White Wine

If you find yourself at café table in Alto Adige around 6pm on a crisp, mountain, summer night, this is what you drink (well, if you’re not having a spritz). Vinous captures it nicely: The 2023 Kerner is delicately... Read More

Lower ABV A fantastic release of this benchmark Basque white. The aromas are bright and focused, showing citrus and green stone fruit notes dusted with chark. There's real intensity on the palate, too, where lemon zest, green... Read More

Lower ABV Savoie's Jacquere grape inclines to salty stone minerality anyway, but in the village of Chignin that's amped up even more. Fourth generation winegrower Guillaume Quenard captures the minerality in spades and... Read More

Organic/Bio A tribute from Stephen to his wife and partner, Niki. As he explains, “The night Niki and Stephen met, they half-jokingly agreed to move to Oregon to start a family and farm. Eight weeks later they stood on the... Read More

Organic/Bio A very different take on Willamette Valley Pinot Gris even beyond the depth, richness and character imparted by Stephen Hagen’s very different grazing-based viticulture. Here the wine spends 40 days on the skins... Read More

Organic/Bio Ah-so THIS is what Willamette Valley Pinot Gris is supposed to taste like! From an organically farmed vineyard south of Salem, it's fermented and aged 50/50 in stainless steel and older French oak with 5 months... Read More

Organic/Bio As usual, one taste and you'll think, Ah, so THIS is what Willamette Valley Pinot Gris is supposed to taste like! From an organically farmed vineyard south of Salem, it's fermented and aged 50/50 in stainless... Read More

Organic/Bio From a farmer who works his own way, a unique take on Pinot Gris - from a solera begun with the 2018 vintage and added to every year (except the 2020 smoke harvest). As Stephen writes, The core of Perpetual Album begins... Read More

Lower ABV A lovely blend of rich texture and vibrant, refreshing, flavors. As Wine Enthusiast said of the 94 point 2019, This wine brings the notion of a spring mountain meadow to life on the nose. There are hints of chervil and... Read More

It was only after the Cowley family purchased their 65 acre vineyard in 1998 that they discovered that it had been the site of the first vinifera grape plantings in all of New Zealand. There's even a tiny winery cellar remaining... Read More

At once rich and juicy, this is a terrifically drinkable Russian River Chardonnay with a definite luxury feel. Barrel fermented and aged (33% new oak), it delivers intense peach, apricot and tropical fruit aromas and flavors with... Read More

Pinot Blanc is often the overlooked grape in Alsace, but – especially in these warming times – its ability to hold onto crisp, refreshing, acidity is prized! Done all in tank, this shows pretty scents and flavors of... Read More

Organic/Bio Lower ABV As always, one of the best values in top-notch Willamette Valley Chardonnay. It's from vines planted 1977-1999 on the estate, picked ripe and fresh (13.1% abv), and fermented and aged in French oak. Definitely... Read More

Organic/Bio As Wine Advocate says in the 97 point rave, The 2021 Chardonnay Casteel is complex and alluring, offering dynamic aromas and flavors as it unfurls with oxygen over several days. The nose offers lemon peel and panna... Read More

Organic/Bio Lower ABV This fairly young (founded 2020) winery is crafting beautiful Albarino from certified organic grapes and ultra-low sulfur winemaking. This beauty is from 50 year-old vines near the Atlantic with 14 months... Read More

The winery describes this as “Freshness, joy and youth in your glass of wine,” and that pretty much sums up this wine. Perfect for weeknights when you want to enjoy a bottle over a couple of nights. The vibrancy is... Read More

Lower ABV Mersault’s Vincent Boyer and Languedoc’s Emmanuel Lucas de Bar created this project to make wine together in both regions. The fruit here is from Languedoc and the winemaking all in steel. It’s restrained... Read More

Organic/Bio Vincent Boyer has moved his old family estate to organic farming and now gives his wines two years elevage – one in 5-8 year-old barrel and a second in concrete egg. This wine, from sites in lower Meursault,... Read More

Organic/Bio Lower ABV What starts off as a round, almost creamy, mouth full of sweet and bitter orange, peach and lemon zest flavors get an electric jolt of energy on the finish that grips to squeeze out every last drop of this... Read More

Organic/Bio What do Cognac makers drink for an aperitif or at lunch? Pineau des Charentes! And this is one of the very finest from Cognac's first organic estate. The wine starts with fresh, unfermented, juice from the Cognac... Read More

From a California Sparkling wine specialist, this is elegant, nicely textured, Chardonnay of fine freshness and length. In 2023, it’s all Russian River fruit from a vineyard next door to Kistler and Ritchie Vineyards and... Read More

Smells great, tastes even better, crazy good price for high quality white Burgundy. That’s really what you need to know here, but we’ll try to give you a little more. It’s from vineyards on the Puligny border... Read More

In this very short harvest, there's a little more oak influence to Sylvain's village Puligny (not more new wood, but more second and third use barrels that needed to be kept full!). It just makes this lovely Chardonnay... Read More

I believe the technical tasting note for this wine, as approved by all the most serious wine writers, is: Hubba Hubba. There’s this thing white Burgundy winemakers do where they let the wine sit in the barrel on what’s... Read More

I certainly didn’t expect to write this, but Sylvain Bzikot’s 2023 village Puligny Montrachet is even better than his outstanding 2022 edition. It’s from several plots of vines above the village of Puligny including... Read More