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2023 Harvest Reports Are In!
2023 Harvest Reports
<p>The 2023 vintage was certainly a mixed bag throughout Europe, particulaly in Italy where climactic hardships wrecked havoc troughout many regions. Whether is was a good or a bad year for the producers we represent, these harvest reports prove, as always, just how tireless and daunting their work is.</p>
<p>We are extremely fortunate to be able to represent this hard work year-in, year-out. So as we start our new year, let's give a big cheers to those who get the wine in our glasses! </p>
<p><a href="https://louisdressner.com/harvest-reports">You can go read all 31 2023 harvest reports here. </a></p>
Article
How does The New Website Work?
This is very exciting stuff!
<p><u><strong>Desktop vs Mobile:</strong></u></p>
<p>We know it's 2020 and people use their phones a lot. So we've worked hard on ensuring the site functions well on mobile (especially compared to what it once was). Having said that, desktop is the recommended way of perusing the site.</p>
<p><u><strong>Glossary:</strong></u></p>
<p>At its core, this has always been a website written for wine professionals *attempting* to glean information on the wines we import (and hopefully see a picture of the vigneron's dog). Since the language can be so technical, we've added an <glossary term="glossary" title="1427">interactive glossary</glossary> to the text for those unfamiliar with the baffllingly complex world of wine terminology. Even if you're a seasoned pro, it will frankly teach you a thing or two. And if you'd rather read the content without the glossary, simply head to the main menu bar and turn it off. </p>
<p> <u><strong>Our Wines Section: </strong></u></p>
<p>In the new "Our Wines" section, we've offered a variety of filter categories for you to explore and discover all the cuvées we import. These filters can be combined together to narrow down results. If you hit a wall, simply erase one of the filters or clear all filters. </p>
<p><u><strong>Actual Information About the Wines:</strong></u></p>
<p>Speaking of the wines, the number one complaint we would get from customers was the lack of technical information on the wines themselves. It's not a coincidence that we spend the vast majority of our energy focusing on the people behind the wines and their dogs; it's what we dig about what we do.</p>
<p>Having said that, 95% of the wines we import now have EXTREMELY detailed technical information, dare I say the most technical anywhere on the internet. Please enjoy now while they are up to date, knowing that half of these will probably be totally wrong by next vintage. </p>
<p><u><strong>Search:</strong></u></p>
<p>If you know what producer or wine you are searching for, the search should quickly autofill what you need. Go ahead, give it a whirl.</p>
<p><strong><u>Hyperlinks:</u></strong></p>
<p>Everything on the website has a hyperlink now. This means you can easily share a specific producer page, article, wine or filter combination with anyone. </p>
<p><u><strong>Copy/Paste:</strong></u></p>
<p>If you need to copy/paste anything, the glossary needs to be turned off for the text to paste correctly. Also, if you are going to straight up use our writing verbatim, PLEASE credit us when doing so. Seems obvious but we see it happen all the time. </p>
<p><u><strong>A Shit-Ton of Written Content:</strong></u></p>
<p>The articles themselves can often be very long, and for this reason we developed a Propriety Pop Up System™ where you can easily scroll through various articles/wines and "pop out" to efficiently look at the rest of the content.</p>
<p>We've tried our best to pack as many dog pictures as possible in there, but the digital ink has been spilled: the cumulation of decades' worth of writings from Joe, Denyse, Kevin and Jules is here for you to read. A huge part of the work with this new website was to find better ways to condense and extract essential information you need without getting lost in all that BORING text. </p>
<p>We still think you should check it out. Don't worry, there are plenty of pictures. And you might even find the writing interesting. Or funny. Or both. </p>
Article
EXPLORE
Colvert Producer Profile
<p>Getting his start in <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Burgundy" title="212">Burgundy</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> Marc Kemlin found his love for <glossary term="Viticulture" title="1103">viticulture</glossary> while working at a family friend's<font color="#7b143e"><b> <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> in <glossary term="Chassagne-Montrachet" title="275">Chassagne-Montrachet</glossary></b></font>. While passionate and dedicated to the work in the vines, Kemlin found himself increasingly heartbroken seeing each year's work <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Pressing" title="827">pressed</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary term="Yeast" title="1128">yeasted</glossary> and sent to <glossary term="Négociant" title="729">négociants</glossary> the next day. He'd hit a wall, and when his wife Fanny admitted that she found it hard to integrate herself socially and professionally in <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Burgundy" title="212">Burgundy</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> it was time to for a change. Ready to start a family, the two agreed to move to the city of Aix-en-Provence where Fanny had grown up. Continuing to work in wine, Marc went from <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">micro-parcels</glossary><span class="zalup"><span><font color="#7b143e"><b> <glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinified</glossary></b></font></span></span> in <glossary term="Burgundian" title="210">Burgundian</glossary> <glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrels</glossary> to production-centric chateaux centered on massive quantities of commercial <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Rosé/Rosato" title="871">rosé</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The culture shock of <glossary term="Provence" title="831">Provence</glossary> was real.</p>
<p>While continuing to <glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinifiy</glossary> huge <glossary term="Vat/Tank" title="1140">vats</glossary> of mediocre <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Rosé/Rosato" title="871">rosé</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> Marc felt increasingly pulled towards starting his own, small-scale <glossary term="Artisinal" title="122">artisanal</glossary> project. Serendipitously, Fanny's family happened to own a sprawling <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> called Domaine des Ribières just 30 minutes north of Aix-en-Provence. The property is breathtakingly beautiful but also a unique <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroir</glossary><span>:</span></span></span> tucked away in the Ribières valley with no neighbors, the <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> sits at 350 meters <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Elevation" title="419">elevation</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> quite high for the region. The soils consist of <glossary term="Silt" title="956">silty</glossary> <glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary> and <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Limestone" title="596">limestone</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> with one sector <glossary term="Exposition" title="430">exposed</glossary> south and the other north. A little river at the edge of the property brings freshness and contributes to a <glossary term="Microclimate" title="656">micro-climate</glossary> that protects from <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frost</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> In other words, good stuff!</p>
<p>Vines had been planted at Ribières 70 years prior, but the land had long been used to grow cereals. Knowing that that replanting would take a lot of time, money and effort, Kemlin decided to in the interim start a collaborative project with his friend Pierre Rochard of the fantastic bistro Les Vieilles Canailles in Aix-en-Provence. Dubbed Colvert over many nights of eating and drinking, the plan was to find a space outside of the city that would double as a restaurant and winery. Things were well under way, including a delicious, <glossary term="Sulfites" title="993">unsulfured</glossary> <glossary term="Négociant" title="729">négociant</glossary> <glossary term="Cuvée" title="363">cuvée</glossary> of <glossary term="Vermentino" title="1081">Rolle</glossary> dubbed "R/C" that blew our minds the first time we tried it. But the pandemic upended everything, forcing Rochard to pivot to catering and making the partnership untenable. Undeterred, Kemlin bought out his partner and continued the Colvert project as a solo endeavor. </p>
<p>Starting with a plantation of <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache Noir</glossary> in 2019, Marc has progressively planted roughly half a <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectare</glossary> every year, now totalling four <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary> at the time of this writing. Along with the <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vermentino" title="1081">Rolle</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary term="Cinsault" title="1188">Cinsault</glossary> and <glossary term="Roussanne" title="878">Roussanne</glossary> now grow in Domaine des Ribières' soils. Marc estimates he could plant up to 10 <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary> but is hesitant, as he feels adamant about meticulously working his land from A to Z.</p>
<p><i>"For me, touching every vine is like reading the land. You can have someone give you a summary of a book and know what happened, but you have to read it yourself to create your own images and ideas from it. I love planting each vine, </i><glossary term="Pruning" title="834"><em>pruning</em></glossary><i> each vine, doing the </i><glossary term="Green Harvest" title="507"><em>green harvest</em></glossary><i>, taking care of them… Only that way can I learn and understand how my actions will affect my work. To me it’s a powerful exchange."</i></p>
<p>Uninspired by the <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Rosé/Rosato" title="871">rosé</glossary><span>-</span></span></span>centric Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="AOC" title="108">AOC</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> Kemlin has decided to pass his entire production to <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vin de France" title="1092">Vin de France</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Passionate about white wine from his time in <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Burgundy" title="212">Burgundy</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> Marc's focus is principally on white wine production, including atypical <glossary term="Blanc de Noirs" title="166">blanc de noirs</glossary> from <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache</glossary> and <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cinsault" title="1188">Cinsault</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> As whites only represent 4% of <glossary term="Provence" title="831">Provencal</glossary> wine production, Kemlin freely admits it's also a way to be creative and to distinguish himself in a competitive, saturated market:</p>
<p><em>"90% of the time, when I taste a white wine from </em><glossary term="Provence" title="831"><em>Provence</em></glossary><em>, it’s </em><glossary term="Yeast" title="1128"><em>yeasted</em></glossary><em> and smells like peach and kiwi. You smell it and you don’t even want to taste it. I love white wine and decided it would be my goal to make excellent white wine from </em><glossary term="Provence" title="831"><em>Provence</em></glossary><em>. It’s also interesting because it really goes against anything being made in the region. My land finds itself within the Coteaux d’Aix-en Provence </em><glossary term="AOC" title="108"><em>AOC</em></glossary><em>, but from the beginning I decided I’d make everything in </em><glossary term="Vin de France" title="1092"><em>Vin de France</em></glossary><em>. This gives me a freedom to be creative, but also to learn."</em></p>
<p>2022 was the first vintage produced from Marc's young plantations, resulting in two <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> wines: a 100% <glossary term="Vermentino" title="1081">Rolle</glossary> and the aformentioned <glossary term="Blanc de Noirs" title="166">blanc de noirs</glossary> from <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache, </glossary>with a 100% <glossary term="Chardonnay" title="271">Chardonnay</glossary> of purchased <glossary term="Organic" title="746">organic</glossary> grapes from the <glossary term="Luberon" title="1489">Luberon</glossary> rounding out the lineup. At this point, he in debating whether to if he'll permit himself to buy grapes in future <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintages</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> </p>
<p>Despite the vines being very young, Marc's vision, passion and attention to detail shines through in the bottle. These are one of kind wines made against the grain in a region bogged down by standardization. And they are only going to get better as the vines sink their roots deeper into the <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Mother Rock" title="690">mother rock</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> </p>
<p>For even more information about Marc and the Colvert project, please read his interview. </p>
