32 products
- Red Wine
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
- Sustainable
- Dry
- Residual Sugar: 3.00 g/l
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 13.50% alc./vol
Press Reviews
James Suckling
91 Points
Aromas of ripe blackberries and cassis with some sweet spices, hazelnut and tree bark. Medium- to full-bodied with a succulent dark fruit character and firm, polished tannins. Flavourful finish. Drink or hold.
- Red Wine
- Pinot Noir
- Natural, Organic, Vegan-Friendly
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 13.5% alc./vol
About the Winery
Domaine Frédéric Brouca
Frédéric grew up in Normandy and met his Canadian wife Elaine at university in Lille, Northern France. They live a nomadic lifestyle (Canada, India, Singapore and USA) though Frédéric spends about half of his time in Faugères. Since early age, Frédéric had a calling for farming and the fierce desire to become a winegrower. After completing a Masters Degree in Finance in 2001, Frédéric went back to college for a Sommelier diploma and started his career as a Burgundy wine broker.
In late 2012, Frédéric and Elaine were fortunate to take over 25 acres of old vines in Faugères, organically farmed for twenty years and deeply rooted in schist soils.
2013 was the inaugural vintage for Domaine Frédéric Brouca. In his modest winery in the village of Laurens, Frédéric is creating a new vision for Faugères wines; fresh, vibrant and made without artifice. Nothing revolutionary, simply returning to our grandparent's ideology of farming and winemaking to craft 'Vins Vivants'. The Faugères Appellation is in the heart of Languedoc in the Hérault department. Here, winemaking dates back to the Greek times and was developed during the Roman Era. It wasn't until the early 1900's, however, that the wines became more widely known for its unique schist soils and moderate Mediterranean climate. These villages are heavily reliant on wine as an important part of their culture and economy.
The area is stunning with mountain views and close proximity to the Mediterranean Sea (20 miles / 30 kms). Faugères has a long history of responsible farming. It boasts the highest percentage of organic vineyards for any AOC in all of France with almost 50% of farmers making the choice.
Press Reviews
Wine Align
90 points - Michael Godel
Brouca’s pinot noir is called “Foulage Gaulois,” literally “Gallic Treading,” a reference to feet stomping grapes and history tells us the Gauls were big on the fermented stuff. Their interest goes back to the fourth century and the Romans were quite fond of their work. Fréderic’s carries a seriously carbonic varietal impact with high tonality, great freshness and a piney herbal character. Quite minty evergreen and open knit though really light within its bushy parameters. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted January 2023.
90 points - John Szabo, MS
A low intervention, 'natural' pinot, unfined and unfiltered from 25 year-old organically-farmed hillside vineyards in the south of France (Faugères region) with evident spicy-herbal whole bunch (stem) inclusion in the ferment. I like the dried herb and herbal tea, pot pourri and spiced cherry chutney flavours, the zesty acids, the firm and dusty but forgiving tannins. Length and depth are solid. A well-made, innovative take on pinot noir from a region that really shouldn't be growing pinot noir, managing to maintain freshness and composure against the odds. A cool, wet growing season surely helped the liveliness along. This is well worth a look, and it's totally free from deviations. Drink or hold short term. Tasted January 2023.
- Red Wine
- Grenache, Syrah
- Sustainable, Vegan-Friendly
- Dry
- Residual Sugar: 4.00 g/l
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 14.50% alc./vol
About the Winery
Domaine Andre Aubert
At the very heart of the Rhône Valley, at the northerly tip of the Southern Rhône, lie the vineyards of Grignan-Les-Adhémar. The chances are you haven’t heard the name before, few people have, but the wines are worth seeking out. It’s not a new wine region – vines have been planted here since around 500BC but it is a new name (formerly known as Côteaux-du-Tricastin). Domaine André Aubert, has been formed over decades and today comprises of more than 280 hectares spread from north to south of the prestigious Southern Rhone Valley on the appellations Côtes du Rhône, Côtes du Rhône villages, Visan, and Grignan-les-Adhémar.
- Red Wine, Rosé Wine, White Wine
- Chardonnay, Glera, Grenache, Merlot, País, Pinot Grigio, Syrah
- Organic, Sustainable
- Dry
- 750ml
About the Winery
Conti Riccati
Conti Riccati is located in the rolling hills outside of Castelfranco, Veneto; in the province of Treviso. Their vineyards extend along 20 hectares inside a bigger property that has belonged to the Riccati family since the 14th century.Valperto Azzoni, his wife along and their four children are the direct descendants of the Riccati family and have the same enthusiasm and respect for the land, that their ancestors had in the past.
Conti Riccati grows mostly Glera, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir though they are most known for their Prosecco.
The winemaker, Salvatore Lovo and the agronomist, Giovanni Pascarella take great pride in making the wines and tending the vineyards for the family. They practice sustainable viticulture and are currently in organic conversion.
Garage Wine Co.
Garage Wine was literally started in a garage in 2001, by Etobicoke expat Derek Mossman and his wife Pilar Miranda. Since then, the dynamic duo handcraft wines from a series of individual vineyards located in the Maule and Itata Valleys, in the south of Santiago, Chile.
Garage Wine Co makes wines from a series of individual parcels, small lots / bottlings of 8-22 barrels that include a series of dry-farmed field-blends of Carignan, Garnacha, Monastrell, País, Cinsault and Cab Franc grown on pre-phylloxera rootstock with small farmers in the Maule and Itata. Each wine is from a 1-2 hectare parcel in a different place.
Over the years working in the community they have raised a veritable posse of vineyard hands whose skills are working the vineyards the old way / the traditional way– originario. The vineyards are on the old coastal range of mountains closer to the Pacific and have granitic soils with cracks for roots to get deep down into.
When GWCo. speaks of the provenance of these wines they mean more than just the geological terroir. Derek and Pilar think the farming practices that have evolved over generations have as much to do with the wines’ personalities as the soils. All the wines are made by hand with native yeasts in small tanks, punched down manually and pressed out in a small basket press. GWCo is still very much a DIY operation and we still tow much of the crop back to the winery in trailers behind trusty pickup trucks 2,000 kilos at a time.
Grains d'Estuaire
Julien Bonneau, (Château Haut Grelot in the Blayais), and his friend Alexandre Lavigne, restaurateur in Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, created in 2014 a range of wines, Grains d'Estuaire, from 'a 10 ha vineyard located in Saint-Bonnet-sur-Gironde, in the south of Charente-Maritime.
Jeanne Marie
The Jeanne Marie label was created by David Gordon, one of New York’s first recognized sommeliers, and the person responsible for the Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning wine list at Manhattan’s famed Tribeca Grill restaurant. The restaurant opened in 1990 by restaurateur Drew Nieporent and actor Robert DeNiro. Gordon, who is self-taught, began learning about wine in the 1980s just as Kevin Zraly was beginning to educate America on the world of wine. At the time, there were very few non-French somms working in the city and the British-born Court of Master Sommeliers was in its infancy.
“You had to pick up a book or magazine to learn about wine,” says Gordon. There were no YouTubes or Google or extensive training programs. The list now boasts over 1800 selections including verticals of some of the most sought-after producers.
While he tasted and learned about the best wines on the planet, which included expensive Burgundies and Rhône wines, Gordon always kept the consumer top of mind. “House” Cab and Chard were big sellers at the restaurant, so he set out to meet that demand with a genuine product that would deliver consistent quality.
“I started the Jeanne Marie line as a fun, cool thing to do,” says Gordon. “There really weren't any wines associated with sommeliers at the time. Now there are many, but these were definitely among the first. I named the wine after the person I worship, my wife of 30+ years- Jeanne Marie."
In the beginning, Gordon sourced the wines from his friends in Napa and Sonoma. Producers such as Caymus, Lewis Cellars, and Miner Family provided grapes and helped with the winemaking for the early cuvées. The first Chardonnay vintage was 1992, released in 1994. Today, all the wines are sourced from top producers who have provided high-quality fruit at a fair price year after year. Gordon has kept to his original promise that wines with the Jeanne Marie label will always be affordable and delicious. “People want ripe fruit and a clean taste that’s not too oaky or tannic,” he says. The wines are refreshing, they can be drunk as an aperitif before dinner or with a meal."
Wines bearing the Jeanne Marie label, much like David Gordon himself, are welcoming and unpretentious.
Mas Carlot
Mas Carlot is situated in the south of the Rhône Valley, extending across 76 hectares of pebbly land southeast of Nîmes. Originally a 17th century farm, this beautiful estate was resurrected in the 1960's by the Blanc family—it is currently run Cyril Mares of the neighbouring and equally reputable property, Mas Bressades.
The appellation of Costières de Nîmes used to be considered part of eastern Languedoc but the climate, soil, topography and wine are far closer to those just over the river in the Southern Côtes du Rhône. It is now a region very much on the up and is widely recognized as a great source of excellent value wine.
Vitas
The Vitas Winery has been in the family since 1935, for four generations. It is located in the wine-producing area of DOC Friuli Aquileia, on a clayey-marly and sandy-calcareous soil (the so-called Magredi), one of the ingredients which, together with the influence of the sea and a friendly sun, create a perfect microclimate for vine-growing. A lot of importance is placed on conserving the environment and they use methods that protect their natural resources and the surrounding environment