13 products
13 products
- Red Wine
- Pinot Noir
- Sustainable
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 13% alc./vol
About the Winery
Groupe Bellene
Groupe Bellene is composed of the négociant “Maison Roche de Bellene” and the winery “Domaine de Bellene” both located in Beaune. Nicolas Potel grew up at the Volnay Domaine Pousse d'Or, where his father, Gérard, had worked since 1964. Nicolas trained abroad and returned home in 1996, hoping to build a négociant business and that was the start of Maison Nicolas Potel. Potel began sourcing grapes from good parcels, often working with the growers to improve quality. By 2002, he was making 120 wines from 50 different appellations.
Today he runs Maison Roche de Bellene, a micro-négoce that offers a complete range of wines, with an emphasis on individual terroirs from vieilles vignes (old vines - 40 years or older) that are farmed responsibly. All of the growers that Nicolas works with are either organic certified or farming according to the principles of lutte raisonée (sustainable viticulture). This enables Nicolas to consistently produce the expressive, terroir-driven style that is his vision. In addition he owns his own vineyards and bottles these wines under the label Domaine de Bellene. You can also find some special back vintage offerings that Nicolas has sourced from his friends in region, this is labelled under Collection Bellenum.
Press Reviews
Wine Align
90 points - John Szabo
This is fine and juicy pinot, delicate and ripe but fresh, with terrifically balanced tannins/acids. Fruit is properly in the red-tart red berry spectrum. Length is very good. Tasted July 2020.
- White Wine
- Chardonnay
- Sustainable
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 13.5% alc./vol
- Red Wine
- Nebbiolo
- Vegan-Friendly
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 14.5% alc./vol
About the Winery
Azienda Agricola Réva Monforte
Réva has a dynamic relationship with tradition: respect without excessive obedience, knowledge without stuffiness. This attitude is reflected in the search for a personal style that is free to communicate their character through the extraordinary expressive possibilities of the Langhe and the Barolo area.
The winery focuses on producing wines of excellence with great attention paid to the particular characteristics of each grape variety and the utmost respect for diversity. All the vineyards are cultivated organically and monitored directly by the winery team.
The winery’s roots go back to 1867 however In 2010 the winery underwent a thorough reconstruction and the acclaimed Gianluca Colombo became head oenologist. Despite his youth, Gianluca has a great deal of experience and in 2014, received the Premio Gambelli award – a prestigious award for winemakers under 35.
Press Reviews
Wine Align
93 points - Michael Godel
Another highly seasoned nebbiolo of rather dark red fruit and barrel piques that create spikes and valleys in the wine. Hangs on with enough energy to see the acidity match the fruit stride for stride. There's a sense of structure to see this '16 last for a decade strong and long. Drinking window will open shortly so the temptation will be to imbibe often and early, thereby fertilizing the narcotic poppy of drinking pleasure. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020.
Wine Enthusiast
91
Aromas of camphor, blue flower and cherries marinated in spirits lead the way along with a hint of hazelnut. On the concentrated, accessible palate, fine-grained tannins accompany fleshy Marasca cherry, steeped prune and vanilla. Drink 2021–2028.
- Red Wine
- Pinot Noir
- Sustainable, Vegan-Friendly
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 13% alc./vol
About the Winery
Claude Riffault
At barely 30 years old, Stéphane Riffault (Claude’s son and now owner of the estate) is turning out Sancerre bottlings that are the envy of many producers twice his age.Based in the village of Sury-en-Vaux, the Stéphane Riffault works 33 different parcels in 8 different lieu-dits spread across 4 villages. The 13.5 hectares of vines are certified organic and biodynamic. Unlike most Sancerre producers, the entire harvest is carried out by hand and an extensive sorting takes place before the grapes are crushed.
Most of the domaine’s holdings are planted on the soft limestone soil called terres blanches with some parcels on calliottes and silex. With Riffault having studied and worked in Burgundy (and closely with Olivier Leflaive), it’s easy to see the Burgundian influence in Stéphane’s wines. The mastery of minerality standing shoulder to shoulder with the wood is rarely duplicated in Sancerre.
- Chardonnay
- Sustainable
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 13.5% alc./vol
About the Winery
Groupe Bellene
Groupe Bellene is composed of the négociant “Maison Roche de Bellene” and the winery “Domaine de Bellene” both located in Beaune. Nicolas Potel grew up at the Volnay Domaine Pousse d'Or, where his father, Gérard, had worked since 1964. Nicolas trained abroad and returned home in 1996, hoping to build a négociant business and that was the start of Maison Nicolas Potel. Potel began sourcing grapes from good parcels, often working with the growers to improve quality. By 2002, he was making 120 wines from 50 different appellations.
Today he runs Maison Roche de Bellene, a micro-négoce that offers a complete range of wines, with an emphasis on individual terroirs from vieilles vignes (old vines - 40 years or older) that are farmed responsibly. All of the growers that Nicolas works with are either organic certified or farming according to the principles of lutte raisonée (sustainable viticulture). This enables Nicolas to consistently produce the expressive, terroir-driven style that is his vision. In addition he owns his own vineyards and bottles these wines under the label Domaine de Bellene. You can also find some special back vintage offerings that Nicolas has sourced from his friends in region, this is labelled under Collection Bellenum.
Press Reviews
Decanter
92 points
Nicolas Potel calls this the 'flagship' white of his domaine operation with some justification, as year in year out, it's one of his best value wines. Smoky, leesy and refreshing, it has benefited from the higher yields in a hot vintage to produce a wine that's fresh and crunchy with understated wood and an oatmealy mid palate.
- White Wine
- Chardonnay
- Sustainable, Vegan-Friendly
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 12.5% alc./vol
About the Winery
Domaine de Mauperthuis
A family estate created by Marie-Noëlle & Laurent Ternynck, Domaine de Mauperthuis is located in Prehy, near the town of Chablis. Their wines express the terroir of this amazing region and the vineyards are currently undergoing the transition to organic. Domaine de Mauperthuis covers around twenty hectares of vineyards around Chablis. The estate, in the Burgundy appellation, is planted in Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon and César, on land facing south, benefiting from exceptional sunshine.
Press Reviews
Wine Align
91 points - Michael Godel
Taste and drops of the moon, a fanciful moniker and a delightful AOCChardonnay at exactly the correct weight and depth you expect and demand. Add to that a moment of solid ’18 ripeness and styling for just perfectly correct and necessary Chablis. It’s what you need. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted November 2019.
- White Wine
- Chenin Blanc
- Sustainable
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 12.5% alc./vol
About the Winery
Radford Dale
Radford Dale and The Winery of Good Hope are two brands made by the same people, in the same winery. The team behind these wineries has been an industry leader since the 1990s in chemical free farming, and more recently in low and no sulfur winemaking. They are a founding member of PIWOSA (Premium Independent Wineries of South Africa) which sets ethical, environmental and social uplift standards. Recognizing the social inequality present in South Africa Radford Dale has also set up a trust called Land of Hope to help facilitate bright futures for children, focusing heavily on education.
Alex Dale who owns and manages both projects is an Englishman who grew up spending summers in Burgundy, France. He moved there in his late teens to follow a passion for winemaking and also opened a wine bar in Beaune. He lived in Burgundy for many years before moving to South Africa in 1998, starting Radford Dale with Ben Radford, an Australian. The idea was to produce wines using modern techniques and technology with a healthy respect for tradition, something Alex came to understand well while living in Burgundy.
Wines are made with minimal intervention in order to best express each vineyard’s individuality.
Press Reviews
Tim Atkin - South Africa Special Report 2018
96 points
The Renaissance hails from a single vineyard on the Helderberg that also supplies the core of the Vinum Chenin. Made with a Burgundian sensibility by Jacques de Klerk, it's layered and complex, with refined oak, amazing concentration and palate length and a creamy, savoury finish. Drink date: 2019-2029.
- Sparkling Wine
- Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
- Sustainable, Vegan-Friendly
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 12% alc./vol
About the Winery
Champagne Fresne Ducret
Fresne-Ducret is rich in family history and has been rooted in the premier cru village of Villedommange since the mid 1800s. Originally growing grapes for the big champagne houses, it wasn’t until the end of the second world war that the family decided to make their own wine. The tradition carries on today with Pierre Fresne and his wife Daniella (an Oakville ex-pat). Their philosophy is to produce wines that best exemplify the terroir of Villedommange, and they do this with sustainability in mind.
In 2014, Pierre Fresne embarked on a new adventure by creating a limited series of champagnes based on his desire for experimentation. Since then, he has produced one or two of these wines each year. Each are unique, according to his wishes and the profile of the vintage. This unique collection is called Arquémie, the term for alchemy in the Middle Ages. In 2018 Pierre began converting the vineyards to organic viticulture.
Press Reviews
Wine Align
95 points - Michael Godel
Hard to believe the age because while this almost certainly achieved an immediately retro toasted and evolved stage in its youth and though 12 years have passed the present day imaginings are dreamed to persist within that very immediate stage. As creamy as it is toasty, the textural body politic in La Grande Hermine is one of great cerebral and figurative impression. You feel, intuit and embrace such honesty and possibility. Drink this vintage dated Champagne all winter long. Its calming presence will preserve you in a state of grace lower than a snowman’s blood pressure. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted September 2020.
95 points - David Lawrason
This is a very intense yet nuanced and superbly balanced vintage Champagne. The nose is a blast of finely woven brioche, baked apple, lemon, hay and hazelnut - classic aromatics. It is medium bodied, bracing, dry with great acid grip and minerality. Such focus and outstanding length. Such presence! Tasted Sept 2020.
93 points - John Szabo, MS
Terrific aromatics here off the top, very much in the mature champagne idiom, featuring baked apple turnovers and brioche, toasted almonds, baker's yeast and dried/candied citrus peel in a complex and a highly engaging expression. The palate is an explosion of flavour, delivering more of the same on an ample and generous frame (in champagne context), and excellent length. Expect a bit more of a developed, binned-apple-type expression, a wine more for fans of mature champagne, but an excellent one at that. Drink or hold mid-term for the real goût anglais. Tasted September 2020.
Guide Hachette
1/3
This crop's 2008 vintage appears before the 2009. Also favouring chardonnay (60%, in addition to pinot noir), this white flower-scented brut has a palate that is at once strong, smooth, and crisp, more sophisticated than its aroma. Score - 1 Stars (out of 3).
- Red Wine
- Pinot Noir
- Sustainable
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
About the Winery
Groupe Bellene
Groupe Bellene is composed of the négociant “Maison Roche de Bellene” and the winery “Domaine de Bellene” both located in Beaune. Nicolas Potel grew up at the Volnay Domaine Pousse d'Or, where his father, Gérard, had worked since 1964. Nicolas trained abroad and returned home in 1996, hoping to build a négociant business and that was the start of Maison Nicolas Potel. Potel began sourcing grapes from good parcels, often working with the growers to improve quality. By 2002, he was making 120 wines from 50 different appellations.
Today he runs Maison Roche de Bellene, a micro-négoce that offers a complete range of wines, with an emphasis on individual terroirs from vieilles vignes (old vines - 40 years or older) that are farmed responsibly. All of the growers that Nicolas works with are either organic certified or farming according to the principles of lutte raisonée (sustainable viticulture). This enables Nicolas to consistently produce the expressive, terroir-driven style that is his vision. In addition he owns his own vineyards and bottles these wines under the label Domaine de Bellene. You can also find some special back vintage offerings that Nicolas has sourced from his friends in region, this is labelled under Collection Bellenum.
Press Reviews
Jancis Robinson
17/20
Medium intense smudgy ruby. Very light, almost bonbon nose. Rather harsh and chewy. Hint of animal and masses of tannin still. - Tasted on April 2013.
- Red Wine
- Sangiovese
- Sustainable
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 14.5% alc./vol
About the Winery
Cortonesi
The “La Mannella” farm, owned by the Cortonesi family, covers a surface of 56 hectares (138 acres), eight (19 acres) of which are especially devoted to the production of “Brunello di Montalcino”. Its wine-making activity started at the beginning of the seventies, and its vineyards are placed in one of the most valuable areas of the region, both north and south-east from Montalcino. The Cortonesi family has been making wine since the 1970’s however at the time the wine was simply for family, friends and neighbours enjoyment. In 1985 they began to offer their wines commercially. It is strictly a family business, and works according to tradition, while also employing modern technologies that help to the enhance the quality of the wines made. Tommaso, in his early 30s, is the third-generation winemaker at the winery that was started by his grandfather. The favorable location of its vineyards, and the rocky soil where they are planted, all contribute to the making of a deep and elegant Brunello. Tomasso says “I’m a lucky man who has been given the opportunity to realize my dream and continue my family’s efforts making wine in the land where I was born.”
Press Reviews
James Suckling
96 points
This is a very impressive Brunello, characterized by its incredible richness, which remains carefully judged. Vanilla, tar, treacle tart, dried blackberries, pumice and ash spring into action on the nose. Full-bodied and powerful with an ironclad force to the steely tannins. Chewy and long on the decadent finish, but balanced and savory. Drink from 2024.
Wine Align
95 points - Michael Godel
Skipping straight pass and over the sunless, tenebrous and obscured 2014 vintage it is this Tommaso Cortonesi 2015 I Poggiarelli that rises from the vineyard looking up the Montalcino hill to the southeastern side. Te offer is an ulterior one, an expression in contrast to what comes from northerly La Mannella. Warmer, fuller and without question more precise. Cortonesi has used the tools available to provide it a bigger architectural frame and the flesh of this vineyard dutifully abides, bedecking the incrustation of the facade and adorning the fills of the interior. Quite structured and yet fully fleshy of 2015 density and weight. Impressive stuff from Tommaso. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted February 2020.
- Red Wine
- Nebbiolo
- Biodynamic, Natural, Vegan-Friendly
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 14% alc./vol
About the Winery
Punset
Punset is an innovator when it comes to organic wine. Inheriting the estate in 1982, Marina Marcarino is a fifth generation winemaker, and she took her estate to the future whilst preserving age-old traditions. She transformed all 20 hectares of her land into a fully organic vineyard during a time where major producers of Barolo and Barbaresco were abandoning tradition to compete commercially. Instead of following the trend, she struck out on her own, and made wines that resonated with her past and passions. Known for the very first certified organic Barbaresco of Italy, Marina continues to show the world that you can preserve tradition and think of the future simultaneously.
Press Reviews
Wine Enthusiast
90 Points
Blue flower, underbrush and wild herb aromas mix with a whiff of tobacco. Racy and linear, the palate offers sour cherry, star anise and a hint of rusted iron alongside taut, close-grained tannins that leave a drying finish.
- Sparkling Wine
- Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
- Sustainable, Vegan-Friendly
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 12% alc./vol
About the Winery
Champagne Fresne Ducret
Fresne-Ducret is rich in family history and has been rooted in the premier cru village of Villedommange since the mid 1800s. Originally growing grapes for the big champagne houses, it wasn’t until the end of the second world war that the family decided to make their own wine. The tradition carries on today with Pierre Fresne and his wife Daniella (an Oakville ex-pat). Their philosophy is to produce wines that best exemplify the terroir of Villedommange, and they do this with sustainability in mind.
In 2014, Pierre Fresne embarked on a new adventure by creating a limited series of champagnes based on his desire for experimentation. Since then, he has produced one or two of these wines each year. Each are unique, according to his wishes and the profile of the vintage. This unique collection is called Arquémie, the term for alchemy in the Middle Ages. In 2018 Pierre began converting the vineyards to organic viticulture.