As an importer and distributor of fine wines and spirits from around the world, we are always on the lookout for small, boutique, family-owned vineyards who represent top quality wines to share with the marketplace.  For our Connecticut distribution market, we partnered as a distributor of Vintage 59, who are known for identifying top French wine import selections.

Hâtes Vineyards

Below is an overview of our newest lines of French wines by Region:

CHAMPAGNE

Jean-Marc Sélèque, Pierry

Champagne is arguably the most dynamic wine region in France—a country where almost nothing viticulturally is standing still any more—and it would be accurate to view Jean-Marc Sélèque at the vanguard of this shift toward more artisanal farming and production. The domain has 19 acres of vines which grow in 36 parcels and lie across 7 different villages.

Most of the vines grow in the communes of Pierry and then Moussy, followed by Epernay, Mardeuil, Dizy, Vertus, and Boursault.

Sélèque Solessence Brut NV

Suggested Retail $46.99

Sélèque Solessence Brut Rosé NV

Suggested Retail $53.99


LOIRE VALLEY

DoMaine Claude Branger, MuScaDet Sèvre-et Maine

This domaine was founded by Claude Branger’s grandfather in 1915 and today Claude and his son Sébastien farm without chemical fertilizers or weed-killers, and harvested by hand—a rarity in Muscadet. Lithe in body, this wine is intensely fragrant, dense, and mineral.

Branger Muscadet Le Fils des Gras Moutons ’15

Suggested Retail $14.99

Branger Muscadet Terroir Les Gras Moutons ’15

Suggested Retail $18.99

Claude Bove, Vouvray

The grapes for Bove’s sparkling wines are harvested by hand in the Central Loire Valley, a rarity for Crémant de Loire of this value. The grapes are gently pressed to avoid spoilage and the wines are aged in bottle for two years on their yeast before disgorgement.

Charles Bove Sparkling NV

Suggested Retail $16.99

Charles Bove Sparkling Touraine Rosé NV

Suggested Retail $19.99

Charles Bove Sauvignon Blanc ’16

Suggested Retail $15.99

Domaine Matthias and Emile Roblin

Deep in the upper Loire Valley, on the high hillsides of the Northern Sancerre hamlets of Maimbray and Sury-en Vaux, the Roblin Brothers farm sits upon 36 acres of Sauvignon Blanc. Their parcels are planted primarily on Terre Blanches kimmeridgian limestone; producing vigorously full-bodied, age-worthy, mineral wines.

Matthias & Emile Roblin Sancerre Origine ’15   

Suggested Retail $27.99

 Domaine de la Chevalerie

Since 1640, Domaine de la Chevalerie has been in the Caslot family. Today dynamic siblings Emmanuel and Stéphanie Caslot are in charge. They have been instrumental in upgrading the winery equipment and converting the domain to organic farming (their vineyards were fully certified for organic farming in 2009, but the domain also uses some biodynamic applications and practices). The wines are made with indigenous yeast and usually bottled without fining or filtration.

They are deliciously meaty, dense, and astonishingly age-worthy Loire Cabernet Francs.

Chevalerie Bourgueil Diptyque ’14

Suggested Retail $20.99


BURGUNDY

Domaine des Hâtes

Pierrick Laroche farms such fields in the hills of Maligny, a village in the north of Chablis where the appellation’s calcareous soils are densest with clay, giving weight, body, a flinty, smoky minerality, and forthright acidity to wines. Pierrick aims for purity and minerality in the all of the production from his 30 acres each of Petit Chablis and Chablis.

Domaine des Hates Chablis ’14

Suggested Retail $28.99

Domaine des Hates Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume L’Homme Mort ’14

Suggested Retail $45.99

Domaine Elise Villiers

Elise Villiers made her first wine in Vézelay in 1989 and today she farms 10 acres in this historic neighbor of Chablis. Her Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines grow in Le Clos—the vineyard on the eastern slope of Vézelay’s great hill—and in Chevalière, across the Cure River Valley. The former makes a racy, stony wine, while the latter makes a wine of fruit. Both are classic northern wines of verve and elegance.

Elise Villiers Bourgogne Vezelay Le Clos ’14

Suggested Retail $28.99

Domaine Sylvain & Alain Normand

In a land of big cooperatives, southern Burgundy’s Alain and Sylvaine Normand have a standout artisan domaine. They diligently farm fifty acres of vines sustainably, harvest the grapes by hand, and let their wine undergo long, gentle fermentations with indigenous yeast. They make Mâcon-Villages and Pouilly-Fuissés rich with fruit and laced with spice and stone.

Alain Normand Macon La Roche Vineuse ’15

Suggested Retail $19.99

Alain Normand Macon Pouilly Fuisse ’15

Suggested Retail $31.99


LANGUEDOC

Domaine Antugnac/Closerie Des Lys

The wines of Closerie des Lys come from the mountain vineyards in Limoux’s Haute Vallée de l’Aude – the finest grape-growing zone in this cool region of southwestern France. Closerie makes a range of wines celebrated for their elegance and crisp clarity. They are renowned for excellent value.

Closerie des Lys Blanc ’15 (Sauv. Blanc, Vermentino, Chard)

Suggested Retail $13.99

Closerie des Lys Rouge ’15 (Merlot, 2 Cabernets, Syrah)

Suggested Retail $13.99

Closerie des Lys Pinot Noir ’15

Suggested Retail $16.99

Château Coupe Roses

The vineyards of Château Coupe Roses are in Le Causse and Le Petit Causse (a causse refers to an enormous outcropping of exposed rock— in this case, limestone—that supports little more than garrigue and can cultivate little more than olives and vines). These two delimited areas make up the highest growing zones in the Minervois appellation. At 750 to 1,350 feet above sea level, these zones have relatively cool nights and the growing season is the longest in the AOC, giving the wines excellent acidity and freshness.

Coupe Roses Minervois Cuvée La Bastide ’16 (organic)

Suggested Retail $15.99


LANGUEDOC

 Domaine ollier-Taillefer

Siblings Luc and Françoise Ollier run this small domain in the highest zone of Faugères, a renowned mountainous appellation of pure schist rising far above the plain of Béziers in the Mediterranean hinterland. The geology gives bright aromatics and sleekly deep dark flavors to the reds and a brilliant, mineral raciness to the whites.

Ollier-Taillefer Faugères Les Collines Rouge ’14 (organic)

Suggested Retail $20.99

Ollier-Taillefer Faugères Allégro Blanc ’16 (organic, 6-pack)          

Suggested Retail $25.99


RHONE

Domaine De Saje

Jérôme Mathieu hails from a family that has farmed grapes in this famous village for four centuries. Fittingly, he makes a traditional style of Châteauneuf-du-Pape from a mixed planting of old vines co-fermented and aged in huge oak casks. The Côte du Rhone is aged in concrete vats.

Saje Côtes du Rhône ’15                                                                                           

Suggested Retail $17.99

Saje Châteauneuf-du-Pape ’13     

Suggested Retail $43.99

 

Visit or call your favorite local wine retailer to ask for these wines distributed by Angelini Wine of Centerbrook, Connecticut.

Santé!