KERMIT LYNCH WINE MERCHANT

CUNA di Federico Staderini

The wine route can often lead us to unsuspecting corners of France and Italy. Usually the promise of a great potential terroir is present, but often the potential of the land itself has been either misunderstood or simply misread, and even more commonly the vigneron in question is struggling to translate a great terroir into the glass. In the sparsely traveled hills of eastern Tuscany, we found a vigneron who had matched his talents to a great terroir and came, saw, and conquered, realizing his vision with inspiring results.

One wishing to visit Cuna from the south would take a small two-lane road winding its way north from Arezzo through eastern Tuscan towns that you have probably never heard of—Rassina, Bibbiena, Poppi—until reaching your final destination in the hills above Pratovecchio. As the crow flies, this is one hour due east of Firenze in the foothills of the Apennine mountains.

Several decades of work as an agronomist and enologist, not to mention being a native of Tuscany and an avid student of history, gave Federico Staderini all the tools he needed to ferret out this forgotten limestone terroir high in the hills of eastern Tuscany, known to the Etruscans long before him. We had known Federico when we collaborated at Poggio di Sotto and his Pinot Nero project at Cuna left our minds running wild with anticipation.

After we toured his vineyards, which seemed abundantly healthy despite the tiny Pinot Noir clusters clinging to each vine, Federico’s pipette began to dip and tour through his small cellar of old barrels, each taste revealing a wine of strong, confident character and surprising finesse. Afterward, a vertical sampling of six older vintages confirmed what had to be tasted to be believed: Federico had unearthed the Holy Grail for producing age-worthy Pinot Nero in Tuscany, and we would import it to the United States for all of our clients to experience.

Ferretti

In 2017, the Brunello di Montalcino Consortium celebrated its 50th birthday. Hard to believe, but at the time of its creation, just twenty-five small farms made up this elite group, which today has grown to more than 200 individual estates. Among the founding members was Ferruccio Ferretti, a grower on the southwestern slope of Montalcino in the area known as Pietrafocaia, named for its incredibly rocky calcareous soils. The family had purchased the farm in 1896, farming grapes for wine and as well as raising livestock and growing grain in this rural part of Tuscany.

Until now, the Ferrettis never bottled their house wine. Despite decades of experience cultivating Sangiovese and vinifying what is now known as Brunello di Montalcino, they had always sold off their wine to other estates to bottle under a different label. But with the 2016 vintage, Ferruccio’s great-grandson, Matteo Perugino, decided that it was time for a change. Having just finished studies in agriculture in nearby Siena and armed with valuable experience working in another Montalcino cellar, Matteo returned to the family farm determined to capture the fruit of his family’s labor—and highlight this special part of the appellation—in bottle.

His decision to largely maintain the traditional methods of working practiced by his uncle, Roberto, and grandfather, Ivo, is logical given the unique slice of Montalcino they call home. While their seven hectares of vineyards enjoy perfect southwest sun exposure, the high elevation has proven crucial to retaining freshness in the wines, especially in light of the warming climate. Even more striking are the soils, exceptionally rich in limestone and littered with blocks of the rock known locally as galestro. Simply put, the Ferrettis are situated in a prime zone for producing top-quality Brunello.

From their sustainably farmed vineyards—Matteo has initiated the process of organic certification—the family bottle a Rosso as well as a Brunello, the latter made from a selection of the best fruit from their oldest vines. Ageing the wines in large Slavonian oak casks, as tradition dictates, allows the intricacy and nuance of the site to shine though, and the terroir of their zone is not shy to express itself in the form of a decisive backbone of savory, stony minerality. The bright acidity, surely a result of the cool nights at this altitude, only serves to highlight the mouthwatering freshness that characterizes Ferretti’s Sangiovese.

Growing up on the farm, Matteo always wanted to make wine, following in the footsteps of his uncle and grandfather. Today, the three generations work side-by-side. Enthusiasts of fine, classically produced Sangiovese will not want to miss the exciting creations from this young Brunello traditionalist.

Giulia Negri

Taking over a well-established Barolo estate at the tender age of 24 is an incredibly daunting prospect, but for Giulia Negri, the latest in a 150-year line of grape growers in the Langhe commune of La Morra, the challenge proved irresistible. After completing studies in management and biology, and fresh off an inspiring trip to Burgundy where she truly began forming her palate, Giulia returned to La Morra motivated to learn all the secrets to making fine wine in her native Piemonte. She started small, releasing microcuvées under her own label, before finally taking over the totality of vineyard management and production in 2014.

In the heart of the Serradenari cru of La Morra—the highest point in the Barolo zone, with vineyards culminating at 536 meters above sea level—Giulia passionately pursues her goal of crafting Barolo with a Burgundian sensibility. In fact, she even inherited small parcels of Chardonnay and Pinot Nero that her father planted on the estate’s cooler, north-facing sites, allowing her to pay tribute to the great wines of the Côte d’Or through the lens of Piemontese soil.

But Nebbiolo reigns in these parts, and Serradenari yields a Barolo of regal pedigree. The elevation, coupled with a complex mosaic of soils unique to this part of the Langhe, sets the stage for Giulia to create Barolos marrying delicate floral aromas and elegant fruit with a deep mineral foundation. With fine-grained, tightly knit tannins, her seductive wines charm in their youth but have the structure for serious bottle aging.

Upon Giulia’s arrival at the helm of the estate, the modest cellar was filled with small Burgundian barriques. After tasting all around the Langhe and learning from some of Barolo’s most distinguished growers, it quickly became clear that large casks were key to preserving Nebbiolo’s tension and mystical energy. With the goal of maximizing an honest expression of terroir, she has gradually replaced the smaller barrels with botti grandi. Her artisanal approach and espousal of traditional production methods extends to sustainable viticulture, eschewal of commercial yeasts and other additives, harvesting by hand, minimizing filtration, and long but gentle macerations in the cellar.

Barologirl, as she has become known, may still be the new kid on the block in La Morra, but tasting her wines reveals a fine touch and devout respect for tradition that already places her wines among the region’s classics. We are happy to urge you to include a bottle of Giulia’s lovely Barolo in your next order, and thrilled for you to see why we added her domaine to our portfolio.

Kuentz-Bas

Maison Kuentz-Bas was first established by the Kuentz family in 1795, and the domaine as we know it today was forged through a marriage that joined the Kuentz and Bas families in 1895. Nestled in the town of Husseren-les-Châteaux, it sits at one of the highest points in Alsace, and the vineyards stretch out from the village over an area of ten hectares. More than two hundred years of tradition and vineyard pedigree have made these wines perennial favorites, with the grand crus of Eichberg and Pfersigberg earning the highest esteem. However, when the family sold the property to famed vigneron Jean-Baptiste Adam in 2004, many wondered what direction the new team would take. Adam, like the estate’s former owners, has a reputation for being an advocate of Alsatian terroir, and he is the fourteenth generation to continue a family winemaking tradition that began as early as 1614. Eager to restore Kuentz-Bas to its former glory, Adam lowered yields significantly and reverted to natural methods, following organic and biodynamic approaches to vineyard work.

Meticulous attention to detail is the defining characteristic of both the viticulture and the vinification at Maison Kuentz-Bas. Winemaker Olivier Raffin, who took over direction of the cellar after Samuel Tottoli’s departure in 2017, puts a strong emphasis on both terroir and accessibility. The wines are divided into two tiers: Tradition, a fresher collection focusing on fruit character, fermented and aged on the lees in oak foudre for 6-8 months and Trois Châteaux, from the domaine’s finest vineyards. The Trois Châteaux wines are fermented and aged in stainless steel tank, then bottled and held for a year before release. Raffin embraces hard work in the vineyards and minimal work in the cellar. Reduced doses of sulfur allow for a greater expression of fruit, and a drier fermentation yields crisp, mineral-laden wines with less residual sugar. The wines are therefore more open than ever while still reflecting the unmistakable character of the vineyards that clients have come to expect from the Maison Kuentz-Bas. Alsace’s noble terroir shines through like never before in the domaine’s wines, making these among the greatest white wine values to be found.

Domaine Jean-Claude Regnaudot

Didier Regnaudot is the type of vigneron we always dream of finding in the Côte d’Or. Alas, there aren’t many like him left. Didier is the fourth generation to manage his family’s property in the beautiful little town of Dézize-les-Maranges, which is on the southernmost edge of the Côte d’Or, up in the hills just west of Santenay. The village is located at 1300 feet above sea level and its terroir is cooler and later ripening than the villages further north, and its vines are more resistant to rot. This is all good.

Historically, red wine from Maranges was known to be the darkest wine of the Côte d’Or, a tannic wine not made to drink immediately, and would keep its color forever. As time goes by, more and more Chardonnay is planted here. Meanwhile, those still making red Burgundy here keep trying formulas to render it more accessible in its youth.

Like his father Jean-Claude and his other ancestors before him, Didier sticks to tradition and we celebrate that. He works old Pinot Noir vines mostly planted right after World War II (some before!) on the steep hillsides just to the east of Dézize. The vines are cordon trained, and planted in the middle saddle of the hillside in deep clay and fossilized limestone. His prized holdings are one hectare in a great premier cru site, “La Fussière,” and a small premier cru parcel just below called “Les Clos Roussots.” His formula is pretty simple: gorgeous, expertly managed vineyards, manual harvest, fermentation in concrete tank, long cuvaison, twelve months in oak, bottling without fining or filtration. The Regnaudots long ago understood what makes Maranges special and are dedicating to preserving that tradition, as unglamorous as it may be to some. Here, we raise our hats to Didier. Tradition means learned from experience, not the latest paraphernalia.

How does this sound? Deep, structured, seriously dark red Burgundies with thickly textured tannins. There’s a nice taste of Burgundian soul in there.

Benoît Cantin

There are less than fifty active viticulteurs in the relatively small northern Burgundy Appellation of Irancy, only twelve of which are situated in the commune of Irancy. Located just southwest of Chablis, Irancy is a picturesque canvas of vineyards planted on hillsides and amphitheaters, all favorably facing south for maximal sun exposure. While it shares the Kimmeridgian limestone soil also found in Chablis, the combes of vineyards here are planted exclusively to red grapes–mainly Pinot Noir–with instances of Gamay and César. Historically, the land was co-planted to vines, wheat, and cherry trees, and not unlike the reds of Sancerre, its wines were a favorite of Parisians due to its close proximity to Paris.

Benoît, with the continued support of his father, Bernard, runs the domaine, farming 16 hectares in Irancy across 10 different lieux-dits. Following in the footsteps of many Cantin generations before him, Benoît began working at the domaine in 1991, bottling his first solo vintage in 1994. His wines display a rustic elegance, an earthy, Burgundian soulfulness, and a structure and depth well above their price point. They are wines of character, with a strong sense of place and typicity, as well as great freshness thanks to the limestone soils in which they are grown.

Domaine Diochon

At the foot of the rolling vineyards of Moulin-à-Vent, just across the road from its famous namesake windmill, Domaine Diochon has been making Beaujolais the old-fashioned way since 1935.  Bernard Diochon, the beloved, mustachioed character immortalized by photographer Gail Skoff, succeeded his father in 1967. As a torch bearer to the ancestral methods passed down to him, Bernard explains,
I like tannic wines without heaviness; with fruit and floral aromas. I don’t like weighty wines with hard tannins. My favorite wines are St Emilion from Bordeaux, and Chambolle-Musigny and Nuits-St-Georges from Burgundy. Every vigneron naturally chooses to make wines in the style they prefer. It works well that Kermit and I share the same taste; it’s what has allowed our relationship to last for so long.
Picking when the grapes are perfectly mature, traditional whole cluster fermentations, aging in large old oak foudres, and bottling unfiltered in the springtime have characterized the house style.
According to Bernard, one of the most unique qualities of the domaine is the quality of the soil that they farm. Crumbly granite allows the vines to plunge easily towards “gore” subsoil, which feeds the vines, while adding a pronounced mineral component to the wine. (James E. Wilson, author of Terroir, explains gore to be an accumulated mass of sand and thin clay deposits with weathered feldspars, mica, and quartz.) Given the old age of his vines, anywhere between forty and one hundred years old, yields are naturally small. These are wines that are easy to enjoy in their youth but can handle years of cellar aging with great ease.
In 2007, Bernard wanted to retire but had no heirs. He appointed Thomas Patenôtre as his heir apparent, which has turned out to be an easy transition. We are grateful that the Diochon tradition continues through Thomas, safeguarding the ancestral methods that distinguish real Beaujolais from the mass-produced and highly over-commercialized juice that floods the market today.

Domaine de la Chanteleuserie

Just outside of the village of Benais, in the heart of the Touraine, sits the lovely Domaine de la Chanteleuserie. This “place where the larks sing,” as the name means, is perched on a limestone plateau in an idyllic landscape. Moïse Boucard, a respected vigneron whom Kermit discovered in 1976, has not only given his good sense of humor and modesty to his son, Thierry, but his winemaking skills, too. The seventh generation of winegrowers at Chanteleuserie and the second generation to be working with KLWM, Thierry now shares the domaine with his wife, Christine.
This is the land of Cabernet Franc, better known locally as “Breton.” While some vignerons in the area add up to 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, the Boucards make pure varietal wines. Bourgueil is among the most age-worthy of the Loire Valley’s reds, and the wines from Domaine de la Chanteleuserie are no exception: their 1976 still drinks well today! Despite their structure, these wines have a suppleness and generosity of fruit that set them apart from most wines produced in the area today.
The Chanteleuserie vineyards enjoy full southern exposure on limestone and clay, with a subsoil of porous, chalky tuffeau that also provides cellars with naturally ideal aging conditions. Thierry keeps yields low and protects his harvest by bringing the grapes in quickly and keeping them cool during destemming. Temperature control continues during fermentation to preserve freshness and acidity, thereby avoiding the rude tannic bite found in some Bourgueils. The wines are later racked into foudres for additional roundness of texture and depth. The “Cuvée Alouettes,” alluding to the name of the domaine, is fresh, supple, fruity, and ready to be drunk young. The Bourgueil “Vieilles Vignes” hails from vines 40-80 years old, and the “Cuvée Beauvais,” from one of Bourgueil’s greatest sites, originates from the tuffeau hillsides near the domaine. Both are delicious young and outstanding when aged.

Domaine de la Cadette

In the village of Saint-Père, along a little creek to the southeast of Vézelay in Burgundy, a quiet, peaceful revolution is taking place. This part of Burgundy has been producing wines for centuries, but estate bottling still represents a relatively recent phenomenon here. In fact, when Jean and Catherine Montanet planted their first vineyards in 1987, the fruit was destined for vinification in their very own cave coopérative, which saw its first vintage bottled in 1990. As general manager of the business, Jean quickly found his feet as a capable vigneron, counseled by coworkers such as the brilliant Bernard Raveneau, who would later introduce Jean to Kermit.

By 1997, the INAO (Institut National des Appellations d’Origines) had awarded Vézelay its own AOC—a timely decision that lends more credibility to the noble work of the Montanets. They began farming organically in 1999, a particularly bold decision given the physical and financial effort required to do so in an area where most wine is sold in bulk. Unable to fully express themselves as vignerons at the coop and determined to continue working organically, the Montanets finally split off and founded their own label, Domaine de la Cadette, taking their vineyards with them. Their son Valentin joined them in 2010 and now manages the domaine, espousing his parents' philosophy of organic farming and natural vinification to craft refreshing, mineral-driven whites and reds.

The vineyard land sits deep in the Morvan, the great mountain range that runs west by northwest of the famous Côte d’Or. The land here is quite exceptional: the creation of the granite massif of the Morvan has uplifted a marl and limestone strata, revealing fossilized marine deposits. Though Vézelay is a geographic appendage of Chablis, the soils are not exactly the same. Instead of the Kimmerdigian soils, the clays here range from blue and gray to red, sometimes with no clay at all but just shallow limestone. While the climate is slightly cooler than in Chablis, the vines enjoy great sun exposure, lending a balance between generous fruit and deep mineral structure. That the wines from Vézelay have gone largely unnoticed until recently may certainly be attributed to an underwhelming production of forgettable wines; however, Domaine de la Cadette stands proudly as a beacon of change, representing the most sincere expression of their terroirs with grace and integrity. Though they are best known for their Bourgogne Vézelay, a Chardonnay, their Bourgogne Rouge and their Melon de Bourgogne are also equally remarkable.

Domaine Maestracci

High in the foothills of Monte Grossu mountain, inland from Calvi, lies the granite plateau of Reginu, an area long known for U Vinu di E Prove – the wine of the Prove, as the micro-climate is known. The particularity of the plateau is the exposition to hot and dry daytime temperatures with high altitude cool nights, all within a short distance from the sea and regular maritime winds.  The plateau has been continuously used for vine and olive growing for centuries, and was once the site of a major olive pressing operation that supplied a large part of France with its olive oil. In 1945, when the owner of the olive oil mill packed up and moved his operation to colonial Algeria in search of bigger land and greater profits, Roger Maestracci saw a golden opportunity and moved in. The departing olive oil baron had left behind a massive concrete structure with walls so thick the air inside stayed cool year round. Originally used to house the mill and the pressed oil, Roger adapted the structure for old wooden casks and concrete tanks and set about replanting vines on the property. Within a few years the domaine had established a firm reputation in the area and when it came time for Roger to retire in the early 1980’s he passed along the reins of the domaine to his son-in-law, Michel Raoust, who has since handed over the winemaking and winery management to his daughter, Camille-Anaïs Raoust. Given the particularity of the terroir and the diverse influence of the temperature variations and granite soils, Camille allows the red an extended time to age and mellow before release, at least two years in large oak casks, while the white is bottled young to maintain the freshness and iodized ocean breeze of the terroir. The wines Camille makes are quintessential Mediterranean food wines.