Club Little House - March

Petit Jo – La Roche Buissiere (2013)

Winemaker: Antoine and Lawrence Joly
Soil: Limestone, Clay, and Silt
Age of Vines: 25 yrs
Grape Variety(s): Syrah / Grenache
Style: Dry Red
Region: Rhone, France

Located northeast of Vaison-La-Romaine in the southern Côtes du Rhone, Antoine and Lawrence Joly work 18 hectare of organic vineyards making some of our favorite wines in the region. They maintain a freshness and lightness in their wines by dedicating themselves to very intense vineyard work that allows them to harvest earlier than several other producers in their area, resulting in less concentrated and lower alcohol wines.
Antoine's family has run the estate since the early 1970's (his grandfather was a beekeeper in the area and his father Pierre returned to live a more simple life after his involvement in the Parisian student riots of 1968). Pierre was a pioneer of organic viticulture in the Rhone and the vineyards have been certified since the 1980s, although he sold most of the grapes to the local co-op when he started. Antoine and Lawrence took over in 1999 and, since 2003, have vinified 100% of the harvest themselves.
Petit Jo is a wonderfully juicy and surprisingly refreshing (given that it’s from the Rhone). The grapes are fermented in concrete and aged for about 8 months, also in concrete. Only about 10mg/L of SO2 (extremely little) was added to the wine at bottling. This is one of our current favorites!

Cheverny Blanc – Domaine Tessier (2014)

Winemaker: Philippe Tessier
Soil: Sand, Poor Clay
Age of Vines: 20 yrs
Grape Variety(s): Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Menu Pineau
Style: Dry White
Region: Cheverny, Loire Valley, France Domaine Tessier was founded in 1961 by Roger Tessier, with his son Philippe taking the reins 20 years later in 1981. They are located in the heart of the Cheverny and Cour Cheverny AOC’s and currently have 23 hectares of vines. 

The vineyard exists in a microclimate that keeps the vineyards cool, situated between the Loire River and the forest of Cheverny, Chambord and Solange and has been Ecocert certified since 1998. Philippe believes that a wine should be the expression of the place from which it comes and should reflect the climatic conditions of the year as well as the vigneron that produces it, while also respecting the life of the soil and the environment. He believes that it should give pleasure but must also be sound and healthy, alive and digestible and above all, it should be a natural wine.
The Cheverny Blanc is fruity and zippy with a great acidity! Aged in tank for 6 months, the wine goes through malolactic fermentation, yielding a creamy texture. We love this wine with skin-on chicken or any cream based dishes!