KERMIT LYNCH WINE MERCHANT

Silvio Giamello

Like most families in the Langhe, the Giamellos started out with a polyculture estate that included small parcels of vines, grain, forest, and pastures where their animals grazed. The bulk of the grape harvest was sold off, but the family made enough wine for their own consumption. This system continued for three generations until the 1950s, when farm life became less profitable and many families left the area to find factory work in the cities. Brothers Luigi and Ercole Giamello stayed but launched a trucking company to supplement their income—the first motorized transportation service in the area—and in their absence their mother took care of the daily vineyard work, wisely replanting much of their land to vines. When the economy improved in the ‘70s Luigi was able to return to the domaine full-time, focusing more on wine production and eventually passing the reins to his son and daughter-in-law, Silvio Giamello and Marina Camia. This fourth generation continues to make wine the only way they can imagine: all vineyard work is natural and chemical-free, and the vinification techniques are purely traditional.
La Licenziana remains the archetypal artisanal estate, with very small quantities produced entirely by the family. When clients come to visit, Silvio humbly presents the wines, and his two young sons invariably burst into the winery with their mother following close behind, then gently leading them back into the house after greeting the guests. The Giamellos often finish tastings by blowing us away with an older vintage from their tiny personal stock. There’s no mistaking it: this is the real thing—old-fashioned Barbaresco with the terroir shining through. Each year we take every last bottle that Silvio can spare, but it’s never enough to satisfy all of his fans!

Mas Champart

Isabelle and Matthieu Champart were relatively new to winegrowing when they first took over Domaine Bramefan (as her family’s farm is also known), in Saint-Chinian, in 1976. Isabelle was a Parisian with a degree in Geography, while Matthieu came from a family of farmers in Champagne. For nearly twelve years they sold their grapes to the local cooperative. Though they waited until 1988 to bottle under their own label, they won almost instant acclaim, and have become the standard against which other producers in the appellation have been measured ever since. Matthieu tends to the vines, and Isabelle makes the wines—that their home is surrounded by their vineyards makes their division of labor all the more poetic. The Champarts have made significant changes to their business over the years. While the domaine started from just a simple, humble, stone farmhouse, they later added a winery and have expanded the holdings from eight to twenty-five hectares (sixteen of which are consecrated to vineyards, the remaining nine to arable crops and orchards). The terroir here is a patchwork of soils: steep slopes of clay and limestone (Mourvèdre), brightly colored marl (Carignan & Syrah), limestone (Syrah & Grenache) and lower slopes of clay and sandstone (Cabernet Franc). They live among their old vines on a gentle slope and have slowly started integrating more organic practices into their farming. Though the wines are easy to appreciate now for their inky complexity, they age extremely well and shine after some decanting.
Kermit wants to add that Isabelle is also one of his favorite cooks. He always tries to land an eleven a.m. appointment on the off chance they will invite him to stay for lunch.

Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe

One cannot think of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the most celebrated cru of the southern Rhône, without thinking of Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe. The Brunier family is legendary in its own right, having been rooted to the enigmatic plateau known as La Crau for over one hundred years. The wines of Vieux Télégraphe evoke the concept of terroir in its purest form: they reflect their dramatic climate, the rough terrain that defines the soil, their full sun exposure at a higher altitude, the typicity of the varietals with an emphasis on Grenache, and of course, the influence of their caretakers, the Brunier family. For many, La Crau is Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s grandest cru.

The Bruniers’ story begins in 1898 with Hippolyte Brunier. A modest farmer who lived off the land, Hippolyte kept less than a hectare of vines to make his own wines. His small vineyard was at one of the highest points in between Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Bédarrides, a stony plateau called La Crau. The elevation of this terrain had prompted the construction of a communication tower in the late 18th century to transmit telegraph messages between Marseille and Paris. Otherwise, the allure of this barren landscape is not immediately discernable—there is nothing but galets roulés, or rounded stones, as far as the eye can see. Up so high, the vineyards are exposed to all kinds of elements—rain, hail, scorching sunshine, and especially the unruly Mistral. This was unwelcome terrain where only the toughest vigneron dare plant, although the notorious Mistral works wonderfully to prevent rot.

However difficult to farm, Hippolyte saw how the wine from his parcel pleased others, and he began bottling more, gradually increasing his vineyard holdings to sixteen hectares. His sons helped work the farm, although most of the grapes were being sold off as premium fruit to négociants. The Bruniers weathered many storms—not the least of which was the ravaging of their vineyards by phylloxera. Hippolyte’s grandson, Henri, eventually joined the family business, and with him came great changes: replanting the vineyards, the construction of a new winery, bringing temperature control into the winery to protect the wines during fermentation, and most importantly, launching the Domaine’s first bottlings under the Vieux Télégraphe label.

After years of closer study, La Crau proved to be a privileged vineyard site. At the extreme southeast of the appellation, a large three-meter trench in the vineyard reveals its stratifications, millions of years in the making. The layers show early alluvial deposits, limestone, silica, and a robust red clay (known as molasse) that has come to characterize this terrain. Sitting on the surface of the soil, the galets hold important functions: they insulate the vines from both the cold and the heat, and they provide ideal drainage for the roots.

Kermit first met Henri and his wife, Maguey, in the mid-seventies. As Henri began to filter the wine around 1980, Kermit asked that his blend remain unfiltered. When the Bruniers had tasted the results of several vintages, they returned to an unfiltered bottling for their entire production. Henri retired in 1988 and left the Domaine in the hands of his two sons, Daniel and Frédéric. The Brunier brothers have significantly expanded the family’s holdings on La Crau to seventy hectares, and have boldly expanded their winemaking ventures into new territory. They created the second label for Vieux Télégraphe known as “Télégramme,” purchased Domaine La Roquète in Châteauneuf, and joined forces with Kermit Lynch to buy the historic Domaine Les Pallières in Gigondas.

The wines of V.T. are classic, displaying strength, rusticity, earthiness, and tremendous longevity. The final assemblage consists solely of old-vine fruit from La Crau, imparting incredible depth, concentration, and a filtered-through-stones minerality that provides excellent freshness. The greatness of the domaine is just as much a tribute to the Bruniers as it is to La Crau—they have the ability to make great wine even in difficult vintages. Their goal is to find a harmony between aromatic complexity, tannic structure, and richness, which they achieve year after year. The maligned 1984 vintage is still a marvelous wine.

The grapes from the younger vines—still over twenty years old—make up V.T.’s second label, “Télégramme.” The concept was born after the ill-fated 2002 vintage, when flooding around harvest led the Bruniers to downgrade “La Crau” due to the torrid conditions. The resulting wine, dubbed “Télégramme,” saw significant success, prompting Daniel and Frédéric to produce the cuvée yearly from fruit they deem not worthy of the “La Crau” label. They have since supplemented it with fruit from vineyards they acquired upon purchasing Domaine La Roquète, always striving for a more accessible contrast to the earthy, deeply structured style of Vieux Télégraphe. The elegance and velvety texture make “Télégramme” easy to appreciate in its youth, with rich, generous, red fruit, uncharacteristic freshness, and beautifully integrated tannins. Its finesse and drinkability make it the Châteauneuf-du-Pape for restaurant lists and for wine lovers who do not have a cellar for aging.

The range of the Bruniers’ other projects has served to express the variety of terroirs in the region, representing a diversity that defies any stylistic pigeonholing. For more information on the Bruniers’ projects, please see the following:

Famille Brunier (Le Pigeoulet, Mégaphone, Piedlong)
Domaine La Roquète
Domaine Les Pallières

Domaine Roland Lavantureux

With a sharp eye, natural instinct, and solid Burgundian pragmatism, Roland Lavantureux made a name for himself crafting no-nonsense Chablis that has come to be one of the most reliable of the old reliables here at Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant. Upon his completion of wine school in Beaune, Roland founded the domaine in 1978 in the town of Lignorelles, about four miles northwest of Chablis. Today, his two sons have taken over the Domaine: Arnaud is in charge of the vineyards and cellar, while David takes the lead in marketing and sales. In addition to making a stunning Chablis, the Lavantureux family also bottles a mouth-watering Petit Chablis, which, depending on the vintage, can easily rival their more highly pedigreed bottling—only proving the unwavering consistency of the Lavantureux family that has kept our relationship with them so strong for over thirty-five years.
The region is best known for its Kimmeridgian soils, a highly prized terroir of limestone and clay infused with tiny, fossilized oysters. The intensely chalky sea-shell minerality lends deep complexity to whites, making this region an ideal home for the Chardonnay grape. The Portlandian soils in the extension of the Chablis appellation, known as Petit Chablis, may not enjoy the same reputation as the Kimmeridgian, yet they imbue the wines with a crisp, lively freshness and zesty, citrusy aromas that speak to the deep mineral component of northern Burgundy. There is no accounting for these imaginary appellation boundaries, because the pedigree of the wines is palpable. As Roland once told Kermit, “I don’t know why the INAO named some vines ‘Chablis’ and others ‘Petit.’ When I stand in the middle of my vineyard, the row to my left is Chablis, to the right it is Petit Chablis, but you can’t see any difference.”
Since joining the family operation, the young Arnaud and David have shown remarkable ambition and precision in their work ethic: they have increased the family holdings to twenty-one hectares, adding single-vineyard cuvées while constantly striving for more complexity and layered texture in the mineral-driven beauties they produce. The Lavantureux wines display show-stopping nerve, to be enjoyed as easily before dinner as they are with a piece of grilled fish or oysters-on-the-half-shell. These wines drink as honestly as the people who make them; they are staff favorites year after year.

Domaine de Terrebrune

Before acquiring vineyards, Georges Delille trained as a sommelier in Paris.  In 1963, he bought what would become Domaine de Terrebrune, a property in Ollioules, just east of Bandol, framed by the Mediterranean and the mountain called Gros-Cerveau (Big Brain), dotted with olive groves and scenic views—an idyllic spot. During the years following the declaration of A.O.C. Bandol (1941), mass overhauling and reconstruction of vineyards were commonplace, and vignerons were eager to revive the noble Mourvèdre grape. Georges spent ten years just renovating the property; he terraced hillsides, refashioned the masonry, replanted vineyards following the advice of Lucien Peyraud, designated soils to lie dormant and regenerate, and built a new cellar. In 1980, his son Reynald joined him after finishing winemaking school, and together they launched their first bottled vintage of Domaine de Terrebrune, which Reynald named in honor of the rich, brown soils they farm.
Reynald’s Bandols are different. There is a more ethereal quality to them, a real freshness—and with Mourvèdre accounting for 85% of the final assemblage, this is praise indeed. Soil, climate, and winemaking all play a role. Limestone dominates the subsoil of Bandol, with tremendous variation between vineyards. Throughout Terrebrune’s thirty hectares, beneath the layers of clay and earth, the blue, fissured, Trias limestone is silently at work. This bedrock lends a more noticeable minerality to the wine than others. The soil here is healthy and full of nutrients, because he adheres to organic farming practices; to achieve the balance in the vineyards, he plows regularly. Gentle maritime breezes funnel air into the vineyards directly from the Mediterranean, cooling the grapes from the bright sun—another factor in safeguarding the freshness. This, in turn translates to wines for great long-term cellaring, including the rosé and dry white. Reynald’s credo of “Philosophy, Rigor, and Respect” is not a catch-phrase. He believes that the hard work and extra attention to the vines is worth it, and, as they say, the proof’s in the pudding—a glass of Terrebrune!

Alex Foillard

To say that Gamay runs in the blood would not be such a terrible exaggeration for Alex Foillard. The son of “Gang of Four” Morgon producer Jean Foillard, Alex had early exposure to the world of wine, and more specifically, to the principles of sustainable farming and low-intervention winemaking that brought his father to stardom in natural wine circles, along with like-minded neighbors such as Marcel Lapierre, Guy Breton, and Jean-Paul Thévenet.

Alex’s involvement in the family business began at a young age, as he took an early interest in the vineyards and enjoyed helping his father pick grapes during harvest. Intent on carrying on the family tradition of producing handcrafted cru Beaujolais, Alex studied agriculture at the Lycée Agricole in Montpellier, then earned a degree in viticulture and enology in Beaune, while simultaneously interning at a well-respected domaine in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Upon finishing his studies, he sought to earn further experience in vinification via additional internships in Australia plus another with a producer in Japan. Upon returning home to the Beaujolais, in 2015, Alex truly began dedicating himself to the family domaine.

The following year, and only twenty-four years old, he purchased his very own vineyards. With roughly a hectare each in the crus of Brouilly and Côte-de-Brouilly, Alex successfully diversified the Foillard cellars, until then full of Morgon along with the odd barrel of Fleurie. Though the vineyards were not certified organic, he immediately began working them according to organic principles. The 2016 vintage marked his first harvest.

Jean’s influence is evident in Alex’s solo cuvées: the wines have a seductive aromatic component, a silky texture, and a downright deliciousness that is unmistakably Foillard. After all, Alex used tried-and-true techniques to craft his wines: whole-cluster fermentation with natural yeasts, no fining or filtration, and no additives of any kind save for a minute sulfur dose at bottling. The new generation at Domaine Foillard has burst onto the scene with a bang, and the future is full of exciting possibilities for this talented Beaujolais youngster.

Sommariva

For several generations the Sommariva family worked the vines on the high plains of the Veneto, growing a mix of French and local varietals and selling off most of their crop as was common practice at the time, but it was Caterino Sommariva who pinpointed the slopes as the best place for vines and began purchasing hillside vineyards together with his wife Urbana in the 1970s. The couple also had great faith in the Prosecco varietal (now known by its historical name, Glera) and decided to plant it exclusively on their new property, which gradually grew as they continued to snatch up adjacent parcels over the years. This great foresight put them in a very advantageous position when Prosecco and the hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene began to gain recognition in the late ‘80s for the light, clean sparkling wine we know so well today. Caterino and Urbana’s daughter Cinzia remembers watching her parents work and thinking as a child how hopelessly difficult the harvest seemed; so she chose another path in life and pursued studies in marketing. As she got older, though, she regularly returned to the estate and began to see her parents’ work through different eyes, slowly discovering her own passion for the hard work of winemaking. She eventually joined them and has since become a dynamic and enthusiastic partner in the estate.
The name Palazzo Rosso, meaning red building or palace, is a historic epithet for the zone that refers to the russet color of the earth here due to its high content of iron and other micronutrients. Despite Prosecco’s reputation for being light and easy, the Sommarivas take their work very seriously, adhering to eco-friendly practices in the vineyards, harvesting manually, and keeping a very close watch over the vinification process while many of their neighbors settle for easier methods and mediocre wine. These are perfectionists who only sit back once the work is done and it’s time to enjoy the delightfully fresh, elegant fruits of their labor.

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 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 Prébende

Domaine de la Prébende produces a deeply mineral Beaujolais from a predominantly clay and limestone terroir, a rarity in a region dominated by granite soils. “Une prébende” essentially means “a tax,” and the domaine sits on the location where monks used to collect taxes from the villagers. As Ghislaine Dupeuble puts it, “Monks didn't like to own low end vineyards!”

The Prébende Beaujolais cuvée, “Anna Asmaquer,” is named for Ghislaine's great grandmother, who married Jules Dupeuble in 1919. The family wanted to add her name to the label because it was Anna who managed the vineyards and winemaking—she is the true source of inspiration for what has become Domaine de la Prébende today.

The Anna Asmaquer Beaujolais is an old vines blend with profound minerality, a bright wild berry nose, and possesses typique Beaujolais finesse. The grapes are harvested manually and vinified completely without SO2. The wines are not chaptalized, filtered, or degassed and only natural yeasts are used for the fermentation. La Prébende crafts one of the best Beaujolais AOC values available today.