Over the last year and a half, it's been a pleasure to notice everyone's particular preferences and tastes—the things we gravitate toward when left to our own devices. One of the team's favorite jobs is to notice what you, our dear guests, love, but one of my favorite jobs is to notice what our team loves. We taste so many wines every week, sometimes up to a hundred new labels in the high season of new releases. And in every tasting, I love to mentally note what each member of our team would like, how they would sit with it in contemplation, and then present it to the world. It becomes even clearer when someone loves a particular bottle and it flies off the shelves. As you already know, every person on our team is genuinely enthused about what they do and which wines they love.
There are a lot of ways to buy wine. Some practical, like filling a hole on the Northern Italian red shelf or finding a sweet spot price point in Burgundy, but other moments call for emotional reasoning: why did we start this place to begin with? What do the people who care for this place day in and day out love to drink? It's always a bit of a tightrope act to keep the practical and the philosophical in balance, and this month's club is meant to underscore the latter.
This month brings into focus our team's wonderfully varied range of preferences, and is a selection of bottles that have made us sit up and remember why we love wine so much. It is a pleasure to share a bit of our enthusiasm with you here, and and in all the days to come. —LP
Lamoresca "Rosato" Sicily, Italy 2022
Here at the shop, we are staunch advocates for rosé as an all-season option. From rich, Languedoc blends like Mas Jullien to this lavender-pink rosato from Sicily, the rosé selection on our shelves is always varied (get ready—we’ve got a boatload of new stuff heading in at the end of the month) and holds a place on our by the glass list each week.
If it’s available, Lamoresca’s rosé has a permanent place on our shelves. Lamoresca was founded by Fillipo Rizzo and his wife Nicole on the rural interior of Sicily. Before taking up the business of farming, Fillipo spent years away from his native Sicily running restaurants espousing the virtues of “natural wine” from wine bars in Belgium long before these buzzwords landed in the Louisiana vernacular. Eventually, his interests led him home and into the tutelage of Frank Cornelissen, the OG of natural wine in Sicily. The Rizzos now farm five hectares of vines that include nero d'avola, frappato, and vermentino.
In this bottling, the black cherry punch and earthy tar of nero d’avola balances the bright tartness of light and lovely frappato. Muscat, locally referred to as zibibbo, lends a lightly floral nose and briny mid palate. Find a sunny spot in the yard, pair with oysters, crabs, crawfish, and enjoy slightly over chilled. —Drew Clowney
Presqu'ile Winery "Gamay Nouveau" Santa Maria Valley, CA 2024
In 2007, Matt Murphy and winemaker Dieter Cronje began looking for the ideal spot to make cool-climate chardonnay and pinot noir. They decided on the hills of Santa Maria Valley, a site perpendicular the Pacific Ocean where cool winds and fog are ideal for maintaining a balance of acidity and sugar required from these grapes. Thus was born Presqu'ile, meaning "almost an island" in Creole, inspired by a family campground that met its demise in Hurricane Katrina.
This bottle is 100% gamay done in a nouveau style particular to the Beaujolais region of France. Fermented with carbonic maceration and released two months after fermentation to celebrate harvest, it's a bright, juicy, and meant to be drunk young, as indicated by the adorable stork on the label. Some pooh-pooh gamay nouveau as an unserious gimmick, but I. Love. Beaujolais. Nouveau. This one ticks all the boxes—juicy, light structure, crunchy, cherry-tart freshness perfect alone or with food. I repeat. I. Love. Beaujolais. Nouveau. —Allison Whittinghill
Catherine & Pierre Breton "Elle est pas Bulle, la Vie?" Brut, Loire Valley, France 2023
I love my job. I get to taste, think, and talk about an ancient art form on a daily basis. From discussing hands in the dirt to what's accompanying dinner, my interactions with everyone at the shop are a constant swirl in a glass.
Leslie often asks us what we’ve really enjoyed recently and, in order to reply, I have to think about what has made me stop and simply experience.
Catherine and Pierre Breton are very good at making me stop.
Renowned for their expressiveness in wine and life, the Bretons are the stewards of their family legacy. With roots in the Loire Valley since 1886, the family has forged and cared for sites in Vouvray, Chinon, and Bourgueil, eventually transitioning each to organic and biodynamic farming.
The Bretons excel in allowing single grape varietes to shine from single bottlings of cab franc, groulleau and chenin. I am always struck by the absolute balance of precision with a sense of light-hearted, gentle ease. Wines that could never be accused of taking themselves too seriously. An elegant acrobat that can make the death-defying leap appear effortless.
Most recently, this sparkling chenin blanc is what made me stop. Grown in soils of clay and flintstone at their Vouvray site in Vernou-sur-Brenne, the “Elle est pas bulle, la vie?” captures the enigmatic nature of chenin. On the nose it's bready mango, sweet pea, and orange blossom. On the palate, it's saké, salty macadamia, and tepache. Classically rich and round with a zesty modern finish. Tightrope walking at its finest. I personally enjoy this wine as it warms a little. Chenin has so much to say and can tell you a lot more as she relaxes. Which makes me relax with her. And stop. Isn’t life bubbly. —Beth Altenbernd
Jean-Claude Lapalu "Ce Blanc" Beaujolais, France 2023
Back at the pop-up, we had so many wonderful wines packed into those tiny shelves, many of which we got a shot at buying because Covid had shaken up acquisitions, wine buyers, pricing, and so much more. One of these early "stop everything" discoveries was Beaujolais prince Jean-Claude Lapalu's "Ce Blanc," a relative rarity stateside. After it was gone, I didn't see it again until this year.
And so when it appeared this winter, we bought as much as we could. And here it is, again stopping us in our tracks. I remember this white Beaujolais—chardonnay by AOC definition—being silky, jewel-like in its precision with a generosity akin to its Burgundian cousins. It's aged in large barrels and undergoes malolactic fermentation, which provides the rich round apple fleshy notes balanced with bright, pearlescent acid.
Lately, I've been bouncing between old school classics and new wave surprises, and this feels as if it could sit firmly in the middle of these styles—hewing to a sense of Burgundian gravitas, yet fresh in its outlook toward natural, unadulterated beauty. Thank you, Monsieur Lapalu. —Leslie Pariseau
Maison Advinam "L'Allumée" Bordeaux, France 2023
The story of Maison Advinam and Anne Buiatti begins with a love of nature channeled into a career in agricultural engineering in the Languedoc, culminating in the purchase of two hectares in Calce and two hectares in Graves (opposite sides of France). Between the two, Buiatti grows cabernet sauvignon, malbec, merlot, semillon, sauvignon blanc, syrah, bringing them all together at her winery St. Morillon, just south of Bordeaux.
Her process is a true labor of love for both wine and the natural world. Buiatti works biodynamically, which is to say that the farm, vineyards, and winery are a self-sustaining ecosystem using composts, herbal teas, and silicas to enrich the soils and plants. She even uses beeswax from her bees to seal the bottles. The winery itself is without electricity and she uses amphora and old barrels to age all her wines. What a story.
The L'Allumée wine is a blend of semillon, sauvignon blanc and muscadelle with two months of skin contact. On the palate it’s fresh and lively with apricot, citrus peel, and a zippy acidity rounded out with musky white flowers reminiscent of vintage perfume.
In the weeks before Mardi Gras, I felt a definite need to create. To use bits and pieces from past projects, to find old clothes, and a discarded umbrellas and turn them into something different and new. While reading about Anne Buiatti and her work, and then tasting the L’Allumée Orange it all felt very fitting for this moment—at once old and new, and the bell of one of our wild balls for sure. —Cassandra Vachon