Vinos y Champagne

Urville, Côte des Bar · since 1808

A Pinot Noir house: the grape makes up around seventy percent of the vineyard, giving generous, deeply fruited champagnes. Dosage is kept low throughout the range, from the Carte d'Or Brut to the Brut Nature and its zero-sulphur version. The family also cultivates four near-forgotten Champagne varieties — Arbanne, Petit Meslier, Blanc Vrai and Fromenteau — bottled as the Quattuor. Drappier designs every one of its own bottles, from the half to the thirty-litre melchizedek.

Reims · since 1981

The house bottles nothing but Extra-Brut, with dosage always under six grams, and ages its wines two to four times longer than the appellation demands. Only the first, purest pressings are kept. The Première Cuvée blends more than thirty crus around a perpetual reserve begun in 1985. Above it sit the Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru, the vintage wines — each with a label by a different artist — and the rare N.P.U. "Nec Plus Ultra".

Chassagne-Montrachet, Côte de Beaune · bottling since 1992

Close to fifteen hectares split across fifty parcels and twenty-two appellations, roughly half white and half red. The Chardonnays come from Chassagne-Montrachet — including five Premiers Crus, among them Les Vergers, Les Champgains and Grandes Ruchottes — plus Puligny, Meursault and Saint-Aubin; the Pinots from Pommard, Volnay, Santenay and Beaune. Whites are fermented in barrel with minimal lees stirring, and the wines are left unfined and unfiltered wherever possible.

Gevrey-Chambertin, Côte de Nuits · founded 1910

Twenty-six cuvées from thirty hectares, running from regional Bourgogne up to the Grands Crus Charmes-Chambertin and Échezeaux. Pinot Noir dominates, alongside Chardonnay, Aligoté and a Marsannay rosé. The Marsannay Le Clos is a monopole; the Gevrey-Chambertin "Racine du Temps" comes from vines of ninety years. Everything is hand-harvested and aged in a mix of barrels, 600-litre demi-muids and concrete eggs. Certified organic.

Santenay, Côte de Beaune · founded late 1960s

Twelve hectares of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with the reds covering rather more ground than the whites. The domaine is the leading producer of white Santenay, drawn from old terroirs such as Bievaux and Sous la Roche. The range also takes in Rully, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Pommard and Meursault. Farmed without synthetic products, harvested by hand, and aged at least twelve months in oak.

Puligny-Montrachet, Côte de Beaune

Around fifteen hectares of Chardonnay with vines averaging some sixty years. The village Puligny-Montrachet is blended from roughly ten separate parcels, half aged in one-year-old oak for richness and half in stainless steel for freshness. Above it come the Premiers Crus Les Folatières and Les Perrières. The domaine also produces Bourgogne Blanc, Aligoté, Saint-Aubin, Meursault, Santenay, Volnay and Auxey-Duresses.

Volnay, Côte de Beaune · family in Volnay since 1804

About twelve hectares concentrated in Volnay, Pommard and Meursault. Volnay is the heart of the range: a village wine from fifty-year-old vines and the Premier Cru Clos des Chênes, long the estate's flagship and a repeated coup de cœur in the Guide Hachette. Pommard brings a firmer, more structured Pinot Noir, and Meursault a small production of Chardonnay. Vines worked under lutte raisonnée.

Cornas and Saint-Péray, northern Rhône · since 1958

Two grapes, two appellations: Syrah for Cornas, Marsanne for Saint-Péray. The Cornas range moves from Les Chailles up through Vieilles Vignes to Les Vieilles Fontaines, whose 2010 became the first wine of the appellation ever awarded a hundred points by Robert Parker. In white, Fleur de Crussol and the sparkling Saint-Péray Les Bulles d'Alain, aged two years on laths. Thirteen hectares, fully certified organic.

Côte-Rôtie, Ampuis · founded 1983

Around twenty hectares of Syrah and Viognier on slopes that reach sixty percent. Champin le Seigneur blends about ten parcels across the appellation with a touch of Viognier; the single-vineyard cuvées — Les Grandes Places, La Landonne, La Viallière and Côte-Bodin — are pure Syrah aged twenty-two months in barrel. The domaine also makes Condrieu, Saint-Joseph and two IGP wines under the name La Champine.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape · Coulon family since 1695

Thirty-two hectares in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, twenty-five in Rasteau and six in Côtes-du-Rhône, all certified organic and biodynamic. The Châteauneuf red is built on all thirteen varieties of the appellation, Grenache leading; the white draws on six, headed by Clairette and Roussanne. Boisrenard is the top cuvée. Rasteau is made both dry and as a vin doux naturel. Annual production runs to some 250,000 bottles.

Sancerre · family estate since the early 1900s

Around fifty hectares, roughly three-quarters Sauvignon Blanc and the rest Pinot Noir, split between limestone and flint soils. The domaine works parcel by parcel in the Burgundian manner: alongside the Sancerre blanc and rouge sit single-vineyard bottlings such as Les Romains, from flint, and Belle Dame. Certified organic and biodynamic, with ploughing by horse and plough and harvesting entirely by hand.

Saint-Antonin-du-Var, Côtes de Provence · Paillard family since 1995

Twenty-seven hectares of vines at around 240 metres, producing roughly 60,000 bottles a year: seventy percent rosé, twenty white, ten red. The Rosé Grande Cuvée is built on Cinsault and Syrah and comes in four formats up to the jeroboam. Blanc Secret is pure Rolle, fermented and aged ten months in 300-litre oak with no malolactic. Rouge Secret comes from old vines and spends twenty-four months in barrel. Certified organic.

Montalcino, Toscana · founded 1993

A small, high-altitude estate at around 500 metres making just two wines, both pure Sangiovese: Brunello di Montalcino and Rosso di Montalcino. Every parcel is classified for Brunello, so the Rosso is effectively a declassified Brunello. Fermentations are traditional — ambient temperature, up to thirty days — and ageing takes place in large Slavonian oak casks, forty-two months for the Brunello. Certified organic.

Chianti Classico, Toscana · Brini family since 1818

Sixty-eight hectares of vineyard within a 240-hectare estate between Poggibonsi and Castellina in Chianti. Sangiovese leads, with Canaiolo, Merlot and Syrah alongside, some vines trained as alberello and a few over fifty years old. The range runs from Chianti and Chianti Classico up to Riserva and the Gran Selezione "Etichetta Storica", with the Riserva Borro del Diavolo aged twenty months in wood. The estate also produces olive oil.

Neive, Barbaresco, Piemonte · own production since 2012

Just over three hectares in the Neive crus of San Cristoforo, Currà and Albesani, planted to Nebbiolo and Dolcetto. The cellar philosophy is deliberately minimal: spontaneous fermentations, extended macerations and ageing in large wooden casks. The range covers Barbaresco, Langhe Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dogliani, the Barbaresco marked by finesse rather than weight.

Castiglione Falletto and Monforte d'Alba, Piemonte · label revived 2016

Nebbiolo from Bussia and Pugnane, among the most highly regarded growing sites in the whole of Barolo, farmed organically. The estate bottles two Barolos, Bussia and Tre Turne, both of which took 94 points from Wine Enthusiast in the 2019 vintage, with Bussia named an Editor's Choice and Tre Turne a Cellar Selection.

Giarre, Etna, Sicilia

Vineyards at around 800 metres on the eastern slopes of Etna, on volcanic soil rich in potassium and iron, farmed on organic principles. The estate is known for three single-variety wines — Tenace, Temerario and Sublime — made from Carricante and Nerello Mascalese. The Etna Bianco shows the sharp minerality and high acidity typical of Carricante; Nerello Mascalese gives an Etna Rosso that is spiced and balsamic.

Valladolid, Castilla y León

A family winery working across seven of Spain's major denominations: Rueda, Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Toro, Bierzo, Rías Baixas and Priorat, with around 130 hectares under its control. Lacrimus comes from Rioja, Valsanzo from Ribera del Duero, Damalisco from Toro and Viña Sanzo Verdejo Viñas Viejas from old-vine Rueda. Much of the vineyard is farmed organically, and the estate is recovering near-abandoned varieties such as Tinta Jeromo and Merenzao.