.S.; but here in NYC wines made in a oxidatative manner (from the Jura etc.) as well as “orange wines” are increasingly popular and not just among the upper eschelons of wine geekdom. So perhaps the palate en masse is finally ready to explore this profound and ancient wine-producing region? Of course this idea of Sherry on the cusp seems to come up every few years. What I do know is that we recently opened a bottle of the La Bota de Fino No. 27 here at UVA and some of the staff who are otherwise ambivalent about Sherry slowly came around after several sips to the greatness of this wine. Those of us who are already convinced (myself included) were head over heels in love. It is quite simple an astounding bottle of wine with excellent texture and richness, intense and ever-changing aromatics and incredible length.

Burgundy, like any cool climate, is very sensitive to vintage, and the warmth of the 2009 vintage is immediately apparent when you try the wine. That’s OK. Even hard-core Burgundy enthusiasts like to have some wine with easy, approachable ripe fruit in their cellar, if only to keep yourself amused while waiting for the more serious 2008s and 2010s to come around. And if you only dabble in Burgundy, 2009 is certainly a great place to get your lips wet.

But far more important than vintage is good wine-making. Great wine-makers like Fourrier, Lafarge, Simon Bize and Barthod succeed in making serious age-worthy wines in almost every vintage. In 2009, they have the great fruit of the vintage, but somehow managed to keep the freshness and terroir definition that Burg-lovers crave.

Barthod & Fourrier will arrive in the next few months. But we do have some Bize and Lafarge in stock. These are precocious wines that are seriously impressive. Not quite opulent, but a great combination of great fruit and an integrated structure that make the wines complex and highly drinkable. It is not surprising that the Bize wines are already drinking well (Bize is always good both young and old); more surprising is how delicious the Lafarge wines are already.

I met both Bize and Lafarge last year in Burgundy. They are both humble farmers with soil under their finger nails. They are both obsessed with caring for each individual vine so that it produces the very best fruit possible given the weather. They both do almost nothing in the cellar, confident that their beautiful grapes will transform themselves into delicious Burgundy with minimal assistance from humans. As the 2009s show, what they do — and what they don’t do — is working.

Eric Pfifferling has been a favorite producer of mine since I had a glass of his wonderful Tavel Rose at Le Baratin in Paris.  But even though Tavel is world renown for its Rose wine, Pfifferling has beem transforming our perspective on this section of the Southern Rhone and crafting some truly exciting red wines.  Pfifferling farms following biodynamic principles and is solely focused on the health of his vineyards, the quality of the fruit and the ultimate expression of the Wines.  The 2010 vintage gave wines of uncommon elegance in many terroirs across Europe and at L’Anglore this is no exception.  ”Vejade” 2010 is 100% Mourvedre and 100% mind-blowingly delicious.  Aromatically, the wine is all about dark, very ripe red fruits but with the distinctive floral and spice notes that truly great Mourvedre can deliver.  On the palate, there is just layer upon layer of silky fruit leading to a dusty, mineral, and fresh finish.  Although there was a little carbonic gas when we opened the bottle, over the course of two hours it continued to open up and reveal its secrets.  This is an incredibly fresh and drinkable wine.  Check out what we have from this great winemaker here.

Finding delicious Piemontese Nebbiolo of real quality at a price that is affordable is becoming harder and harder to do.  As always, the answer is the same: you’ve got to find the small producers who fly under the radar, who are driven by quality and tradition.  This is certainly the case at Eugenio Bocchino, an estate spanning 5.5 hectares across the classic communes of La Morra, Verduno, Roddi and Alba.  They produce just over 1800 cases of wine per year and give the same attention to detail to the base level wines as they do to the Baroli.  The grapes are hand harvested, fermented in tank, and then aged in a combination of small and medium sized French oak barrels.  Aromatically, the Langhe Nebbiolo is classic Piemonte with rose petals, black cherries,  fennel, and tar leading to a silky palate that has great length and concentration.  It has very pure, dark red fruit and a structure that has nice firmness and grip without being overbearing.  It is an excellent choice for a cool night and plate of Osso Bucco or a nice Rissoto with wild mushrooms.

Sunday afternoon was cold and grim in Brooklyn and we were looking for something special to lighten the mood.  We opened a bottle of Jean-Baptists Senats “Arbalets et Coquelicots,” a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Cinsault from organically farmed vines averaging around 30 years of age grown in clay and limestone rich soils.  For this cuvee, Senat uses a combination of de-stemmed and whole clusters and ferments the wine in vat before before selecting some of the juice for elevage in barrel.  The end result is a wine that is bursting with spicy, black Grenache fruit.  Aromatically this is very lively and gives up the cool mineral signature of the limestone right away.  Beyond that, layers of crushed herbs and a touch of black olive brine keep bringing your nose back to the glass.  The Wine is freshly styled and speaks of the southern sun without even hinting at a possibility of overripeness.  All in all a delicious, ebullient wine that is freshly styled and super drinkable.  A great way to warm your bones in these cold days.

The 2009 Vintage set all kinds of records in Bordeaux, most notably the sky high prices that the top wines were earning.  It is a vintage of power and ripeness, producing opulent wines with incredible richness.  Even if the wines were not priced at astronomical levels, the amount of time it will take for some of the top cuvees to come of age will mean drinking these wines with our grandchildren. However, we can take advantage of the forward qualities of the vintage to find some incredible vinous values.  Chateau L’Escart “Cuvee Eden” is a wine that we have proudly sold for years, but the 2009 might be there most appealing effort yet.  A classic blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, this old-school styled wine is earthy and herbacious with a nice linear structure.  Where even base level wines from Bordeaux can be quite tough and tannic in their youth, 2009 was so ripe that the tannins here are quite velvety and giving, making this a wines that you can easily pop and pour.  With plenty of cassis and graphite on the nose, this tastes exactly as you would want it to.  Now I’m off to cook steak au poivre and pretend my kitchen is a Parisian bistro.

Vincent Dauvissat is one of the greatest producers of white wines.  Possessing vines in the greatest climats of Chablis, his wines are able to conjur emotional reactions from even the most jaded Burgundy lover.  The 2010  vintage, as we have stated many times before on this site, is perfect storm for folks who truly love classically styled Burgundy with a focus on acidity, freshness and clarity of terroir.  Of the limited wines that we have from this incredibly short vintage, the Petit Chablis is drinking now and bringing clean, citrus and floral aromas leading to incredible minerality and vigor on the palate.  These are wines of the highest quality that also really reward some time in the cellar.  For those who like a touch of maturity, this Petit-Chablis will offer some serious rewards with only moderate time laying down.  If I sound effusive, it is because that quality of the wines is simply that good.  Click here to see our full selection from Dauvissat.

It’s Wednesday night and you are planning a simple meal of roast chicken with some root vegetables and a nice salad.  You walk into Uva looking for something that is no-fuss and affordable but delicious enough to be worthy of your hard work in the kitchen.

It’s Sunday afternoon and you are hosting friends for cheese and charcuterie and need a fresh, easy drinking red that is complex and drinkable that won’t get lost among all the strong flavors.

You are throwing a dinner party for 10 people and your friends drink a lot of wine.  You need something that is classic, crowd pleasing and priced so you can buy a whole case without worrying about the rent.

The answer to these questions and many more can be found in a bottle of Jean-Marc Villemaine Gamay 2010.  For $11 you get a fresh, juicy, mineral driven, balanced red with enough structure to stand up to all manner of cuisine but with a fun-loving, ultra-drinkable personality that makes it a welcome, jovial guest at your table.  Farmed in the Touraine, in the center of the Loire Valley, this 100% Gamay has bright acidity and gorgeous high-toned black and red fruits and at a price that insures that we are squarely in the realm of super value-super delicious.

The first red Burgundy to arrive from the stellar 2010 vintage is Les Faverelles, “Cuvee Nez de Muse.”  Grown in Vezelay, the northern most reaches of Burgundy, following strict biodynamic principles, this is hand harvested, destemmed and fermented in large tronconic oak vats.  After fermentation, the wine spends one year of elevage in oak barrels that are a minimum of 5 years old. The parcel consists of 50+ year old vines grown in blue-clay soils.  In addition to standard  Pinot Noir, this wine contains 3% of Cesar, a grape indigenous to the Yonne.  Although Cesar, on it’s own, produces incredibly tough, bitter wines and is quite out of fashion, when used in small quantities it can add just the right touch of grip.  This wine is quite light, coming in at only 11% alcohol but the age of the vines and the quality of the site really sing.  Bursting with fresh red fruits and haunting herbaciousness, this wine offers layers of flavors and a ton of drinkability without every being tough or out of balance.  Stop by Uva to pick up a bottle and find out why 2010 is simply out of sight.