5/29/26 - 

Un repas sans vins c'est une journée sans soleil... A meal without wine is a day without sunshine. Some folks might agree or disagree, but if you're reading this newsletter, then you're most likely part of the former group! So we begin two days of sunshine in the form of back to back French new arrival emails. Today jumps around the map with wines that have just inbounded and are trickling into the store, and tomorrow we'll focus specifically on the Loire Valley, with even more new arrivals we can't wait to share. Keep in mind the special 10% discount on 6 or more bottles is applicable only to today's offer through the end of the weekend, since many of the Loire wines on Saturday will have low net-pricing and will be non-discountable. 

First, a quick rundown of the highlights from today's lineup, before delving into details with Matassa and Domaine Viret. Abracadabra! - Our friend Hannah Fuellenkemper has been making wine in France for several years, after moving from Germany to the US to London to Amsterdam and then bopping around Ardeche, the Loire and finally settling down in the Auvergne. Though we don't have any hipper than hip Auvergne wine for you today, we do have two new releases from Hannah that are deeeelicious and perfectly timed for the Summer. Speaking of Ardeche and the Loire, we have the tried and true Gourmandise from Domaine Ozil in the Ardeche, what we'll have to assume is the last drop of the fantastic 2023 vintage of Le Telquel from Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme in the Loire, along with only 2 cases of Zoé and Thierry Puzelat's Clos du Tue-Boeuf Vin Rosé from the 2025 vintage. A couple of unassuming yet exuberant wines from Julie and Toby Bainbridge cap off our Loire picks (stay tuned for tomorrow's offer for more!). From the Jura - possibly usurped as the hippest region by the Auvergne lately? - we have two very stately wines, the distinct and chiseled (and unmistakably Jurassian) Chardonnay 'Tohu Bohu' from Didier Grappe, and the elegant Les Devers Pinot Noir from Domaine La Patelle, which is tasting great in the 2023 vintage. From neighboring Savoie and new to the shelves is the delightful and fresh Mondeuse Le Coz from Domaine Vendange, a small estate in Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny headed by Benjamin and Diane Vendange. Benjamin comes from a family with a long history in the nursery business, taking over about ten hectares of land to make wines in 2015. Their wines are focused and precise, with pure mountain fruit and characteristic levity that makes Savoie so special.

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Matassa

Domaine Matassa began in the early 2000s, when Tom and a friend from New Zealand bought a small plot in the Roussillon called Clos Matassa. Tom had spent over a decade in South Africa working with Louise Hofmeyer at a domaine called Welgemeend, which was the only winery in the 90s that was dedicated to native yeast fermentation. He traveled to the Roussillon to work at Domaine Gauby, and ended up being invited to work full-time. After his time at Gauby, Tom found some land with which to begin his own project and the rest is history! Tasting with Tom over the years has revealed an upwards arch in the clarity and balance of his wines. Though this is partly due to changes he has made to his approach at harvest time and in the cellar, it is also a direct effect of the diligent work he does in the vineyard, with cover crops, and regenerative agriculture. Some of Tom's new releases from the 2025 vintage have just arrived and we're happy to share them today.

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Philippe Viret

In late January of 2025, when I arrived in Montpellier, France for the beginning of the "Wine Salon" season, I noticed several french winemakers and cavistes (retailers) drinking Philippe Viret's wines. Though the wines were not new to me, the amount of Viret bottles that were being shared did catch my attention. I found out that night that Philippe had passed away only a couple of weeks prior. There was a somber mood about it, as it was not because of natural causes or health-related illness, but the darker culprit in the wine world. His influence is not necessarily internationally renowned, but winemakers in France all know who Philippe was and how he furthered an ideal and a philosophy and helped pave the way for a younger generation of natural winemakers. Today we offer wines from this historic estate, including some back-vintages of Philippe's top red, Emergence.  -Eben Lillie

For more backstory, Philippe Viret formulated and essentially "patented" the concept and practice of Cosmoculture, which was first developed by his father. Pulling from many ancient traditions, Cosmocutlure could be likened to Biodynamics in its respect of lunar patterns and also energy fields and telluric currents. Though it might sound a bit "new-age," it's more accurately a look back to how ancient civilizations observed water sources and planetary movement to inform how, where, and what they would plant. The wines come from the southern Rhone Valley, are aged often for many years in concrete, and are undeniably Rhone wines, with a lot of soul! From their website, they explain a bit about the approach:

"For over 20 years, we have been producing wine from Cosmoculture. Our ambition is to make great wines without using oenological inputs and/or by limiting the addition of external products. Our viticultural practices are very demanding, and follow the specifications of Cosmoculture. We have banned all adjustments and additives from our winemaking, with the exception of SO2 with a maximum dose of 20mg/L. We want to promote our terroir, as well as the qualities and know-how of the people who work it."

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