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The Boisset Insider - October 2019

In This Issue:

A Touch of Velvet
 ’Tis the Season for Boisset Sparkling Wine
► 2019 Harvest at Boisset in France
► Alchemy Tour Wraps Up With Stops in New York City, Miami and Texas

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In The News:

Wine Spectator Spreads the Love for Raymond
► Food & Wine Names Buena Vista Pinot One of 15 Best Under $20
 Bonpas Luberon #6 on Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Best Buys of 2019
► A Word on California’s Wildfires
 



A Touch of Velvet

Raymond Vineyards brings the experience of a Napa icon to the consumer. Paying tribute to the winery’s famed Red Room, Raymond Vineyards released three beautifully crafted 2017 wines with equally beautiful velvet packaging. The velvet labels symbolize the texture, emotion and feeling in the wines, the dynamic legacy of the Raymond family, and a vibrant vision of our future. The 2017 Raymond Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Red Blend wines are available to the market now. Also available is the 2017 Napa Valley Reserve Chardonnay and 2018 Napa Valley Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, which are delightful compliments to the red wine collection. With the holiday season approaching, the refreshing pair of whites and trio of rich red, blue and black velvet-labeled Napa Valley wines will bring the perfect holiday cheer and warmth to any dining table they touch.

Accolades

2017 Raymond Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - 92 points, Wine Advocate

2016 Raymond Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – 91 points, Wine Advocate

2017 Raymond Napa Valley Reserve Red Wine - 90 points, Wine Advocate

2016 Raymond Napa Valley Reserve Red Wine - 90 points, Wine Spectator

2017 Raymond Napa Valley Reserve Merlot - 89 points, Wine Advocate 

2016 Raymond Napa Valley Reserve Merlot - 90 points, Wine Spectator


’Tis the Season for Boisset Sparkling Wine

As we roll into November, the holidays are almost here and there is nothing better to celebrate the love and cheer with friends and family than sparkling wine. From Champagne to Crémant to sparkling, Boisset has every occasion covered.

For some truly exceptional bubbles, grab a bottle of La Victoire Champagne from Buena Vista Winery, made from premier cru grapes in Champagne. Also, out of the ordinary with exceptional quality and a style reminiscent of Champagne from 20 years ago, are the Bride Valley English Sparkling wines. Made by renowned wine critic and educator Steven Spurrier in Dorset, England, these wines are crisp and festive.

If you are looking to satiate a larger gathering with excellent sparkling wine but without the Champagne price tag, stock your cellar with Crémant. Boisset Collection’s expertise is truly expressed in the JCB No. 21 and No. 69 Crémant de Bourgogne but there is no need to limit yourself if your holiday spirit cannot be satiated with just one wine. This year, Boisset also boasts a Crémant de Jura from Henri Maire and a Crémant de Loire from Grandin.

The top-selling sparkling brand in the portfolio is, however, Charles de Fère. Made in the traditional method with hand-selected grapes from across France, these sparklers are always a treat. The Jean-Louis tier wines are crafted in the charmat method and offer a fruitier palate with smaller but more voluminous bubbles.

If you are really looking to make an impression during the holidays, you need to spread the joy of Haute Couture French Bubbles. Crafted and designed in France, the bubbles in the bottle are a reflection of the beautiful metallic pink, gold and black on the outside. Starting with a base of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and expanding to other varieties, the grapes are hand-sourced from the finest terroir throughout France.


2019 Harvest at Boisset in France

The 2019 vintage in Burgundy has been marked by heat and drought. Volumes are lower but the concentration is very good, which is key in making complex and expressive wines. Chablis, once again, faced the challenges we know so well in the area such as frost, hail, tricky flowering, drought and a heatwave in July. The result has been a high-quality juice with high sugar levels and nice acidity.

The Jura also suffered in volume from its own battle with drought in May, which significantly lowered yields. Passing storms throughout the summer mitigated the effects of the heatwave for a balanced ripening that will result in an aromatic and concentrated vintage.

In the Cote d’Or the grapes had near-perfect health with the exception of occasional scorching. The skins on the Pinot Noir were thick and the Chardonnay was very aromatic. Although yields were a bit lower, this allowed for stress-free management around the harvest.

The harvest in Beaujolais began with uncharacteristic heat and blazing sun. The Gamay showed good balance and the first juice had excellent qualitative potential with good sugar levels and nice acidity. This is a very promising vintage and will likely quickly sell through due to the lower yields.

The trend towards lower yields did not skip over the Rhône. Once again, we have a vintage of magnificent quality, especially in terms of acidity, with levels we have not seen for five years. Harvest began with grapes for rosés at the beginning of September, then the white grapes on September 9th and the first red grapes on September 11th with the Syrah, followed by the Grenache then finishing with Mourvèdre in early October.

The largest growing region and the one furthest south, Languedoc, saw wide variations this harvest. Quality across the region varied from decent to outstanding but the overall health of the grapes was pristine. The grapes — which saw sugar levels rocket in the space of a week, enabling some make up for lost time but complicating the harvest planning — were picked at night to preserve freshness.


Alchemy Tour Wraps Up With Stops in New York City, Miami and Texas

The Alchemy of the Senses tour visited New York in September, making the Big Apple its ninth stop. Hosting one of the largest-attended AOTS events to date, Jean-Charles welcomed wine enthusiasts and engaged with members of the trade to share his world of passion from wine to perfume. The event took place at the XI Visionaries Gallery near Chelsea Pier, which is the future home of the Six Senses Hotel in New York.

Moving south to Miami, the tour took over a Coral Gables canal-side estate for a series of events, from private tastings and "Last Supper" dinners to an open house and Ambassador business brunch, all in a setting fit for the bon vivant. The al fresco ambiance for the dinners among palms captured the Miami vibe as the Boisset culinary team served yet another delicious meal.

The tour continued with a stop in Houston, Texas where Jean-Charles and team set up shop in a rustic, contemporary-style home on a ravine lot in the upscale Hunters Creek Village.

The Alchemy of the Senses tour made its last stop for 2019 in the Dallas area on October 25 and 26, at a French-style chateau on 10 wooded acres with themed rooms for entertaining, from a Moroccan lounge to a zebra-patterned sitting room.

Cheers to a successful tour that spanned five months and 12 cities and brought the world of Boisset to wine lovers around the country!

 



In The News


Wine Spectator Spreads the Love for Raymond Vineyards

The country’s leading wine publication, Wine Spectator, recently showered love on Raymond Vineyards with high marks for the winery’s Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Critic Kim Marcus included the black velvet-labeled 2016 Napa Valley Reserve Merlot in his article “The Merlot Factor: Standout Bottlings from Napa Valley Overperform on Quality While Holding the Line on Price” as a top value, describing this wine as follows: “A tensile backbone structures the densely packed dried red fruit and spice flavors. Richly savory midpalate, with suave tannins on the finish.” The magazine also awarded the Napa Valley Reserve Red 90 pts, with critic James Molesworth calling it “A sculpted and refined red.” And he gave 93 points to the top-shelf Generations Cabernet Sauvignon, with the note “A big, broad style, with a swath of baker's chocolate laid over a core of steeped black currant and blackberry fruit.”


Food & Wine Names Buena Vista Winery Pinot Noir One of 15 Best Wines Under $20 

Food & Wine magazine picked the 2016 Buena Vista Winery North Coast Pinot Noir as one of its best bottles of that variety for under $20. The wine was the first on the list and the national publication noted “Buena Vista founder Agoston Haraszthy, who first made wine here in 1857, would have been pleased with this expressive, finely balanced effort.” Contact your Boisset sales representative to secure your allocation of this highly lauded Pinot Noir.
 

Bonpas Luberon #6 on Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Best Buys of 2019

The 2017 Bonpas Luberon blend of Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Ugni Blanc and Vermentino was a hit with Wine Enthusiast, which named it #6 on its annual list of Top 100 Best Buys! The national wine publications’ critic Anna Lee C. Iijima noted, “While the nose is demure, the palate of this medium-bodied white offers loads of fresh white grapefruit, peach and apricot flavors… it’s fresh and fruity yet edged by veins of salt and chalk.”

 

A Word on California’s Wildfires

On behalf of the Boisset Collection family, our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by the widespread and ongoing California wildfires. We are deeply grateful for the first responders who are heroically working to stop the spread of the flames of the wildfires burning in both Northern and Southern California. 

Currently, all Boisset Collection properties are intact, however the following Northern California properties are currently closed to due evacuation orders until further notice: DeLoach Vineyards in Santa Rosa, JCB Salon in Healdsburg and Oakville Grocery in Healdsburg.

We appreciate your understanding during this difficult time in case we are unable to respond or fulfill orders per our usual timeframe.