Fall Wine Club 2025

I don’t know about you all, but I really feel like I blinked and summer is suddenly over! Between choosing a local wedding venue, concert nights, bike rides, weekend trips, and trying to soak up every ounce of the warm weather, it’s almost impossible for me to believe soup season is bearing down on us.

Growing up on the east coast, fall used to be my least favorite season; I just never got the hype of apple festivals and my seasonal depression really kicked into high gear as the days got shorter, colder, and grayer. The first time I can really remember warming up to fall was at an event in Baltimore called “Ryleigh’s Oyster Fest” which began with an “Oyster Ball” for charity and ended with a street fair which featured a block-long row of tents, each with different oyster farmers from up and down the Mid-Atlantic offering their oysters for a buck-a-chuck. They were harvested early that morning, driven to the event, and served by the farmers. Besides the obvious allure of oysters and drinking in the street all afternoon, my twenty-something year old self really began to romanticize the life of these farmers. I was managing a large restaurant at the time and dreamt of a simpler life. I was also so vexed by how these little slimy mollusks could taste so different, simply based on where they grew.

Fast forward to four years ago working my first harvest at a winery and this “simpler life” was everything I dreamt it would be (though maybe a bit more physically taxing than it could have been). While I don’t drink in the street nearly as much as I used to (or would like), I still hold onto my appreciation for the nuance and elbow grease that makes things truly special. Your wines this fall go after that “special” feeling, made through hard work in the vineyard first and foremost, leading to slow magic in the cellar and your glass. Drink up wherever you want, you’re a grown-up for cryin’ out loud!

Thomas Puechavy – “Les Vrilles” VDF 2023

While traveling the world with the 2000’s Franco-American band Moriarty (named after Dean Moriarty, the hero of On the Road by Jack Kerouac) Thomas caught the wine bug. Little did he know, an apprenticeship in the Loire Valley would open the door to incredible opportunity. His boss at the time introduced him to a retiring farmer who owned 25 acres of vineyards in Vouvray and would only sell them to a newcomer. Thomas bit.

His vines sit on a plateau between those of Huet and Foreau, widely regarded as the benchmark producers of the Vouvray appellation. However, the limestone cave where he makes his wine is 500 meters outside of the appellation and therefore cannot be classified as such. The vineyard is planted to 100% Chenin Blanc and is in organic conversion, with help doing so coming from his prestigious neighbors. Les Vrilles, or “the tendrils,” comes from the youngest vines. Hand-picked grapes are directly pressed into stainless steel where they ferment and age for 9 months prior to release. Pair with your favorite tunes featuring harmonica (Thomas’ instrument) – for me it’s the live version of “Bring It on Home” on Led Zeppelin’s How The West Was Won.

Oltretorrente – Timorasso Colli Tortonesi 2023

Both agronomists from Milan, husband and wife Michele Conoscente and Chiara Penati began their winery in 2010 after working for years at more “conventional” wineries all over Italy with less than 4 acres of vines in the sleepy hills of Piedmont near Tortona (Colli Tortonesi) where only 30 other wineries were producing and bottling wine. The name Oltretorrente means “Beyond the Stream,” in reference to the Scrivia, a tributary of the Po River, but it could be interpreted as “Counter-current.”

Their (now 19) acres of organic vineyards are so steep that when it rains, their tractor becomes useless and they must farm their vines by hand. Timorasso is a native Piedmontese grape that was on the brink of extinction in the 1980s, pushed out of favor by other non-native varietals (lookin’ at you, Chardonnay). With thick skins, it is resistant to disease and climatic stress, and produces big, juicy and aromatic whites with great aging potential. To those unfamiliar: I’m super excited to introduce you to this variety. This version is made and aged in concrete vats to retain maximum freshness and is a perfect pairing for Dungeness Crab or seafood boil with your friends.

Dom. Hauvette – IGP Alpilles Rosé ‘Petra’ 2022

South of the French city of Avignon is a ridge of limestone, called the Alpilles, that stretches east to west. On the northern slopes are the sun soaked vineyards belonging to Dominique Hauvette, just outside of the idyllic walled town of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence which happens to be where I proposed to my now fiancée! Dominique, once a lawyer in the hills of the Savoie, quit her job and moved to Saint-Rémy some 40 years ago and her wines and vineyards have since become a benchmark for natural wine.

Her winemaking is just as innovative, being one of the first to incorporate the cement egg as fermentation vessels into her cellar. We rode rented bikes past the winery with hopes of catching her, but a sign saying “Ni visite, ni dégustation” (no visits, no tastings) sent us on our way. Simply put, this rosé is one of my favorites of all time. A blend of 70% Cinsault, 15% Syrah, 15% Grenache, this is a wine that truly couldn't come from anyone or anywhere else.

Most rosés aren’t made to last longer than the summer after they’re made. Well, friends, my recent visit to Provence taught me some things about rosé and one of them is that they can age if the recipe is right. Pair with goat's cheese, like Banon or Cypress Grove’s Purple Haze, and charcuterie. Now, enjoy some scenery. There’s no wonder as to why this place was such an inspiration for Van Gogh.

Fossil & Fawn – Pinot Gris 2022

This grape really gets a bad rep. Mass-produced versions with lots of residual sugar and no acidity that are made and sold for less than $10 a bottle might have led you to believe the variety is bland, boring, and worthless. But one look at this bottle of blood-orange colored wine is sure to give pause.

Jim and Jenny Fischer, the talented and kooky husband and wife team behind Fossil & Fawn, have been making their Pinot Gris as a red wine since 2014, “before it was cool.” You see, Pinot Gris is a lighter-skinned mutation of Pinot Noir, and by making it into white wine, you miss out on some serious flavor, texture, and pigment. At least, that’s the thought process behind this red (or is it orange?) wine. Sourced from vineyards at the northern and southern edges of the Willamette Valley, this is an herbaceous and food-friendly wine perfect for a fall feast of roasted quail over root vegetables and chanterelles.

Jean-Baptiste Souillard – Syrah VDF 2023

About halfway through our travels in France, we had the great fortune of meeting with Jean-Baptiste, one of the current sages of Syrah. Based in the village of Andance in the heart of Saint Joseph of the Northern Rhône River Valley, JB makes a scant 20,000 bottles of wine per year (1700 cases), but in any given vintage he releases over 30 different wines!

As we pulled into the farmhouse his great grandfather purchased in 1900, I got the sense this place was something special. Surrounded by dense forest, this old stone building dating back to the 17th century has an ancient cellar underneath where JB ages his wines prior to release. These are primarily vins de garde, or wines to age, vinified separately according to the vineyard and parcel.

Having studied and learned winemaking in both Paulliac (Bordeaux) and Pommard (Burgundy), the latter’s style of cru-based winemaking resonated with him the most. In Saint-Joseph, where most winemakers blend all of their tiny parcels into one wine simply named for the appellation, Jean-Baptiste certainly goes against the grain.

As he came out to meet us, he offered a tour of the vineyards before tasting. We hopped in his Dacia Duster and rumbled up the gravel road behind his house, topping out at a windswept terraced vineyard overlooking the Rhône River. Rows of vines form a right angle around a gully in the hillside. Part of the slope, planted to Marsanne, faces due North, while the other slope planted to Syrah faces due West.

He explained that the French government declared that white wines grown on north-facing slopes do not qualify for the appellation, even though the vines were planted by his grandfather in 1973. This moment solidified his decision to bottle wines by plot, regardless of what the government had to say about it. He led us back into his cellar for one of the most comprehensive tasting I’ve had with any winemaker. He opened 11 different wines to taste, each different than the last.

This Syrah comes from a quarter acre plot across the river from Saint Joseph; a picture-perfect Syrah perfect for that first really cold night, or even a post Thanksgiving glass around the fire.

Château de Plaisance – Sur la Butte Rouge 2023

I think the unspoken promise I made to myself when I started a wine club three years ago was to introduce the world of wine beyond the Cabernet Sauvignons, Pinot Noirs, and Chardonnays we’ve become accustomed to through the demand of the domestic market. But when a Cab this delicious lands in your lap, it would be a crime not to share it.

Sourced from the hill of Chaume, one of France’s highest quality growing areas for dessert wine, this 70/30 blend of Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc is sourced from the only parcels of red grapes on the hill. Vanessa Cherruau, the young winemaker at the helm, is one of the leaders of a resurgence in quality in the dry wines of this storied appellation. Farmed biodynamically, this is the perfect balance of juicy and complex, the “Palace of Pleasure” indeed. Pair with a cozy blanket, a juicy rom-com, and Boeuf Bourguignon stew. Even you, fellas.