My favourite wine shop/warehouse in Lisbon has a generally well curated, interesting selection of both Portuguese and foreign wines, mostly from small producers with a low intervention or biodynamic philosophy. Whereas I easily navigate their Portuguese references, their foreign ones are pretty much terra incognita for me, and although I’ve blindly tried a few (I loved Chidaine’s 2011 Les Bournais), I would love to hear your take on these - which do you consider most interesting to invest in, in case you know them and feel they’re worth it. Although they sell wines from less popular or well known regions as well, I thought I’d stick to the most well known French and Italian ones for now. They’re as follows…
Domaine André Rieffel
Domaine Ostertag
Domaine Meyer-Fonné
Domaine Bott-Geyl
Domaine Kreydenweiss
Riss Catherine
Domaine Albert Boxler
Domaine Sylvie Spielmann
Domaine Pierre Frick
Loire:
Domaine François Chidaine
Domaine Carême
Domaine Belliviere
Domaine Pithon-Paillé
M. & S. Bouchet
Domaine La Pépière
Leroy Richard
Domaine Delesvaux
Domaine Juchepie
Domaine de la Chevalerie
Clos Roche Blanche
Domaine Baudry
Domaine Les Maisons Rouges
Burgundy:
Clos des Vignes du Maynes
Nicolas Maillet
Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau
Domaine Dujac
Nicolas Maillet
Valette Philippe
Domaine Roulot
Domaine Voillot
Domaine Gachot-Monot
Domaine Rossignol-Trapet
Beaujolais:
Alex Foillard
Domaine Chamonard
Domaine JP Thévenet
Domaine des Terres Dorées
Château Cambon
Domaine Alain Burguet
De Moor
Domaine La Cadette
Domaine Robert Denogent
Domaine Marechal
Domaine Pattes Loup – Thomas Pico
Domaine de Courcel
Domaine Vincent Dureuil-Janthial
Domaine Confuron-Cotetidot
Rhône:
Gilles Guillaume
Domaine Thierry Allemand
L’Anglore
Domaine Pierre Gonon
Domaine des Entrefaux
Eric Texier
Bordeaux:
Château Bellevue
Les Trois Petiotes
Château Falfas
Piemonte:
Ezio Cerruti
G. Rinaldi
Cappellano
Azienda Roagna
Cascina Corte
Rivella Serafino
Azienda Bera
Valli Unite
Cantina Valpane
Cascina delle Rose
Fenocchio G.
For real, that is some of the best selections of producers I’ve seen. Ridiculously good stuff, you could buy like anything out of that selection and be happy with it.
From Champagne all four producers are top-notch. Lahaye probably my true favorite, but all those four ones I count among my favorites.
Terrific selection of Alsace. Kreydenweiss makes probably the most interesting and complex ones, but Albert Boxler is considered to be the top of his game. Ostertag makes very impressive, concentrated wines and Bott-Geyl can have some very affordable older ones if the importer has been paying any attention.
Tons of super stuff from Loire. Probably you’d better start by checking out the reds of Baudry and the whites of La Pepiere. Bouchet makes some very funky yet captivating wines.
I’ll leave the Burgundy recommendations for people who know better the whole range of producers there.
Terrific Bojo selection. I especially love the stern and rather rough Morgons and Fleuries by Chamonard and Terres-Dorées that are more serious and structured wines, not just easy-to-drink glou-glou bistro wines some Bojos can be (nothing wrong with those!)
Superb Rhône selection. Grab any Gonon St. Joseph wines you might have there, because their prices are soaring. Allemand probably is quite expensive there. Eric Texier makes some really wonderful and fresh wines throughout his range.
Tons of excellent Piemontese producers. Rivella Serafino’s Barbarescos are very stern and require lots of cellaring, but some of the finest I know. Cascina delle Rose and Cappellano follows in suit. Rinaldi’s all wines are easily some of the best from the region, but can be pricey.
Terrific answer, Otto! I appreciate it a lot! From what I can understand, their foreign selection is just as interesting as their Portuguese selection (which they also export in case anyone is interested in getting to know our smaller/quirkier producers).
thats a great list! Heres my thoughts (depends on your budget a little bit but these are my favorites in their bunches):
The champagnes are all good
Boxler is my favorite of the Alsace producers, Ostertag great too
Loire is not my expertise, will defer to Otto there. But I do like Perpiere and Baudry as well
Burgundy can’t pass on Dujac, Voillot (probably my favorite still-affordable burg producer), or rossignol-trapet. Roulot is great if budget allows.
Bojo, I really enjoy Foillard’s wines, but agree with Otto here too. I also like Pattes-Loup, but I picture them as Chablis producers?
Rhone, Agree grab the Gonons! Also like Guillaume
Piedmont: grab the Rinaldis! Don’t sleep on their “smaller” non Nebbiolo grapes. Rinaldi’s dolcetto is the best ive ever had, and the barbera is great too. roagna is really good as well
Tuscany I like Castell’in’villa
I’m definitely interested. The biggest problem with many Portuguese wine shops is the delivery costs; normally delivery costs within the EU are around 1€/btl from Germany and 2-3€ from Italy, but from Portugal I’ve had to pay 6-7€/btl (to get my hands on Colares wines; with them I can live with the delivery costs, because you can’t find such wines elsewhere at such prices, but keeps the prices of the less expensive wines quite prohibitive). What was this shop again?
Agree with Matt, Pattes-Loup is a Chablis producer. Quite wonderful one as well. And yes, Rinaldi’s Dolcetto is probably the best one I’ve had as well.
The shop is called Os Goliardos. I’m not sure about their shipping costs abroad, but they’re applying a 5% discount on orders above 100€. They also sell a lot of Collares, from the 1934 to the more recent vintages (red and white), and are just generally helpful, knowledgeable, approachable nice guys.
Tomas, that’s a really fine selection of producers. I don’t know all of them, for sure, but there’s a lot of top-notch wineries there. Put yourself in their hands and try a variety of wines, especially Lahaye, Ostertag, Roulot, Dujac, Denogent, Allemand, Gonon, Cappellano, Roagna, Rinaldi, and Fenocchio. Many of these are allocated, very expensive, or hard to find in the US.
For Piedmont it’s a very good selection, you cannot go wrong. Out of the usual names, Serafino Rivella is definitively a buy, just a couple of hectars in Montestefano close to their winery/house; 2 wines: one wonderful dolcetto (even if I heard that is no more produced due to a hail in 2018) and a great Barbaresco, that Teobaldo (actual owner, brother of former winemaker at Gaja) keeps in the cellar one year more than the standard (2015 should just be out).
For Barolo Giacomo Fenocchio has a very good QPR.
Foillard makes a wonderful beaujolais (I tried a Morgon Cote du Py 2016 that was perfect!)
Tomás, that is a really nice-looking list. Many others have much deeper experience, but I will chime in with some thoughts. I’ve loved every Baudry wine I’ve had. Super classy Cab Franc. I’ve very much enjoyed Guillaume Gilles, in particular his Les Peyrouses bottling, which is often a very good value (and fun to drink while cellaring his Cornas) and his Massardières, a very feral expression of Gamay (and would be a cool side by side tasting with a Bojo from that list, just to expand consciousness . Agree with Marco on Fenocchio as a QPR. I had his 2006 Bussia Riserva last year and while still too young, was flat-out elegantly delicious - I just kept smelling it!
It sounds like you’d be in good hands with that shop and importer!
Chidaine has been well-covered on this board. The other two excellent Chenin producers on this list are
Domaine Pithon-Paillé (Jo Pithon, estate was sold in 2018)
Domaine Delesvaux
Pithon and Delesvaux deliver best at the sweeter end of the scale - Coteaux du Layon (both producers, many cuvees), Quarts De Chaume.
Coteaux du Layon Sélection de Grains Nobles might be Pithon’s best or at least most popular and somewhat available. Recommended vintages are late 90s and early 00s - 1995, 97, 99, 2001, 02…
That’s an excellent selection. If that store was in my neighborhood, I would pick something blindfolded and try it, as everything looks (very) well curated. Seriously, pick any producer that fits your pocket.
Ridiculous list, as others mention. Clos Roche Blanche, on the Loire list, stopped making wine in 2014, though others have the vines. So if they have some older CRB wines I’d buy some for sure, but it also makes me wonder if the list is up to date.
For convenience’s sake I can simply send you (or anyone who’s interested) an excel file they sent me with their current available stock. As you well know, buying Caves de São João wine from them is probably not worth it since the Caves sell directly at dirt cheap prices. I should also point out that the Uvelhas Negras wines they sell are produced in partnership with Os Goliardos themselves. They’re very approachable, fresh wines at super reasonable prices.
Am I allowed to simply post their website here? It might count as commercial advertisement.
Actually no, but Dirk has a similar wine philosophy and sells some of the same producers, such as Vítor Claro.
This is roughly what I had been doing so far… and I was never disappointed.
Ridiculously good stuff, you could buy like anything out of that selection and be happy with it.
. Agree with Marco on Fenocchio as a QPR. I had his 2006 Bussia Riserva last year and while still too young, was flat-out elegantly delicious - I just kept smelling it!