A Note From Our Founders + Get to Know the Fall Club Wines!
A Note From Our Founders
Bastille Day, Fête nationale française in French, is the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1979, a major event of the French Revolution. Celebrations are held throughout France, one that has been reported as "the oldest and largest military parade in Eurpoe" is held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Hello everyone from the beautiful Languedoc!
This has been an amazing year and if it continues as it has been for the last six months, this is going to be one of the best vintages ever. We’ve had lots of rain in the form of massive downpours, which is wonderful for deep nourishment of the vines. Some of the vines in this area go down 30 feet so deep moisture in the soil is always a gift when the heat of August arrives. The temperatures have also been mild this year. We’ve only had one hot spell and it wasn’t too intense and didn’t last long. So we are already looking forward to the harvest and hearing from our wine makers their thoughts about this vintage. As we write this, tomorrow is Bastille Day. That’s the celebration in France of their people’s revolution against a monarchy that was indifferent to the needs of the people. The French love to celebrate, and this is one of their biggest. Our village of Quarante will be full of hundreds of people. The little local brasserie and bar will have a special menu and there will be a DJ playing music. People will literally be dancing in the streets!
We continue to be your feet on the ground curating the selections of wine you receive in your club shipments, and in our tasting room. We choose the wines from thousands that are available and import them ourselves. A wonderful couple who have been our great supporters, Chris and Helen, recently told us that they really believe our proposition is unique in the wine world: two people on the ground tasting hundreds of wines a year and importing and selling only the wines they select, offering diversity of altitudes, soils, grape varieties, and winemaking methods all from independent winemakers who grow their own grapes, make their own wines and sell their own wines. Wine retailers in the United States generally have to pick from wines that other people have selected and imported meaning they may not have a lot of diverse choices. Even most importers don’t have the time and resources to be on the ground most of the year, which is really necessary in order to have a thorough understanding of a region and develop the necessary network to find the best small winemakers. We feel very fortunate that we have the opportunity to do this.
This year we selected one new domaine to add to our portfolio, the wines of Jean-Baptiste Senat. His wines are full of character and a sense of place as all of his tiny vineyards are in one area of the Minervois. We also have new cuvées and new vintages from the wine makers whose wines you have tasted before and told us you love.
Carol, holding sweet Valentina, standing with Jean-Baptiste in one of his
vineyards, with Carol's friend Martine on the left.
If you agree with Chris and Helen and you love our wines, please tell your friends about our wine clubs. We are always hoping to find new people with whom we can share the stories of our wine makers, and to enable us to continue to offer these wonderful wines in the US.
We will be in touch later in the year after the harvest to let you know if all our hopes for 2024 have been realized. Wishing everyone a safe and joyful summer and fall.
Thank you so much for your support! Sweet kisses from the Princess and a warm hug from the Bear.
