CHOOSE AT LEAST TWO:
DOMAIN JOMAIN BOURGOGNE BLANC (SUSTAINABLE)
ADROÎT INITIATIVE MISSION (ORGANIC, NATURAL)
LIOCO INDICA (ORGANIC PRACTICES)
CLOS DE SIXTE LIRAC (ORGANIC)
DOMAIN JOMAIN BOURGOGNE BLANC (SUSTAINABLE)
If you’re like me and love white Burgundy, you’ve been priced out of many of your favorites over the past years. That $30 Puligny-Montrachet is now over $100, and the once bargain of St.Aubin is now in the $50-60 range.
A true family enterprise, brothers Philippe and Christophe Jomain, along with sister Catherine, launched this Chardonnay focused Cote de Beaune domaine in 1992 with vines inherited from their father, Marc. With precious parcels in four of Puligny’s premier crus and almost an acre of hallowed ground in the Grand Cru Batard Montrachet, Domaine Jomain consistently produces a line of classically elegant white Burgs.
The Jomain tend all their vineyards meticulously by hand with careful eco-sound practices, including bio-alternative vine and soil treatments in lieu of chemicals whenever possible. Harvest is of course also manual. From vineyard to the cellar, gentle handling of their Chardonnay fruit is of paramount importance.
In the cellar, Christophe takes every measure to ensure that the individual character of each terroir is fully expressed by avoiding manipulative technological tricks and excessive use of new oak. The Jomain do like the texture-enhancing effects of extended lees contact with batonnage, but never use more than 25% new barrels during the elevage of their wines.
The Jomain family are best known for creating superb Puligny-Montrachet. And this is your chance to taste their expertise at a lower price. Once the grapes are hand-picked and pressed, this wine is aged partially in oak.
This Bourgogne Blanc is produced in the same commune and offers a good level of interest for the reasonable price. Green gold in the glass, the aromas are spicy and buttery, with some white flowers, stone fruit and citrus. Aged in steel and oak for a total of 12 months, This dry, white wine offers fruity aromas of lychee, pear, lemon, and apple while the hint of earthy mushroom adds complexity. Light, crisp, and clean, this is textbook Bourgogne.
Adroît Initiative Mission (Organic, Natural)
Seabold Cellars is the brainchild of Master Sommelier Chris Miller. Seabold Cellars was established in the Monterey Bay region because they believe that cool-climate vineyards produce balanced wines that showcase their origin more than their winemaking. Their approach is as hands-off as possible, respecting traditional techniques and practices without being beholden to them.
Their Adroît Initiative wines are the outcome of successful experiments in the winery that do not quite fit into a traditional mold. They represent a divergence from what is generally considered the more ‘classic’ winemaking archetypes: pétillant-naturel, carbonic maceration, skin-contact white wines, and underappreciated grape varieties typically find a home in The Adroît Initiative.
The natty kids would call both of these wines glou-glou, eminently gulpable wines.
Mission grapes are a variety of Vitis vinifera introduced from Spain to the western coasts of North and South America by Catholic New World missionaries for use in making sacramental, table, and fortified wines. It is grown in South America, particularly in Chile and Peru, under then names Criolla and Pais. During the 19th century, the grape was known by several other names, including the Los Angeles grape and the California grape.
Seabold’s Mission (aka Päis) bottling is from a single vineyard (Somers) in the cooler Mokelumne River subregion of the Lodi AVA. Boasting the coolest climate of the Lodi, with a mild Mediterranean climate influenced by proximity to a number of the Sacramento Delta’s waterways, the soils are very consistent with a mild slope draining off to the river.
Hand-harvested in the early morning. Upon entering the winery, the clusters were hand-sorted prior to loading into harvest bins, which were subsequently sealed airtight. From the small pool of free-run juice, fermentation began and flooded the bins with CO2, initiating carbonic maceration inside of the grapes. Two bins were opened and pressed off after 10 days, finishing primary in barrel, and the other bins at 20 days.
The wine was aged on fine lees in neutral barriques. After five months, the wine is racked and bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Look for juicy red cherries, cranberries, raspberries, forest floor, potpourri spice, and a bit of white pepper, with a long, soft, velvety finish. Serve chilled
Lioco Indica Red ( Practicing Organic)
Lioco wines were born out of ideas that germinated in the alley behind Spago-Beverly Hills in 2001. Matt Licklider was the national sales director for North Berkeley Imports, and Kevin O’Connor was the Wine Director at Spago.
The pair would taste wine in the alley, spitting in the rain gutter, and talk about the wines they loved and lament that there weren’t enough domestic wines that fit their preferences: lower alcohol, less sugar, and putting elegance and nuance before power.
Those conversations and the resulting friendship gave birth to Lioco in 2005. They’ve been at the avant-garde of the current trend of wine-making that champions less intervention in the process and looks to the California wines of the 1980s (and older) as well as European wines as benchmarks.
Farming is, at a minimum, sustainable. All grapes are hand-picked and sorted.
All fruit was hand-harvested in late September. It was foot tread and fermented beneath a ‘submerged cap’ on 100% whole clusters during an 18-day fermentation. It spent 10 months in neutral oak prior to bottling.
From two historic Mendocino County vineyards—one with 70-year-old, dry-farmed Carignan (93%) pitched on an exposed, rocky slope at 2,400 feet; the other with 75+-year-old Valdiguié (7%) farmed on clay soils in a cool, upland valley. These rapidly vanishing California grape varieties harken back to the Golden State’s earliest winemaking efforts.
Clos de Sixte Lirac (Organic)
Established in 1826 in the Northern part of Chateauneuf du Pape, the Alain Jaume Winery boasts both the exceptional terroir of the Southern Rhone Valley and a long line of dedicated winemakers. Alain Jaume works in accordance with certified organic agricultural practices for both the Grand Veneur and Clos de Sixte vineyards. They strive to let the true terrior be expressed in their wines.
The principal winemaker is Alain Jaume. His sons Sebastien and Christophe are both heavily involved with the winery in sales and marketing and winemaking respectively. The Alain Jaume winery consists of 40 acres in Chateauneuf du Pape, 50 acres in Lirac, and 75 acres of Cotes du Rhone vines.
The family produces wines under two labels: Domaine Grand Veneur and Alain Jaume.
93 points Wine Enthusiast: Fleshy plum and black-cherry flavors are juxtaposed by dark shades of anise, crushed granite and sage in this bold, richly textured wine. Polished and penetrating, the wine is lifted by tangs of crushed mineral on the midpalate. It drinks beautifully now but should continue to improve through 2026.
93 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate The 2016 Lirac Domaine du Clos de Sixte is a terrific wine, easily the rival to many Châteauneufs from across the river, starting with its alluring aromas of flowering garrigue and ripe cherries. A blend of 50% Grenache, 35% Syrah and 15% Mourvèdre, this full-bodied wine is lush and concentrated on the palate, then turns velvety on the long finish. I’d treat it like a Châteauneuf du Pape in terms of cellaring: hold it for a few years, then drink it over the next 15.
92 points Jeb Dunnuck Year in, year out, the Clos de Sixte Lirac is a superstar wine, and the 2016 Lirac Clos De Sixte doesn’t break the trend. Made from 50% Grenache, 35% Syrah, and the rest Mourvèdre, brought up in 30% oak, this beauty boasts loads of dark fruits, peppery herbs, graphite, and crushed rock. Medium to full-bodied, rich, and powerful, it stays polished and elegant on the palate, with the beautiful 2016 purity of fruit front and center. Drink it any time over the coming 7-8 years.