Five wines I cannot live without
Love, for me, is rarely loud. It’s patient. It’s layered. It’s built over time, through repetition, trust, and emotion. Wine speaks that same language. Certain bottles don’t just please my palate—they ground me, move me, and remind me why I chose this life in wine.
These are not trend wines. They are relationship wines. The ones I come back to, again and again, because they say something essential about who I am and how I taste.
Champagne as a Beginning (and an Ending)
2010 Domaine Les Monts Fournois “Côte Vertus Premier Cru” Brut — Champagne
Champagne is my punctuation mark. It opens conversations, seals memories, and often says what words cannot.
From Domaine Les Monts Fournois, this Premier Cru from Vertus is everything I love about grower Champagne: precision, restraint, and quiet confidence. The 2010 vintage brings tension and depth—chalk, citrus peel, orchard fruit, and that unmistakable saline finish that keeps pulling you back.
This is not a flashy Champagne. It’s thoughtful. It rewards attention. Like love that deepens over time, it doesn’t rush to impress—it stays.
Chablis, or the Beauty of Clarity
2023 Patrick Piuze Chablis “Grande Vallée” — Burgundy
It all started with Chablis.
I truly believe you can never go wrong with it—especially when that intense, unmistakable sense of place comes through. Some will argue that minerality is no longer an acceptable term when describing wine. And yet, it’s hard for me to think of anything else that so clearly evokes limestone, chalk dust, oyster shells, and that cool, saline edge that defines great Chablis.
There are days when I crave clarity. Chablis gives me exactly that—unfiltered, uncompromising, and pure.
Patrick Piuze understood Chablis deeply: its slopes, its exposures, its quiet restraint. Grande Vallée is not about oak or opulence. It is about line and tension, about limestone and light, about letting the vineyard speak without interference.
This wine tastes like cold stones, lemon zest, and white flowers carried on a crisp breeze. It reminds me that elegance doesn’t require embellishment. Sometimes, the most loving—and most honest—gesture is simply being exact.
Burgundy as Intimacy
2021 Domaine Odoul-Coquard Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru “Clos de la Riotte”
If Champagne is celebration and Chablis is clarity, Burgundy is intimacy.
From Domaine Odoul-Coquard, this Premier Cru feels profoundly personal. Morey-Saint-Denis sits in that rare space between power and finesse, and Clos de la Riotte captures this balance with quiet confidence.
In the Côte de Nuits, there are three appellations that speak to me of love and delicacy above all else: Morey-Saint-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, and Vosne-Romanée. Ask me to choose just one—and Morey always wins. It has depth without heaviness, structure without severity. It feels complete.
Domaine Odoul-Coquard is a family estate rooted in restraint and respect for place. Their wines are never loud, never forced. They favor elegance over extraction, allowing terroir and vintage to guide the expression. Clos de la Riotte, a small and finely situated Premier Cru, is handled with that same sensitivity—nothing added, nothing exaggerated.
Silky red fruit, forest floor, and subtle spice unfold gently. This is a wine that whispers rather than speaks. It asks you to lean in. To slow down. To listen.
This is the wine I open when conversation matters.
When the table is quiet—but full.
Barolo, or Love That Demands Patience
2020 Paolo Scavino Barolo “Bric Dël Fiasc” — Piedmont
I wish I could say that French is sexier than Italian—but that would be a lie.
I’ve had the chance to visit Italy several times, and each trip leaves the same impression: people who are kind, thoughtful, stylish, and deeply expressive. Intense, but in the most human way. I feel the same about many Italian wines, and especially about Barolo.
Paolo Scavino is a producer you can trust—consistently, confidently. Their wines are precise and age-worthy, yet never inaccessible. Bric Dël Fiasc is a perfect example: a Barolo that is available, generous, and already beautifully expressive, without sacrificing structure or depth.
Barolo has never been about immediacy for me. It’s about commitment.
This is Nebbiolo in its purest form—rose petals, tar, red fruit, tension, and a firm backbone holding everything in place. A wine of remarkable balance between power and restraint.
It asks something of you: time, patience, and trust.
And in return, it gives everything.
Love that lasts is rarely easy.
But it is always worth it.
Savennieres, or Wine as Philosophy
2022 Nicolas Joly “Clos de la Coulée de Serrant” — Loire Valley
Some wines are technical.
Some are emotional.
This one is spiritual.
It is the kind of wine you never grow tired of—the one that continues to surprise you, year after year. The 2022 vintage shows a different expression, with slightly more residual sugar than usual, adding another layer to its already complex personality. Not softness, but dimension.
Nicolas Joly’s Clos de la Coulée de Serrant is not just a vineyard—it is a worldview. Biodynamic, uncompromising, and profoundly alive. No two vintages are ever the same, because life itself is never the same.
The 2022 carries energy and texture—bitterness, depth, and a raw sense of place that refuses to be polished or simplified. It challenges you. It doesn’t try to please everyone.
And that is precisely why I love it.
This is wine as truth.
Comments (0)
There are no comments for this article. Be the first one to leave a message!