Thanks to a little fancy footwork between our buyer Justin and our friends at The Ten Bells and Diner we are pleased to announce the arrival of some 2009 Domaine Philippe Tessier wine. The wines of Tessier are pure expressions of the terroir of Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny, produced naturally and organically (awaiting certification) with an amazing amount of cleanliness and focus. The Cheverny Rouge is a traditional blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir with ripe red fruits, earth and a dry, almost raspy finish that is immediately refreshing especially when served chilled. The Cour-Cheverny is my favorite example of Romorantin these days because it highlights the crazy perfumed aromatics of the variety along with the cloudy texture of naturally made white wine but remains zippy and focused thanks to perfectly balanced acidity. And the best news? We are selling them both for just $15!

Another great trip abroad — here are a few lessons learned:

1. Red 2008s are much better than initial assessments. These wines have incredible life and freshness, and are bigger than the 2007s. You can already see it for yourself with great bourgogne rouges from good producers like Rion or Lignier Michelot.

2. White 2008s are flat out awesome. They have the freshness and minerality that you had in 2007 (and that has been sadly absent in other recent vintages), but are much more forward and approachable. All the great ones will of course need time, but so many are already delicious, like this Montagny from Cognard.

3. Yes, the hype about 2009 is warranted. Mugnier’s Musigny out of barrel was insane, but the great thing about this vintage is that lots of “lesser” wines will be extra delicious. Can’t wait to get my hands on some Bourgogne rouge…

4. Great wine makers are magicians. They don’t have a secret recipe. I’ve tasted plenty of wine made by producers who on paper were doing everything right, but the wine sucked. Then you taste the wines of folks like Bachelet, Lafarge and Simon Bize. All these guys use different recipes, and they constantly have to adapt to different vintage conditions. But year after year they make delicious wines. It’s all about instinct and intuition, honed over years — even generations — of observation and experimentation. This is why should find producers with a great track record that make wines in the style that you like at prices you can afford, and stick with them. Don’t skip the so-called off vintages — just drink them sooner!

Though it is officially still spring, the sultry, humid days of summer are already here and if you’re like me this means it is time to throw some steak on the grill. What to pair with steak is a suprisingly common question at UVA, surprising because the easy answer is almost anything you want. Of course a light, crisp white may not be the perfect thing but really anything from a well structured rose to a perfectly mature Rioja Gran Reserva will do quite nicely. The most important thing is to drink what you like. That being said, here are my top three summer steak wines of the moment:

Chezeaux, Bourgogne Rouge 2007 $19. You don’t need a dark, monstrous wine especially when you’re outdoors. This Pinot Noir is fresh and bright and takes well to a little chill, but still has plenty of tannic structure and length to compliment a thick, rare t-bone.

Montesecondo, Chianti Classico 2006 $25. Tuscany produces some of the best beef in the world, and their wines are a natural complement. Of course Brunello will do just fine, but this traditional, naturally made Chianti is mouth-filling, rustic and extremely refreshing.

Mas de Libian, Vin de Petanque 2009 $13. A Southern French blend of Grenache and Syrah that is both robust and nimble and is perfect when you have a ton of people coming over and a ton of skirt or flank steak sizzling away.

At UVA our devotion to beverages derived from the fermentation of grapes is obvious, but we also have a few delicious examples of what can be accomplished through the fermentation of apples.

In northern regions where grapes do not thrive apples often do. The most famous example is the Normandy region of France where centuries old orchards produce some three hundred varieties of apples. From these apples comes one of the world’s best digestifs, Calvados, and also a distinct type of cider. Our current selection is from Cyril Zangs: loaded with rich, honeyed apples and an earthy, nutty complexity it is all-natural and awesome.

Then we have a couple examples of the cider produced near the maritime border of France and Spain, where both grapes and apples do quite well. The first is a traditional Basque cider, Isastegi, which is bone dry and has almost no bubble. The refreshing sourness is sometimes compared to Kombucha, but I like it way better. We have both 750ml’s and 375ml’s available.

Second is an atypical style of cider from nearby in Asturia. Usually cider here is similiar to the Basque style above, but the Poma Aurea is a bottle fermented version that is fully sparkling, very dry and tingly and absolutely delicious. Like all of the above it is lower in alcohol than most wine and so makes a perfect afternoon or brunch time beverage.

Kermit Lynch, a hero to the French for playing an important role in reviving French wine culture, is far less famous for his Italian wine imports, but he definitely has a few worth checking out. At the top of my list these days are two beautiful Barberas from the Cantine Valpane in Monferrato, Piedmont.

Like almost all of Kermit’s wines, these are made naturally, with minimal human intervention, and express closely their local terroir. Even better, these wines were aged for several years in the winery’s cellars before their release, and they are now in a very good place. Yes, although fresh young Barbera is a tasty beverage, serious Barbera with bottle age like these can be truly great. Here’s what we have:

Valpane, Barbera de Monferrato “Perlydia”, 2003 ($22) – Although a tough vintage in most of Europe for producing roasted, low acid wines, the vintage conditions actually complemented the Barbera grape perfectly. Almost all the 2003’s I drink are Barberas.

Valpane, Barbera de Monferrato “Perlydia”, 2001 ($22) – This is a great Piedmont vintage and the Barberas are no exception. Definitely less fruit and more evolved notes than the 2003.

The wines may be purchased here.

We’ve already done several posts on the joys of Beaujolais, but there other great options when you want to enjoy a bottle of red wine on a warm day. Most of my favorites are from the Loire Valley in central France were they use the Gamay grape just like Beaujolais but also make great, lighter bodied reds from varieties as diverse as Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Cot (Malbec) and Pineau d’Aunis. Here is what I’ve enjoyed recently:

Clos du Tue Boeuf, La Butte 2009 $15, young Gamay with classic Loire minerality from the Puzelat brothers.

Herve Villemade, Cheverny Rouge 2008 $17, a distinct, earthy take on this classic bistro blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay.

Bernard Baudry, Chinon 2008 $18, a lighter, fresher version from this well known Appellation, 100% Cabernet Franc.

Thierry Puzelat, In Cot We Trust 2007 $21, Malbec from the Loire has the same dark fruit, but with more lift and brightness.

All of these wines are completely organic, in fact biodynamic and are perfect served with a slight chill, enjoy!

After my post below talking about how excited I and everyone at UVA was about the arrival of the new vintage of P’tit Rouquin it is particularly painful to let everyone know that we are sending the entire shipment back. After tasting several different bottles including the magnum we detected the same flaw which has something to do with oxidation. We are huge fans of the Lemasson wines and so we are generally bummed that we have to do this. But we also take our commitment to quality very seriously and cannot sell a product to our customers that we know to be less delicious than it should be. Though such things are a rare occurrence, please let us know if you ever discover a flaw in a bottle purchased from UVA and we will be happy to exchange it and thankful for calling it to our attention.

I’ll be back soon with a post about some more light bodied, naturally made reds that I can stand behind and recommend enthusiastically!

With unseasonably warm weather around NYC these days everyone (myself included) seems to be looking for refreshing, friendly wines that are well priced. But you don’t have to sacrifice uniqueness and quality. Of course the pink wines are rolling in, but two of my favorites this time of year are Riesling and Gamay based wines.

Rieslings, whether bone dry or with a little residual sugar, are excellent wines for warm weather, afternoon sipping. They are often light and airy but with loads of minerality, nice acidity and a perception of weight based on ripeness. In other words the best are sublimely balanced and refreshing, plus often a little lower in alcohol so you don’t need a nap after a few glasses. My current choice is the Knebel Trocken: dry and crisp but with unmistakable Riesling fruit and aromatics, and it’s made au-natural.

Gamay is most famous for producing the wines of Beaujolais, of which we have many exciting options. But we have already waxed on about them previously and I’m currently most excited (as are many of our long-time customers) about the arrival of Olivier Lemasson’s P’tit Rouquin. Translated as “little red one” this is indeed a sort of junior version of red wine. Very light both in color and body this wine is super-refreshing, biodynamic and intensely individual. It’s young (the current vintage is 2009!) and almost demands a chill, so I try to keep one in the fridge ready to go throughout the spring/summer season. And we have it in Magnum this year too!

We just scooped up a whole lot of older Chandon de Briailles direct from the domaine in its latest library release. A top producer in Savigny-les-Beaune and Pernand Vergelesses for sure, many also consider it among the very best of traditional producers anywhere in Burgundy. No new oak, no de-stemming, all bio-dynamic farming. The results are very clean and pure, with beguiling aromatics and truly faithful representation of local terroir.

Their wines are pretty good young — and the 2007 Ile de Vergelesses may be the tastiest young Burgundy we have in stock — but of course they require time to become truly great. The usual caveat is that the wines need to be kept well. In this case, the provenance couldn’t be better, the wines having rested in the cold cellars of the winery.

These wines are not inexpensive but certainly not unreasonable in the context of their age and excellence. Some of it is in magnum!

Here’s what we got.

The transition to Spring took place in spectacular fashion this last weekend and while bottles of chilled rose and crisp whites were flying out the door at UVA I was thinking about Beaujolais. Of course we at UVA drink Beaujolais year round but the thought of grilling burgers and drinking a slightly chilled bottle of Lapierre’s Morgon always makes me a little giddy. The range and quality in Beaujolais used to be a well kept secret for those in the know, but over the last few years a slow renaissance has been building in the perception and popularity of wine made from Gamay (the grape of Beaujolais). And thanks to producers like Jean-Paul Thevenet, Jean-Paul Brun, Georges Descombes and Jean Foillard the days where Nouveau was the sole and unfortunate representative of the region are almost entirely gone.

A few of my favorites include the 2008 Morgon from Marcel Lapierre which is drinking fantastically right now(see Jeff’s post below), and if you are interested in a more extreme Gamay experience we still have a few bottles of Lapierre’s 2007 very old vines cuvee called simply MMVII. Made from one hundred year old vines and reaching 14% ABV this is an exciting experience for Cru Beaujolais fans. For something a little more classic but still fresh and delicious try Damien Coquelet’s 2008 Chiroubles. Damien is Georges Descombes’ stepson and this wine has his fingerprints all over it. Or for the “real deal” Descombes’ 2007 Regnie is full of berries, earth and spice and goes particularly well with some good cheese and charcuterie.

We also have magnums of Descombes 2006 Morgon, Lapierre 2008 Morgon and coming soon Foillard 2008 Morgon. Nothing is better than a big bottle of Cru Beaujolais and some friends on a deck or patio or rooftop or even just next to an open window on a nice afternoon.

And mark your calendars for exciting Cru Beaujolais tastings on May 1st and May 29th. Fun and totally free.