VOS Selections

Thank you to Eric Asimov for highlighting the incredible challenges producing one of the world’s great wines: #Chablis. 2024 was an extremely difficult vintage and only more so for those working organically like Famille Grossot. In her own words, Eve Grossot gives us a picture of the struggles working in Organic farming in a northerly latitude during turbulent climactic conditions. Her courage and principled stance speak for themselves. The following are Eve’s words with only minor editing for clarity: ? "As most of you already know, we have just experienced a catastrophic season. It had already started badly with spring frosts and several hailstorms, but we were not at the end of our troubles. We experienced the rainiest year we have ever seen (in several generations) with an accumulation of more than 600 millimeters between the months of April and August and a month of May beating all the records with 246 millimeters. Because of this excess water and cool temperatures, mildew had taken hold in the Chablis vineyards. The latter was incredibly virulent. In organic cultivation, our weapons are far too weak to face such a scourge. We hung in there and did our best to try to save our harvest. Unfortunately, our treatments were each time washed away by yet another rain. We couldn't even enter the vineyards to treat the vines for several days. Flowering was very difficult. We lost the harvest in the weeks that followed. Even if the entire Chablis vineyard suffered greatly from this vintage, organic winegrowers were the more severely affected. For our part, we lost more than 90% of our harvest. ? We now are certified organic since the vintage 2019. It involves that we do only hand ploughing and use only sulfur and copper to treat the vineyards. We don’t use insecticides or chemical fertilizers. For example, we remove some harmful insects by hand. This kind of viticulture demands more work and workforce and in a bad vintage like 2024 we can lose the entire yield. ? For the vinification, I use only natural yeasts for the alcoholic fermentation and the malolactic fermentation takes place with natural bacteria present in the wine. I limit at the maximum all the inputs and manipulations not strictly necessary. The sulfites doses were decreased these last vintages. The ageing time was increased. The wines are now bottled between 14 and 20 months after harvest. ? Producing organic wines is really important to us and preserving our environment is very important to us. This is why we made the very difficult choice to stay organic, even if it means losing our entire harvest." #organicwine #frenchwine

We are very excited to have two of Japan’s best Sake Brewers (Toji) joining us this Monday for a?fascinating and delicious seminar. ? Wakizaka (the toji at Nekka) and Daijiro ( the toji at Shirataki) have traveled all the way from Japan to join us to explain the intricacies of their craft. This will be a highly informative and delicious morning spent learning about hand-crafted #sake and #shochu. Lunch will be served so that we can learn a bit more?about pairing sake with a range of cuisines! ? NEKKA DISTILLERY?is one of the smallest distilleries in Japan and the newest addition to our Japanese portfolio. They are located in the tiny mountain village of Oku-Aizu in Tadami, at the western edge of Fukushima prefecture, which receives some of the heaviest snowfall in Japan. Nekka Distillery is a project of heart and community. Founded by 5 sake rice farmers, it was initially conceived with the goal of keeping young people in Tadami and preserving the rural landscape for future generations. It is exceptionally rare that everything is brewed and distilled from the rice they grow, using proprietary yeasts. ? SHIRATAKI SHUZO?was established in 1855 with the belief that the best sake is made using the finest locally sourced ingredients. This philosophy has been passed down through seven generations. The brewery is based in the town of Echigo Yuzawa in Niigata Prefecture, an area renowned for its heavy snowfall, hot springs and plentiful skiing. In the spring, the snow melts to provide an abundance of clear, natural mineral water. The melted snow passes through a coal seam when running downhill from the mountains, creating a natural filtration that results in the soft and clean “snow melt” character the sakes are known for. ? Ask your VOS Sales Rep for details: [email protected]

Need the perfect dish for a cold winter night? I recently unearthed my #recipe for Daube, the classic Proven?al?beef stew. In the early days of VOS,?I used to write a newsletter that included notes about some of our wines along with a recipe I’d develop for each issue, often with the help of my chef-friend, Jerry. I spent a lot of time on this one, culling through a number of recipes to come up with my own take. I wrote that the pig’s foot is optional, but I can't recommend it strongly enough as it really adds something distinctive. ? To complete the meal, pair it with Paul Autard's #ChateauneufduPape, or Cotes du Rhone for a budget-friendly option. #Frenchwine -Victor Schwartz