Values of the Month
by Dustin Soiseth
2023 Bordeaux Blanc
France | Bordeaux
I think the secret to Château Ducasse’s perennially popular, tantalizing white is the healthy amount of Sémillon. It makes up about 70 percent of the final blend and is wonderfully complemented by the Sauvignon Blanc, its traditional dance partner in Bordeaux blanc. As the Bordelais figured out long ago, Sémillon provides weight and texture that you don’t get with Sauvignon Blanc alone, along with gentler floral and stone fruit aromatics. Together, the two varieties produce a refreshing, food-friendly white that walks the line between racy and voluptuous.
2022 Corbières Rouge
France | Languedoc-Roussillon
It is wonderful to be able to rely on a bottle of red wine, year in and year out, as we do with Bruno Laboucarié’s blend of old-vine Grenache, Carignan, and Syrah from Corbières. To see the bottle there on your counter or resting in your wine rack, and know with confidence that it is ready to offer up its pure, sun-kissed mélange of dark red fruit, baking spices, and earthy minerality is a small, luxurious comfort amid the hurly-burly of daily life. This kind of consistency over just a few vintages is notable, but we’ve been importing Domaine de Fontsainte’s wines since 1978! Few values can match that track record.