The Latest / Guide

Sancerre's soils are one of the keys to its amazing wines, and Oxfordian Limestone is one of the more common its three super-special soils. Click here for a guide!

Whatever your reason for shopping online, we think it is time to update the wine buying advice to an increasingly virtual world. So here are my five tips on how to shop for wines online. 

Perhaps no other soil holds as much appeal to terroir-focused wine drinkers as Kimmeridgian limestone. It's a key ingredient in all the Grands Crus of Chablis and many of the greatest Champagnes of the Côtes des Blancs. You also find it in Sancerre.

Madeira is a wine of history, made by mistake and crafted by circumstance. With the ability to last for hundreds of years, sometimes it is, quite literally, bottled history. It’s a region whose great fortune was mirrored in its near extinction. Now these singular wines and their makers are experiencing a resurgence into the hearts and glasses of wine drinkers on the hunt for the authentic.

To get a better look at the terrors of Sancerre, there's no better place to start than the flinty soils (aka "silex") on the eastern edges of Sancerre. This Q&A should give you a good idea what Sancerre on Silex is all about!

Over the last several decades, the name Sancerre has become synonymous with premium dry white wine, making it the safe choice for consumers with no other requirements. As such, it's become one of wine's greatest hits, a wine region with nearly unparalleled brand recognition and customer devotion. This is fair, as virtually any Sancerre is taut, articulate, and often of reliably good quality.

Well, we've done all the big and famous Crus, but the little ones are still worth talking about. And drinking! We’ll start today with the gem, Régnié.

How to use this guide: 

1. Read the previews of each blog post.

2. Click the title links to read the entire post. 

3. Become an expert in the Northern Rhone. 

4. Follow the links in each post to purchase some NR wines. 

5. Become a lover of the Northern Rhone.

(It's that easy!)

For years, Cornas was just another “value” village of the Northern Rhone, with a reputation more like St. Joseph, say, than Cote Rotie or Hermitage. It was deemed “rustic” and a source for “country” wine. Things have changed!

This is a story of a vicious cycle finally flipping a switch to become virtuous.

Welcome to our Holiday 2019 Gift Guide! Our goal is to alleviate some of the stress that holiday wine gifts can bring. Hopefully you can have some fun while choosing the perfect bottle for everyone on your list. We've got these lists split into three categories: Gifts for the Wine Geek, Gifts for the New (but interested!) Wine Drinker, and--my personal favorite--stocking stuffers. 

Hermitage may be the greatest wine made from Syrah anywhere in the world. In this post, Jeff takes a close look at Hermitage, focusing on everything from its history and terroir, to its vineyard sites, top producers and more.

We want to take a moment, as the holiday weekend dawns on us, to talk with you about how to organize an at-home tasting! There's no better way to experience wine than with friends. And there's no better time than...you guessed it....NOW!