GRAPE: Unfined/Unfiltered

West Coast Distribution: We are pumped to distribute this iconic Rheinhessen producer in the Pacific Northwest! Our friends at David Bowler Wine sent sixth-generation winegrower Johannes Hasselbach our way to help get things started, and Johannes sits down with John to cover the bases on all things Gunderloch.

National Portfolio: Our lineup from Vignobles Saby is on fire these days, especially Chateau Bertin, Chateau Rozier, and Chateau Hauchat. Jeff gets down and dirty with the always loquacious Jean-Phillipe Saby of Vignobles Saby to break down current releases. We also get a sneak peek at a few new upcoming additions, including Chateau Reindent which will replace our entry-level "Chateau Saby" Bordeaux Superieur. There is a raging party going on in the background so apologies if it is a bit crunchy...

John connects with Roberto Echeverria where they cover everything from cool climate varietals, natural wine, and forest fires.

Yes we are still eagerly awaiting our next load of Bouza, and if we weren't already pumped up for new vintages of Tannat Reserva and Albarino we REALLY are now that we've spent a few days in Seattle and Portland with new-generation leader José Manuel Bouza. We presold a lot of wine, and recorded some audio, topics include:

• An overview of Bouza's history and their setup
• Why you find Albarino in Uruguay and why it grows so well there
• The original idea behind Bouza's highly-acclaimed "Parcela Unica" bottlings

We talked Manfred Felsner into letting us record his thoughts on a variety of topics, and distilled things down into a ten minute clip for you. Topics include:

• Why a vineyard with a mix of young, middle-aged, and old vines is rare in Kremstal but a kind of secret weapon
• Why Kremstal might be the new Provence in terms of sexy, textured rosé
• The importance of extended lees contact i.e. why Manfred refused to bottle Gruner until the last possible moment

Everything old is new again, and Gavi is getting exciting! Jeff reports to us from the field and gives us the quick rundown on Produttori del Gavi.

The venerable Guerrieri Rizzardi estate is on a roll these days, cranking out some of the most interesting examples of Amarone, Valpolicella Ripasso, and Soave Classico you'll find anywhere. Daniel Stewart paid us a visit last week and caught us up on all things Rizzardi-related.

Angelo Simonetti from our Oregon distribution branch spends some quality time with Derek Mossman and Pilar Miranda of Garage Wine Co while in Santiago. They talk about the New Chile, MOVI, Pais, solera setups, and more.

Frank Poot and Laurent Fayolle dish for a few minutes on the expansion of the Crozes Hermitage appellation and how that relates to the wines in this appellation as a whole.

The most interesting discovery during our time in Alsace was learning about Xavier Engel's unique approach to making sparkling wines. We’ve long celebrated Engel's bubbles for their rich mouthfeel and fine carbonation but weren’t aware that he was doing something completely unusual to accomplish this result.  In this clip Xavier explains his philosophy of growing on “cool” soils in order to harvest at a high enough brix level to have the ability to achieve secondary fermentation with natural grape sugars.