Thursday, September 28th
We'll be popping some highly allocated new Kermit Lynch arrivals. These wines are already in stock. What we have is all we can get! Quantites are very limited, so call ahead to reserve your bottles!
Tasting 4pm-6pm
Call 256-964-7980 to Reserve!
Kermit Lynch Wine Tasting
Le Petit Bijou
Thursday, September 28
4pm - 6pm, $20
With Special Guest, Allaina Lawrence of International Wines
2022 Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre, Loire Valley, France $38.99
Does it get more classic than this? Like Chablis and Muscadet, Sancerre is a quintessential white wine appellation of France, beloved for its famous Kimmeridgian limestone and crisp blancs that sing at apéro hour. This AOC also happens to be home to half a dozen vignerons named Reverdy. Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy, a family farm that has been making wine for many generations—since the 1600s—is our favorite, producing Sancerres with trademark notes of fresh spring flowers and a zesty, mineral finish.
Since Kermit began to work with Hippolyte, the first Reverdy in this family to bottle, in the 1980s, the wines have been consistently excellent.
2022 Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre Rose, Loire Valley, France $32.99
It's hard to imagine a wine as refreshing and enlivening as Reverdy’s Sancerre, but the domaine's Sancerre rosé gives their classic white a serious run for its money. Vigneronne Julie Guiard uses direct-press Pinot Noir vinified in stainless steel to create this snappy, saline expression of Sancerre's stony soils. While its delicate aromas of tart cranberry and white cherry set it apart, it makes for an all-star apéritif just as much as her iconic blanc
2022 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rose, Provence, France $51.99
For many of my colleagues who love red, white, or sparkling wines first and foremost, new arrivals of revered Burgundy, Barolo, or Champagne elicit profound joy and anticipation. But as someone who loves rosé above all else, this is the bottle I most eagerly await year in and year out. From the world’s greatest site for Mourvèdre—Bandol—Tempier’s rosé is what I open for celebrating milestones, holidays, or a home-cooked family feast. Classy and classic, perfectly balanced, incredibly versatile at your table, and so expressive of the flavors and aromas of the Provençal coast—rosé doesn’t get better than this.
2021 Alex Foillard Cote de Brouilly, Beaujolais, France $45.99
Just south of Morgon lies the Côte-de-Brouilly, a cru whose imposing slopes and strikingly rocky soil imbue Gamay grapes with power and drive that, in examples like this one, can be more reminiscent of Rhône wines than of your stereotypical dainty Beaujolais. Alex Foillard fashions a Côte-de-Brouilly that strikes a deeper register, saturating the senses with tooth-staining fruit, gritty earth, and just a touch of the good funk. A note of iron lends itself to hearty gulps alongside braised pork shoulder, spice-crusted brisket, or a rare ribeye. You’ll appreciate another take on Beaujolais.
2021 Alex Foillard Brouilly, Beaujolais, France $43.99
Alex Foillard epitomizes the new generation of talent coming of age in the Beaujolais. Growing up in the Foillard household, he had privileged access to the brightest minds of natural wine, but that did not prevent him from exhibiting some ambition of his own. In order to really spread his wings, he purchased his own vineyards, including a one-hectare plot of fifty-year-old vines in Brouilly, a cru novel to the Foillard cellars. You might detect a slight southern accent in this release—a generous dash of plump, sun-ripened fruit enveloping its granite core—along with the deluxe silkiness that characterizes all Foillard bottlings.
2020 Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre Rouge, Loire Valley, France $35.99
(Very Limited - not enough to taste this time- only a few bottles left!)
If you have never tried a red wine from Sancerre, there is a likely explanation: only 10–20% of the wines from that appellation are red, even though the Sancerrois have been cultivating and vinifying Pinot Noir for centuries! In the late 1980s, Kermit asked Hippolyte’s son Michel to try aging his small amount of Sancerre rouge in the traditional demi-muids and bottling it unfiltered. Michel agreed to run this experiment with the cuvées we imported, but he continued to filter his Pinot Noir for other customers. Eventually those clients tasted our unfiltered cuvée andrequested this style for themselves. So, in 2003, Michel finally decided to bottle all of his reds unfiltered. One whiff of this charming, Paris-bistro Pinot Noir from Sancerre and you know you’re not in Burgundy. Pure, classy fruit sing tenor without any interference from the earthy bass that often makes itself heard in Bourgogne rouge. This Pinot Noir is for pleasure and refreshment, not for pondering.
NV Petit Royal Lambert de Seysell, Savoie, France $22.99
70% Molette, 30% Altesse
The village of Seyssel, in the French Alps, has a history of viticulture dating back centuries, having built a reputation for floral-scented charmers from the local grapes, Molette and Altesse. Produced in the méthode traditionnelle and aged for two years sur latte, the Petit Royal is unequaled in the world of sparkling wine: alpine flowers, dried fruit, wildflower honey, and a toasty, yeasty note give this value sparkler an utterly delightful aromatic richness and complexity. Serve it with various salty toasts to kick off your next dinner party, or pop one open to liven up a night at home with a big bowl of mac and cheese. –Anthony Lynch
