raffaele Mastrovincenzo

Premeaux is a village in the Cote de Nuits which technically belong to Nuits Saint Georges.  The Appellations of Nuits Saint Georges falls into two part divide by the town himself  The Northen portion extends as far as the border of Vosne Romanee and the south part of the town extends to  Premeaux.  In the Premeaux part, numerous 1er Cru is Monopole (Vineyard owned by one domaine) Clos de La Marechale is the largest Monopole in Burgundy with 9,76 hectare all surrounded by a wall is bigger than the famous Clos de Tart and Clos de Lambrays in Morey Saint Denis. The owner is Domaine Jacques Frederich Mugnier which start to vinify the wine in 2004 before Faiveley was producing it. The Domaine of Frederich Mugnier produces red and white and also in rare occasion a second wine called Clos des Fourches younger vines of the Clos de la Maréchale in certain vintages. Clos Arlot is the Monopole of Domaine L'Arlot, 2 hectares on two different s...

In the center of Beaune is located the vigneron Emmanuel Giboulot which start his activity in 1985 with 0.8 hectare of vines.... Currently his properties is close to 10 hectares with an interesting part in the appellation Cote de Beaune which is related only in the Beaune commune. An area of 15.53 hectare dedicated to red wine and 13.73 to white wines. Beaune commune is close to 400 hectares. This appellation also don't need to be confused with the Cote de Beaune villages which cover all the Communes in the Cote de Beaune. Emmanuel since he started has been farming with organic principles, famous his battle in 2012 when he refuse to spray a compulsory treatment for the flavescense doree, which give him quite some trouble with the French law. We visite his small cave in July, he was very welcoming and dedicate to us half morning tasting through barrels the vintage 2017 in the different climat and commune. We start with Pinot Beurot which is a mutated clone of the Pinot...

In the village of Oeuilly in the Valle de la Marne is situated Tarlant a historical maison from 1928. 14 hectare of vines divide in 62 parcelle in 4 different village Boursault, Celles-Les-Conde, Oeuilly and St. Agnan. The production is completely respectful of mother nature with no chemical and only one goal the respect of Terroir with low dosage. Old vines more than 30 years, with a little parcel on prefilloxera vines. A prefilloxera vine on sandy soil, for the cuvee La Vigne D'Antan  Each parcel is vinified separately to understand the geological peculiarity of the soil, than in regard of the characteristic of the cuvee, the assembling will be done to express the style of the cuvee  or the vintage if will be a millesime.  The wines rest "sur Latte" for several years to express complexity and rich aroma profile.  In Tarlant even the NV cuvee "Zero" spend 4 years on lees before disgorged.  The dosage on the neck ... La Cave. ...

In my last wine trip I had the pleasure to visit the new upcoming producer Flavien from the family Nowack. The house Champagne is situated in the "Valle de la Marne" in the village of Vandieres in the right bank where the Pinot Meunier is the main cepage, with various soils predominaly sandy and clay. Vandieres with Damery, Chatillon sur Marne and Reuil give to this part of Champagne a great importance. Flavien Nowack is a young guy with experience outside of champagne, he worked in east Europe in the region Etyek Budai with the producer Hernyak Birtok and also work with the famous Mersault producer Coche Dury. Flavien in order to finance his new project, he continue to make traditional blended Champagne under the family label (Champagne Nowack) a great traditional producer. Flavien start at his father domaine in 2012 with 3 hectare of vine with the idea to convert everything in organic farming, in-fact in 2016 all his vines in total 6,5 hectare has been certified. H...

The Domaine Dhondt Grellet is situated in Flavigny in the Cotes des Blanc near the grand cru Avize, the propriety owns around 6 hectares of vines classified Grand Cru and Premier Cru with different Lieu dit in Cramant (grand cru) and Cuis (premier cru) mainly chardonnay.  The Domaine start in 1986 with Eric Dhondt and Edith Grellet when it was decide to stop selling grapes to the negotiant.  Currently, Adrien the son has taken over the Domaine and he has given to the Maison a different perception converting all the land in organic farming, separate vinification of the single vineyard lieu-dit to give a more expression to the terroir. Adrien welcomed us in the domaine and we tasted different wine from barrels, from his solera which start in 1986. The Vin Clair were complete wines with tension energy and roundness, doing harvest at the perfect maturation. This allowed them to not doing chaptalisation also to create a base wine for the second fermentation with com...

Clos Saint Jacques is a premier cru on the "finage" of Gevrey Chambertin in Burgundy. We talking about a vineyard with almost 7 hectares of surface of one of the most famous village of the Cote de Nuits "Gevrey Chambertin". This vineyard is ranking as a premier cru which is: a the term appears on a label, the wine is likely to be superior in quality to a village-level wine, and it is undoubtedly higher in price and scarcer in quantity. Premier Cru wines often include the name of a single premier cru vineyard. Clos Saint Jacques for many drinkers and producer have the quality and structure of a Grand Cru, in-fact the old Benedictines Monk in the 6th Century create the terroir quality of this amazing region with detail and perfection; they build lots of Clos (vineyards surrounded by stone wall). Clos saint Jacques refer to a statue, Saint James (Jacques) which stand in the vineyard and was a guide of the pilgrim in the past. Also according to the oldest c...

For several years I have been leaving outside the old world continent, the great Europe. I have been exposed to several wines from Australia due I'm leaving here, also wines from New Zealand and lately USA and South Africa and some South America. International variety I will said the classic French grapes acting quite well in the countries just mention, but one of those I really find interesting is the Pinot Noir. Central Otago in New Zealand seems by the press one of the best example outside of Burgundy, as a region is divide in sub zone with different altitude and exposition. My preference sub zone is the Wanaka area with vines planted around the homonymous lake; another great region is the Sonoma in California especially with Russian River Valley AVA and Sonoma Coast AVA. however there are two Pinot Noir I have been very in love with: The first one is the Eyre Vineyards from Oregon in Willamette Valley in the little sub zone Dundee Hill AVA.  The Eyre Vineyards was fo...