Producers
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The Rivera family has been known for their expertise of the process of cultivating and harvesting the finest agaves for four generations; they grow some of the finest Tequilana Weber Azul plants in the region. In 2006, the family expanded their skills to distilling as well, and their craft tequila was born. The Rivesca distillery is located in the heart of the finest Mexican tequila region of Amatitan, Jalisco. They are fortunate to be able to irrigate their agave fields with water from the natural springs of the Tequila volcano, which has unique characteristics that add to the fine taste of tequilas distilled from the agave in the region. All of the Oro de Lidia tequilas are produced with 100% of the finest blue agave, well trimmed of its pencas (or leaves) to avoid any bitterness. Pure spring water is used throughout the natural fermentation process. Each tequila is oxygenated, chilled to 4º C, then filtered through activated carbon filters before bottling, which makes it one of the smoothest tequilas on the market. The Reposado, Añejo, and Extra Añejo are then aged for months- or even years- in both American and French oak, which imparts deeper flavor and rich color.
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Thank you to importer Louis/Dressner for this producer profile:
(Click here for more on Oupia on Louis/Dressner's website)
Everyone talks about the new quality of wines from the Languedoc. For us, this doesn't mean the ubiquitous varietal bottlings from irrigated flat vineyards but the wonderful wines coming from the best hillside vineyard sites in AOCs like Minervois, Corbières and Coteaux-du-Languedoc. The Château d'Oupia is one of the best.
André Iché inherited an impressive 13th century castle and a large estate in the barren Minervois region. Iché was never a member of his village coop, tended his very old vines and made his wines but sold everything in bulk to local négociants. One day, a Burgundian winemaker happened to be in Oupia, tasted Iché's wines, and was so enthused that he convinced Iché to bottle and market his production.
André expanded his vineyard holdings and started vinifying several cuvées of Minervois of his best grapes, the "Cuvée des Barons" and "Nobilis", aged in new oak barrels. He rebuilt a cellar, and, after much deliberation, bought and cleaned up some overgrown and steep terraces that had been abandoned since the late 19th century.
The "Minervois Tradition" is 50% Carignan (from vineyards up to 100 years old), 40% Syrah and 10% Grenache. It is aromatic, full and densely colored, with a long finish of dark fruits. The wine is elegant and balanced — it is both enjoyable to drink young and can age 5-7 years. "Cuvée des Barons" and "Nobilis" are 60% Syrah and 40% Carignan, from a selection of old vines in the best plots, and are aged in Bordeaux barriques for 20 months. They are slower to evolve than the "Tradition" and exhibit more elegance and restraint, but similar dark berries and spicy aromas.
Robert Parker has consistently praised this estate and rated the wine a "best buy." He wrote: "Château d'Oupia has produced the ideal bistro wine. Dark, ruby-colored, the wine is wonderfully clean and pure, with an exuberant personality, and gobs of rich, peppery, red and black fruit...Bravo to proprietor André Iché!"
André passed away in late 2007. His daugher, Marie-Pierre, currently runs the estate with the help of Fabrice Lopez and many old timers who know the land like the back of their hands.
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The talented Isabelle Laurand, a Burgundian, is the cellar master responsible for making more than thirty cuvées from the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits each year for Les Parcellaires de Saulx, a micro-négociant, founded in 2017 by Denise Dupré and her husband, Mark Nunnelly. The winery is in Meursault and was previously known as Manoir Murisaltien. A négoce house has existed in this space since the beginning of the 19th century.
Each wine comes from a single parcel, emphasizing the work of the individual growers from whom Les Parcellaires de Saulx purchases must or wine. They only work with farmers who follow organic or biodynamic agriculture. In the cellar, no new oak is used and for most of the wines, only a single barrel is made.
The reds are thrilling representations of their appellations – with beautiful purity, pretty fruit, earthiness, silky tannins, and pronounced freshness. The whites are full of minerality, tension, and the right amount of weight and citrusy zip. - Michele Peters, French Portfolio Manager, Bowler.
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Passionate Wine, by Matías Michelini, is a project in constant creative evolution. Since renting an old abandoned bodega in Tupungato and transforming it into a collaborative winemaking facility, Matias has experimented and created wines from various terroirs, always with his characterful imprint of pushing the envelope while holding the utmost respect and admiration for nature; he takes the freedom to innovate, looking to make pleasurable wines while exploring undiscovered terroir.
The bodega was originally owned by Italian immigrants and had been abandoned for more than a decade. He hired street artists to paint it with his wine labels on the walls. One of the artists painted a gigantic gorilla on the exterior wall of the winery, stealing the wines. Soon the winery started being referred to as 'The Monkey’s Place' by the locals. It is in the 'Monkey's Place' that Matias makes another one of his most well-know wines, under the Via Revolucionaria label.This profile and tasting notes were edited from the Brazos Wine website, along with the pictures used. For more information please visit: Brazos
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Beaujolais winemaker, Marine Descombe, purchased this small estate in the village of Beine in 2017. Passy Le Clou is an old family winery, formerly owned by respected Chablis winemaker Gérard Patrice. Having no children to pass it on to, he sold to Marine, who is deeply invested in preserving the history and the land of this domaine. She follows strict environmental guidelines to preserve the health of the soil and wildlife. Soils are tilled to avoid using herbicides by improving their aeration, soil structure, and water conservation. Natural hedges stimulate biodiversity, and only natural fertilizers and cover crops are used. An artificial lake helps moderate the climate and protect against the severe frosts of this northerly region.
Passy Le Clou’s 30 hectares are spread over 21 individual plots, which Marine vinifies separately (with a small team of just 7 people) to showcase the individual expression of the terroir. The winery itself is modern, allowing precise winemaking with a light and delicate touch.
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Paul Devoille is located Fougerolles, a former commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Fougerolles-Saint-Valbert. Known for their fruits, especially cherries.
In 1859- Xavier Devoille founded a fruit distillery in Fougerolles, at a place called Charton. Then in 1905 after taking over from his father, Paul Devoille set up his distillery in the rue des Moines Hauts, in a group of buildings that housed a foundry, then a bottle packaging workshop.
With the death of Paul Devoille in 1954. Raymond Gouttefroy his son in law took over. Then 1972,- he passed on the distillery to his daughter Elisabeth and his son-in-law Jacques Veillet who developed exports and participated in trade fairs. In 1992- Hugues de Miscault took the helm of the distillery and continues the development of the house with respect for his predecessors, but adding a touch of modernity and innovation.
In 2019- The Paul Devoille distillery celebrated its 160th anniversary!
In 2020, two new hammered copper stills in the distillation room are added: a 1500-liter column still and a 500 liter still.
Depending on the harvest, 400 to 500 tons of fruit are used each year. The fruits mainly come from French producing regions (pears from the Rhône valley, cherries from Fougerolles and the surrounding area and plums from Lorraine.
The fruits are selected at the height of maturity are put to ferment. After 2 days, thanks to the action of natural yeasts, the sugar turns into alcohol. The natural fermentation of the fruit lasts 5 to 8 weeks.They distill in a traditional way in copper stills, one of which is more than a century old. At each distillation, their distiller takes only the best of the brandy, where the aromatics of the fruit is the best.; This is called the heating core , or “good taste.
EPV label - Living Heritage Company
In 2015, the Paul Devoille distillery obtained the EPV label, Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant. This state label issued by the Ministry of the Economy rewards companies using exceptional ancestral know-how. It is a great source of pride and recognition for all employees.
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For more information on Pearl Morissette, please visit Selection Massale.
Available in California.
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In 1982 Francisco Alfonso planted this seven and one-half hectare cru on a pure granitic hillside, ten miles from the Atlantic Ocean. For years they sold the wine locally and unlabeled. In 1997 they founded the winery as it is known today: Pedralonga, which means “big rock” in Gallego, a reference to the huge chunks of granite sticking out of the soil. It is now run by Francisco’s son Miguel.
The vineyard has always been farmed organically and in 2007 they began integrating biodynamic practices. Miguel is fond of the Galician saying “A man who does not watch the moon does not reap the harvest.” They closely follow the phases when making farming decisions. They plow only when needed in order to combat erosion caused by the wet climate and promote the vineyard’s natural biodiversity.
In the cellar Miguel does as little as possible. He doesn’t de-stem the Albariño grapes and he does partial whole-cluster fermentation for the red blend. He’s only using native yeast and doesn’t block malolactic fermentation with the belief that the natural process is part of the vintage variation. The wines are all aged on the lees for extended periods before being bottled.
The resulting wines are complex and age-worthy, with remarkable texture and structure, balanced by bracing acidity and rich minerality.
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Thank you to importer Louis/Dressner for this proflie of Peillot:
(Click here for Louis/Dressner's Peillot entry including an interview with Franck, visit notes and photos)
The Bugey is a small viticultural area whose fame doesn’t extend much farther than the city of Lyon, where its sparkling Cerdon and Montagnieu have long been staples in bistros.
Located in the eastern part of the Ain department, which is better known for its poulet de Bresse (the only French poultry with its own AOC) and its freshwater fish, the Bugey is a series of low altitude hills forming the most southern tip of the Jura range. In distance, it is closer to Savoie than to viticultural Jura, so, if mentioned at all, it is often considered a part of Savoie.Winemakers in the Bugey beg to differ. They feel that their region has a soil and a climate all its own, which produce wines found nowhere else in France (Cerdon being the less obscure example of Bugey’s originality).
Montagnieu is a village south of Cerdon, with premières côtes overlooking the Rhône valley, and most of its production is a white sparkling wine made from Chardonnay, Roussette de Savoie, Gamay and Jacquère. The grape Roussette is called Altesse locally, and it survives in the Bugey in a few patches of old vines, for it is not as hardy, reliable and productive as others. Only two young winemakers in Montagnieu, Franck Peillot and Benoît Dumont, produce still wines exclusively from this grape. By law, the wine, Roussette du Bugey, can contain any white varietal, in any proportion. That’s why Peillot’s is labelled 100% Altesse.
Peillot, who took over his family estate in 1985 after working with his father since 1981, carries on the work of four generations before him. Although he makes a sparkling Montagnieu from Chardonnay, Altesse, and Mondeuse, he vinifies all of his Altesse old vines as a still wine. With low yields and high ripeness, he is set to revive the wine that Jules Chauvet (a Beaujolais négociant, eminent taster and writer who has inspired a whole school of “natural winemaking”, notably in Morgon) put on a par with Château Chalon, Château Grillet and Yquem.
Exaggeration aside, the varietal is thought to be a cousin of the Hungarian Furmint of Tokay fame and, even when vinified dry, it retains a fair amount of residual sugar. Peillot is also a believer in the quality of his Mondeuse grapes, and is the lone vigneron in the village who obtained the appellation Montagnieu Mondeuse with his red wine in the 1997 vintage.
Over the years Franck has become a dear friend and a part of our extended family. It brings us much joy to still be able to collaborate with him nearly 20 years later. And now that he has partnered up with Theo Bonnard, a young man from the village, we are happy that he can start relaxing a bit more. And hopefully come visit more often!
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Domaine Pélaquié is a family-run estate with a long history; the estate has been passed down father to son for generations, cultivating the same land all the way back to the 16th century! The current son in charge, Luc Pélaquié, has modernized the winery, all the while protecting the traditions of his ancestors. He practices sustainable viticulture, certified by HVE, on his 100 hectares of vines located in the Côtes-du-Rhône, Laudun, Tavel, and Lirac.
The terroir of Laudun wines distinguishes them from other southern Rhône appellations. The wines from this side of the river typically have higher acidity, with soils made lighter by sand mixed with clay and limestone. This contributes a floral elegance to the wines that is quite unusual in the region. The sandy soils and cooler microclimate are also extremely important for the cultivation of the Syrah and Viognier varieties which produce their finest wines in the cooler regions of the northern Rhône (50-70 miles to the north) in sandy, clay soils.
Luc loves rich and round whites and makes them brilliantly. To accomplish whites to his satisfaction, he harvests late in October giving his whites an intense yet fresh nose and a long finish.
BOWLER E-Zine Issue 4 | January 2022: HVE – Qu’est-ce que c’est?
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