Many in the natural wine world are, in a sense, waiting for the apocalypse: the moment the very notion of natural wine becomes distorted and mainstreamed into oblivion. When, four years ago, the opening of Williamsburg’s The Four Horsemen was announced, people could have been forgiven for thinking that moment had arrived. The restaurant and wine bar made big news in all the … [Read more...] about Justin Chearno Of The Four Horsemen: The Sprudge Wine Interview
The Wines of Olivier Cohen: Burt Reynolds of the Argelliers
Wine glasses in hand, mid-tasting, Languedoc winemaker Olivier Cohen and his father and I troop across the road from his winery to see a parcel of Cohen’s Merlot. Cohen stops at his mailbox on the way, discovering inside it something resembling an auburn, dirt-encrusted pebble, which he holds in his palm for me to examine. “It’s a truffle!” he reveals, chuckling. He explains … [Read more...] about The Wines of Olivier Cohen: Burt Reynolds of the Argelliers
In Central France, Aurelien Lefort Is Championing Natural Winemaking
Madriat is a hamlet of some 114 residents in the southern reaches of the Puy-de-Dôme department of Auvergne, far from the suburban sprawl of Clermont-Ferrand, in the foothills of the Chain des Puys. I’ve come to visit Aurelien Lefort, a painter and illustrator, a former Parisien, who in recent years has produced tiny quantities of glittering, high-toned, unsulfured wines from … [Read more...] about In Central France, Aurelien Lefort Is Championing Natural Winemaking
Christophe Pacalet: From Negociant To Vigneron At Chateau Des Labourons
As we drive to the site of his new acquisition in Fleurie, Beaujolais négoçiant winemaker Christophe Pacalet tells me how, one evening at a restaurant in the region, a fellow natural winemaker drunkenly approached him, demanding, “What do you do, anyway? You don’t even grow your own grapes!” Pacalet didn’t rise to the bait on that occasion. Bespectacled and mild, a chef by … [Read more...] about Christophe Pacalet: From Negociant To Vigneron At Chateau Des Labourons
In The Vineyards Of Alsace With Christian Binner
On a clear-skied Saturday morning in early October—the middle of harvest season here in Alsace, east of Colmar—Christian Binner is labeling full-to-bursting buckets of Riesling and Gewurztraminer in the back of his van, marking them with scrap paper bearing parcel names. He and his young Canadian intern are collecting grape samples. We’ve visited parcels in the Côteaux … [Read more...] about In The Vineyards Of Alsace With Christian Binner