#May2022
Hello Curious, Playful, Amateurs, and Fine Gourmets!
On April 30th, the city of Pau celebrated the Independent Winemakers of Jurançon on the famous Boulevard des Pyrénées! It was an opportunity to highlight for the people of Pau the superb diversity of the terroirs of our Pyrenean foothills, the quality of the wines, and the dynamism of the winemakers! On this occasion, we organized our little "Palais Off", an aperitif tasting of Jurançons with our partner winemakers, a great little evening 
! (Re)discover our boxes of Jurançon Nuggets to taste different styles, grape varieties, terroirs, and just as many winemakers behind these wines! A new article on the Jurançon, the sleeping beauty of the South-West, here.
New arrivals at the Cellar:
A great wave of arrivals is flooding the Cave du Palais this month 
Louise & Thomas are back from a lovely long trip to Champagne, Burgundy and the northern Rhône Valley 
.
The journey started in Champagne for the Jours de Printemps - BioBulles, Empreinte, Terres&Vins... Beautiful, intense, and mouth-watering tastings! With a few visits to the vineyards too, notably at Florent Mignon in Cramant, always excellent, then in Bouzy at Benoît and Valérie Lahaye where we truly enjoyed a beautiful series of the "Violaine" cuvée and a first encounter with Georges Rémy with fine, full, gourmand Champagnes with resurfacing minerality!
On the Rhône side, we have some very beloved returning favorites that you'll also love: Florian Buit, the young prodigy and protégé of Jean-Louis Chave, and Thomas Finot, originally from Isère, who also owns 3 hectares of family vineyards in the Rhône Valley; these are their latest vintages in white and red from Crozes-Hermitage! Also returning are the Syrah infusions from Jean-Claude Marsanne and Cyril Courvoisier on Saint-Joseph, although the latter also owns 2 small plots in Cornas and 1 plot in Saint-Péray to produce his beautiful gastronomy cuvée Rochette in white (a blend of Roussanne and Marsanne). Finally, a newcomer, Agnès Levet on the Côte Rôtie, who continues a nearly 100-year-old family estate of 4.5 hectares. She offers a cuvée based on "Petite Serine," an old local variety of Syrah, which produces small, high-quality, concentrated bunches. The wine, with intense black fruit, reveals a peppery, graphite, and powerful palate.
In the Southern Rhône, in Vacqueyras 
, we find the Domaine de la Monardière! A family vineyard run by Damien, the son, it has been managed with a particular focus on biodiversity since his arrival in 2007. Old vines are intermingled with more recent massal selections of white grape varieties or less alcoholic/more acidic varieties (Cinsault, Counoise, Carignan, etc.). Diversity guarantees the significant character and freshness in these sunny yet delicious and invigorating wines!
A brief tour of the Languedoc in Minervois with the return of our friend Vivien at Clos des Jarres, who has always produced excellent natural wines with incredible value for money; they are timeless favorites in our shop 
. Then, in the same area, new offerings from Clos des Pères, a young couple who cultivate a small 3-hectare vineyard inherited from Julien's grandfather. In La Livinière, on the foothills of the Montagne Noire, 9 plots surrounded by dry stone walls are worked biodynamically with the utmost respect for the terroir and biodiversity. The wines are natural, bursting with fruit, and possess mineral salinity.
The Burgundian arrivals are not to be outdone, and Thom & Louise's little van was (well!) loaded along the way through the vineyards: in the Côte de Nuits, the first stop was at the unmissable Pascal Mugneret in Vosne-Romanée, then at Stéphane Magnien, a rising star in Morey-Saint-Denis for the consistent quality of his wines, some of which are (very) reasonably priced. The short trip continues in the Côte de Beaune with the natural wines of Clair Obscur back in the cellar, then in the Côte Chalonnaise with the famous Domaine Joblot. Finally, in the Maconnais, there's a beautiful new release to discover in small quantities, the Château de Messey, and as icing on the cake, the new vintages from Frantz Chagnoleau, which found their way into the car 
!
And here in our beautiful, big, and wonderful South-West 
! We are receiving new vintages for the second time... the sparkling and red wines from Chapitre in Gaillacois! Grégoire has been working his small estate since 2018 using animal traction for the benefit of the soil and humans, producing natural wines. The 2 red vintages are very juicy, and the festive and gourmet Pet' Nat'! We also received the new vintages of the beautiful Domaine Ilarria in Irouléguy! (Re)discover the beauty of the Irouléguy terroirs and its incredible gastronomic wines, too often and unfairly overlooked: a great dry white of minerality and gastronomy, a red with beautifully fine tannins, and a special mention for the Rosé, a lovely, full-bodied table wine with supple tannins, of which we will only have a very small quantity this year!
