GRAPE: Unfined/Unfiltered

National Portfolio: Steve and Laurent talk about their new "Dovecote" wines with John.

We talked Manfred Felsner into letting us record his thoughts on a variety of topics, and distilled things down into a ten minute clip for you. Topics include:

• Why a vineyard with a mix of young, middle-aged, and old vines is rare in Kremstal but a kind of secret weapon
• Why Kremstal might be the new Provence in terms of sexy, textured rosé
• The importance of extended lees contact i.e. why Manfred refused to bottle Gruner until the last possible moment

Everything old is new again, and Gavi is getting exciting! Jeff reports to us from the field and gives us the quick rundown on Produttori del Gavi.

Dan Kravitz founded Hand Picked Selections in 1985, and few national importers bring such an incredible range of balanced and characterful wines from France, Spain, Italy, and Argentina. We work with Dan's team in both the traditional Grape Expectations distribution side, at our affiliated Vino! and Oddlots stores, and via Premier, our compressed-margin logistics platform.

This is the first half of our conversation with Dan, where we learn about his company's roots and about his passion for Languedoc wine, a region in which he has purchased his own operation - Domaine Cabirau, in the small village of Maury (Roussillon).

Today we check in with Harry Bosmans (Rhone Valley), Derek Mossman (Garage Wine Co), Alexia Roberts (Thomas Goss/The Chook), Riu Ribiero (Symington Family Estates), Damien Yvon (Clos Henri), Isabelle Roux (Domaine Notre Dame des Pallieres), and Cedric Jacopin (Champagne De Saint-Gall).