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n.d.p. in beaujolais: marcel joubert, quincié
The prolific and indefatigable Marcel Joubert, arguably the most senior natural winemaker in Brouilly, made his last vintage in 2015. He's been producing ruggedly natural wines in a plethora of...
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n.d.p. in le mâconnais: le carafé, mâcon
The other day my kind friends drove us fifty minutes north of Beaujolais to taste just four wines. The wines, while well-made, were not life-changing. (The winemaker in question is, alas, a strong...
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: jean-gilles chasselay, châtillon d'azergues
About half an hour into our visit last October, larger-than-life Pierre Dorées vigneron Jean-Gilles Chasselay was serving us barrel tastes of his unusual "Cuvée de la Marduette" Beaujolais when...
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: les conscrits, villié-morgon
The most recent book published in English about Beaujolais, as far as I can tell, is British journalist Rudolph Chelminski's wishfully titled I'll Drink To That: Beaujolais & The French Peasant...
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le snacking: au sauvignon, 75007
Back in early November I asked Beaujolais vigneron Karim Vionnet where he'd be spending the soirée of Beaujolais Nouveau in Paris. He said he'd be a little bit everywhere, as usual, but he'd certainly...
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: domaine leonis (raphael champier & cristelle lucca),...
Odenas-born natural vigneron Raphael Champier decamped to a fixer-upper house and cellar on the outskirts of Villié-Morgon late last year. When I visited him and his girlfriend-slash-business partner...
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sign of the times: jones, 75011
When the partners involved in Voltaire gastronome-magnet Restaurant Bones decided to go their separate ways last summer, remaining co-owner and Père Populaire kingpin Florent Ciccoli considered...
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the grown-ups' table: le petit keller, 75011
If I were ten years younger, I'd probably spend a lot of time on rue Keller. Recent years have seen a cornucopia of earnest young bars and restaurants open on this Voltaire-area side street, some...
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: xavier benier, saint-julien
Saint-Julien vigneron and négoçiant Xavier Benier has long been an enigma to me. His unsulfured, unfiltered range of wines are well-represented around Paris, and nearly always offer excellent value...
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the f word: the curse of filtration
A kieselguhr filtration system. I love natural wine. But I understand why the phrase "natural wine" and the sulfur discussion it entails can sometimes infuriate even its own supporters. In natural wine...
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addicted: drogheria italiana, 75011
Few industries are as plagued with inefficiencies as that of Italian specialty shops in Paris. Prices are often rapacious. And queues are often interminable, due to the hellish combination of a)...
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: julien merle & nathalie banes, legny
Entering southern Beaujolais winemaker Julien Merle's cellar in Legny, I noted the low wooden ceilings above the cement vats and asked if he'd ever had issues with brettonamyces developing in tank....
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: justin dutraive, fleurie
"It's not very charming, as a terroir," says young Fleurie vigneron Justin Dutraive, as we tramp down a muddy path to the 8000m of Beaujolais vines he began leasing in 2015. "But it was a good terroir...
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: hervé ravera, marchampt
My time in Beaujolais has left me with a strong distaste for the appellation of Beaujolais-Villages. Not for the wines themselves, of course. Just the appellation, its haziness. It began well enough,...
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: jean-françois promonet, leynes
Complaining is a national pastime throughout France, along with labour strikes, cigarette-smoking, and pétanque. Vignerons, whose livelihoods are utterly dependent upon climatic forces beyond their...
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: l'auberge du moulin, saint-didier-sur-chalaronne
During les trentes glorieuses - the thirty-year heyday of post-war French economic expansion, roughly the late forties through the late seventies - the D906 from Mâcon to Lyon was perennially swarmed...
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n.d.p. in lyon: le fleurie, 69007
Far-flung Lyonnais wine bistrot Le Fleurie exists in a wonderful parallel universe where the old Léon Daudet chestnut - that Beaujolais wine comprises the “third river” nourishing Lyon, after the...
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bait and switch: traiteur ô divin, 75019
When I spoke to Ô Divin Epicerie proprietor Naoufel Zaïm last January, he mentioned he'd soon be turning a nearby defunct clothing shop into a take-out stand offering hot meals. A transition to...
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: jérome balmet, vaux-en-beaujolais
The tiny cellar space that Balmet shared with his father until this year. Conventional wisdom of Beaujolais geography places the highest, most dramatic slopes in the granite soil crus clustered in the...
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n.d.p. in beaujolais: sylvère trichard & elodie bouvard (séléné), blacé
I first heard of Blacé-based Beaujolais vigneron Sylvère Trichard while putting together Paris By Mouth's annual "Beaujolais Nouveau in Paris" round-up a few years ago. I remember being surprised that...
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