Collection: July

$49.99 bottle / $269.94($44.99) six-pack This is INSANELY GOOD good wine!  I’ve drunk countless bottles of great Riesling from Prum’s grandest of Grand-Cru Riesling vineyards: Wehlener-Sonnenuhr and still have bottles of J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr in my personal cellar going back to the 2001 vintage.  They always satisfy! The nose smells like a combination of wet slate and the most divine lemon tart you’ve ever encountered.  The palate revisits the lemony theme with streaks of peach and granny smith apple supporting a riveting vein of blue slate minerality. If you like laser-focused, high-acid, super “slaty” Mosel Riesling, don’t pass this up.  Next lowest price in the country is $56.00 “The 2024 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett opens with subtle hints of creamy woodruff, candied angelica and wet slate. The palate is lightness itself, like a veil of scented fruit referencing green apple, supple, sweet but tart citrus, like juicy, pale pomelo, rounded out with a touch of white peach. It is wonderfully serene, cooling, elegant and precise. Drink 2025-2050” - 94 Vinous Limited

$23.99 bottle / $131.94($21.99) six-pack   Domaine des Forges has been run by the Branchereau family since 1890. It is now in the hands of Stéphane Branchereau and his wife Séverine. Le Moulin du Gué is excellent Savennières vineyard and is known for its classically dense wines. Savennières (always 100% Chenin Blanc) offers the fullest-bodied expression of Chenin Blanc while possessing its own unique mineral expression. Delicious, rich, balanced and ripe, yet restrained with minerals galore, honey, spice, citrus and white fruits. Drink this dry unctuous white while young and gushing with fruit over the next 4 years while you wait for the 2024 Forges Clos du Papillon (read on) to come into its own. - Very limited. 

Clos du Papillon is one of the great Savennieres vineyards, filled with volcanic rocks and deep schistous soils, and is known for its rich & complex wines.  Chenin Blanc geeks have been looking forward to the releases of the 2024 Loire Valley Chenins since the initial reports of a return to a cooler, more classic growing season. If the 2024 Clos du Papillon is a harbinger of what’s to come from the ’24s, then look out!  Aromas of baked pears, marcona almonds and honeycomb segue to the delicious, rich, balanced and layered palate with restrained Chenin fruit and gushing with shimmering minerality. Enjoy now and over the next seven years. Bam!

$24.89 bottle / $131.94($21.99) six-pack This is the essence of classical, refreshing, ultra food-friendly Provençal rosé. A beautiful light pink with orange tints, the Peyrassol’s nose has alluring aromas of raspberry, orange peel, melon, and minerals. The palate offers real depth and complexity with bright citrus notes balancing the fresh fruit and briny minerals framed by racy acidity on the silky palate. Um...more, please! Stock up for the long hot summer.

$49.99 bottle / $269.94($44.99) six-pack Don’t think of this as “expensive rosé,” think of it as just great $50 wine, which it is! This is not only our favorite Bandol Rosé, it's my favorite Rosé period that I’ve had over the last couple of years - and we’ve had a lot! Chateau Pibarnon, one of the two great Bandol estates, differentiates itself by sitting at the highest elevation in the appellation (more than 900 feet above sea level) and occupies its own micro-climate overlooking the sparkling Mediterranean bay of La Ciotat.  Aromatically quite complex with aromas that can only come from Mourvèdre based grapes grown in Bandol: wild herbs, fennel, orange peel etc. The palate is equally complex with flavors that reprise the aromatic themes. This is not just delicious and refreshing, it's serious, complex food-friendly wine that will improve over the next few years.  This is just nuts!

$69.99 bottle / $389.94($64.99) 6 pack This is “serious” Rosé Champagne.  While Champagne is a 12 month a year focus for us here at Sec, we don’t feature Rosé Champagne very often.  That’s because too often if a house offers a Rosé Champagne, it’s their most basic cuvée with a little red wine added to it to give it a rosé color, and then they charge 25% more for it.  This is not the case here.  A blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, the Dumangin offers a beguiling nose with red fruit, spice and light mineral tones.  The palate is in perfect balance with excellent focus and drive.  2012 was a very nice vintage and at 14 years old, the Dumangin Rosé is just entering it’s prime drinking window.   Beautiful strawberry fruit, chalky minerality and a hint of biscuit are all framed by zippy acidity ensuring this Champagne will continue to positively evolve in your cool cellar for another 5-8 years. 

Year in and year out, Do Ferreiro produces one of our favorite Albariños on the planet. With superb aromatic complexity, intense saline minerality, deep concentration and flavor intensity that escapes most other Albariños, Do Ferreiro remains not only one of the best wineries in Rias Baixas, but in all of Spain. Winemaker Geraldo Mendez calls “2024 is one of the best vintages in the last 25 years” due to an ideal growing season and this wine reflects his enthusiasm with its extra dimension of scrumptiousness! Delicious upon release, the 2024 will improve and gain in complexity in bottle over the next 7-9 years. Enjoy this very delicious white wine with virtually anything coming out of the ocean, rice dishes featuring vegetables or mushrooms, or just on its own. Incredibly great Albariño!

Evesham Wood is one of the original and still legendary wineries in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Started in the early 1980s by Mary and Russ Rainey, Evesham Wood slowly built a very strong local following and Russ quickly demonstrated that he was one of the new world’s most talented (and genuinely beloved) Pinot Noir winemakers.  In 2010, Erin Nuccio boought Evesham Wood and worked with Russ for several years. Erin has continued to maintain the original style of the Evesham Wood wines and today is making some of the best Pinot Noir in Oregon.  Temperance Hill is, of course, one of the greatest Pinot Noir vineyards in the new world and exhibits a strong sense of terroir. This is one of my favorite young Pinot Noirs (from anywhere) that I’ve had over the last several years. Beguiling now, it will age brilliantly for 20 years. “There's an unmistakable earthen note of crushed chalk, a dead giveaway for Temperance Hill Pinot Noir, and it leaps forward in this stellar bottling from Evesham Wood in the 2023 vintage. Sourced from a two-acre parcel in this higher elevation, Eola-Amity Hills vineyard, cared for by the meticulous and legendary Dai Crisp. Fresh red berries, alpine wild flowers and pine bough with the classic crushed chalk minerality alight the glass. The palate is upright, taut and electric. Cranberries, blood orange and chopped herbs mingle with gleaming salinity and crisp raspberry leaf. Drink between 2025-2035." - 96 Decanter & “The 2023 Pinot Noir Temperance Hill reveals a dramatically stunning bouquet of dusty lavender, violet tones, crushed stones, shavings of navel orange and dried strawberries.  It is seamless and silken in feel, displaying a pretty inner sweetness as ripe wineberry fruits and perfumed inner florals swirl throughout. The 2023 leave the palate stained with primary concentration, mixing blackberries with chalky minerals and spice, underscored by a saturation of fine tannins.  Bury the Temperance Hill in the cellar.  Drink 2028-2038.” - 95+ Vinous Limited

Longtime customers may remember us touting the wines of Scarpa years ago. Well, they were  out of the market for some time, but are back with new vintages of old favorites.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Scarpa wines, they are as “old-school” as it gets these days in Piedmont.   The 2023 Barbera d’Asti Briccomora is a wonderful reminder of what really good Barbera was like pre-2000 before wineries started trying to turn them into 15% alcohol overripe behemoths.  The nose offers enticing earth-driven scents with notes of red cherry and rosemary.  The medium-bodied palate offers more of the same with correct, food-friendly acidity and a wonderful savory quality.  This is the best deal in authentic Barbera we’ve seen in a long time.  Enjoy now and over the next four years with mushroom risotto, sausages, burgers or any kind of pasta or pizza you can think of.

$31.99 bottle / $179.94($29.99) six-pack Geek alert:  Well, what do we have here?  Rouchet (the local dialect name for Rouché, yeah, again, what?)  Rouchet/Rouché, known for its wildly aromatic aromas, is a nearly extinct grape variety native to Piedmont in NW Italy.  With qualities that are reminiscent of both Barbera and Nebbiolo, it is still a one-of-a-kind variety.  Explosive aromatically with scents of fresh pink roses, pine, jasmine and cardamom that lead to the intriguing palate that features wild berries, cherry, and pomegranate framed by zippy acidity and tannin grip. Enjoy now and over then next five to seven years with all of the same dishes you might enjoy Barbera or Nebbiolo with.

100% Cabernet Franc goodness from 45-year-old organic estate vines from a 6-hectare vineyard called La Grande Vignolle. The lieu-dit is on a chalk cliff set back from the Loire River on a high plateau at the northern limit of the Saumur-Champigny appellation, which along with Chinon and Bourgueil, is the source of the greatest Cabernet Franc wines. Starting with the classic aromatic fireworks, this is savory with pure fruit, great balance, and lots of terroir-action. Enjoy over then next seven to ten years with any manner of pork, chicken, lamb or beef dish you can think of. Perfect brasserie red - pass the steak frites!  This wine is an insane deal. 

$74.99 bottle / $419.94($69.99) six-pack Promoted to Premier Cru 20 years ago Sous Fretille is South facing, on a steep slope above the village consisting of shallow clay-limestone soil, rich in small stones and a marly-limestone subsoil similar to Corton-Charlemagne. Yet, saying it's like a baby Corton would be an injustice because it has it's own unique and compelling characteristics. Aromatics are crystalline and intense consisting of white flower, lemon zest, knotted cream, and crushed rocks. The palate offers an incredibly focused lens into the terroir with impeccable balance and length. If I had to pick my favorite, this wine would be it. The only tragedy is that very little was made in 2024. Extremely Limited

Te Mata is arguably the southern hemisphere’s greatest winery.  We think so highly of Te Mata, that it’s the only southern hemisphere winery we work with any consistency. Te Mata Estate's 2025 Sauvignon Blanc from Hawke's Bay showcases the winery's commitment to quality and the regional expression of Hawke’s Bay. The nose of the 2025 Te Mata Sauvignon Blanc is lifted and expressive, featuring classic Te Mata flintiness layered with lime juice, gooseberry, and fennel, alongside aromas of guava and passionfruit. The palate mirrors these intense aromatics, offering vibrant citrus and tropical flavors that lead to a creamy mid-palate and mouth-watering freshness and persistence. This Sauvignon Blanc pops with energy and finishes long, and beautifully balanced.  Can’t buy French or domestic SB this good at $20, making this quite the deal. 

I have such a soft spot for this alluring white wine.  The first time I drank it was with my wife and a good friend in Manhattan at a great Italian restaurant named Peasant. This wine was both affordable and delicious, but what was most impressive is that it paired well with everything on the table from spicy octopus to whole roasted sea bass to linguini with bottarga.  Feudi di San Gregorio is one of southern Italy's most highly respected wineries and their Greco di Tufo from their Cutizzi vineyard on the volcanic foothills of Mt. Vesuvius offers all that's good about Greco.  Aromas of peaches and mint are backed up by flavors of stone fruits, and intense chalky tufo minerality in a delivery that is rich, full-bodied and balanced by refreshing acidity. Yum.

When Olivier swapped his music career for the tractor to tend his families vines in 1992, he knew he was up for the challenge to come. Now, with more than three decades under his belt, Olivier knows how to mix the labor of wine production with the art of perception. He's quietly delivering incredible value along with terroir clarity from his small underground cellar in Chitry. From the get-go this Chablis, raised in all stainless, is clearly from crustacian-rich, chalky limestone soils flashing lemon-lime zest, quince, wildflowers, and crushed oyster shells. The palate is very fresh, bright, and focussed with just enough fleshy fruit that gives it a quiet yet persistent presence. Delicious now, pop on a hot summer day with grilled chicken and a lemon-dill sauce.  -Lance's Pick