We call him Dr. Love....

The purity of Charlot's winemaking inspired restaurant Alain Ducasse in Manhattan to buy six of Voillot's 2000s for a horizontal—an honor, for the Ducasse list offers only one horizontal at any given time.

Perhaps one of the nicest people you've ever met. We’ve had many clients spend time with Jean Pierre and everyone comes back saying, “We love him, he’s so nice”….We’ve deemed Jean Pierre as “Dr. Love”. But in all seriousness, Jean-Pierre is making magical wines and when you have a man that was a professor in Beaune that has taught many of the new winemakers that should probably tell you something.

Domaine Joseph Voillot in Volnay is the venerable fifth-generation domaine that has holdings in the top vineyards of both Volnay and Pommard. Our first time meeting Jean-Pierre was perhaps one of the best times we've ever had with a winery partner. Clearly, he was there to share his wines with us however he didn't speak English and we didn't speak French!

This is where we determine that wine is a universal language. We all enjoyed each others company yet we allowed the wine to speak for itself. We're happy to offer some great wines from Jean-Pierre for his 2008 vintage.

If you're interested, please contact us directly at wine@destinationcellars.com or call us at (866) 920-9463. 10% discount on case purchases. Pricing below is already at 15-20% off. Challenge is there's not a lot of the wine in the market.

Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve, in their 2004 Classification of the Best Wines of France, write of Charlot's non-interventionist methods: "For many years, Jean Pierre Charlot has vinified some of the finest and most balanced wines of Volnay and Pommard…aging reveals with a high degree of accuracy the type of the year and soil." Any-one who wants to grasp the essence of Volnay and Pommard needs to look no further than Domaine Joseph Voillot.

Les Blancs

2008 Meursault 1er Cru Les Cras: (17 cases available) 0.34 acre whose vines date from 1963 and 1980. This parcel grows immediately north of Meursault, below the road heading over the pass to Auxey-Duresses. The Santenots vineyards are close by and the soils are relatively heavy here, making for a wine of rich substance and longevity. In a normal year, three barrels are made, with only one of which is sent to the USA. $75.00 per bottle

Les Rouges

2008 Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens: (5 cases available) - 0.62 acre whose vines date from 1959. This parcel is located entirely in Rugiens en bas, south of Pommard. Voillot’s Rugiens was one of seven 2007 red Burgundies awarded a five star review in Decanter (February 2009): "White flower, perfume, streamlined and harmonious. Neatly-woven, silky-textured, elegant palate with a long, fragrant finish." $75.00 per bottle

"A show stopper of a wine that is a gorgeous combination of power and finesse."
91-94 points– Allen Meadows, Burghound #38

2008 Pommard 1er Cru Les Pezerolles: (12 cases available) - 1 acre whose vines date from 1963. This vineyard grows north of Pommard on the shoulder above the Epenots field, and the wine is notable for its spice, balance, and length. $75.00 per bottle

"In a word, terrific."
91-93 points– Allen Meadows, Burghound #38
"This is so texturally refined as to be positively silken."

90-91 points– David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate (#189 on-line)

2008 Volnay Vieilles Vignes: (12 cases available) nine parcels totaling nearly 5 acres whose vines average 41 years old; press wine from Volnay 1ers is often blended into this village wine. Note that the largest parcel is Les Grands Poisots at 1.2 acres, which makes the most rustic wine and is bottled separately. $48.00 per bottle

"Good quality for a Villages level wine."
87-89 points– Allen Meadows, Burghound #38

Cheers and please let us know if you have any questions.

Former Screaming Eagle Winemaker Releases Her First Chardonnay

Destination Cellars currently has five cases in our inventory and we're willing to provide complimentary ground shipping within the U.S. on a minimum purchase of six bottles. Simply enter this special code, "Happy 2011" in the promo box when you are checking out; (click here to enjoy) Cheers and Enjoy!

FANTESCA 2008 CHARDONNAY. This beautiful wine is the only Chardonnay made by celebrated winemaker Heidi Barrett, and is the first new wine project for her since she left Screaming Eagle.This wine is gorgeous! At first glance the golden color is alluring. The aromas are vibrant with hints of fresh stone fruit and honeysuckle. Flavors of tropical fruit, lychee, and lemon custard resonate through the broad mid-palate. The wine seamlessly transitions to a long, lingering finish that will draw you back for yet another sip.

The 2008 Chardonnay grapes were sourced form select vineyards from the Russian River Appellation. After a gentle pressing, the wine was fermented at cold temperatures to retain the beautiful, floral aromas. This technique cannot be rushed nor replicated on a large scale.

HEIDI BARRETT AT HER BEST...Heidi Peterson Barrett is a winemaker who has been responsible for some of California's most notable cult wines, including Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle Vineyards, Paradigm Winery, Grace Family Vineyards, Amuse Bouche, Revana, Lamborn Family Vineyards, Showket Vineyards and Fantesca. Heidi has also consulted for Diamond Creek and Niebaum-Coppola, and has her own wine label, La Sirena.She is the daughter of California wine pioneer Richard Peterson, and is married to Bo Barrett, winemaker of Chateau Montelena ("Judgment of Paris"), which was recently the subject of the motion picture Bottle Shock. Robert Parker has on several occasions awarded her wines 100 points and called her "the first lady of wine".

FANTESCA ESTATE & WINERY - The essence of its terroir has established the Spring Mountain District as a favorite Napa Valley destination for a multitude of wine lovers. At Fantesca Estate & Winery, renowned terroir and artisan winemaking combine to produce wines of character and refinement that pair well with food, fun and friends. This is exemplified in Fantesca's current wine releases. Early on, Fantesca was recognized by wine critic Robert Parker, Jr., who had awarded a 90 pt score to their inaugural 2002 release.

Destination Cellars recently had the pleasure of announcing our "National Winery Partner of the Year for 2010" and we appropriately named Fantesca! Spending time with the Hoff family and the team at Fantesca allows one to truly understand what an "experience" is all about and they understand the meaning of "family" and "partnership". Destination Cellars recently spent time with Owner Duane Hoff in Houston, Texas for a private wine dinner event this past November during which we had the opportunity to taste the new 2008 Fantesca Chardonnay produced for them by famed winemaker Heidi Barrett. To learn more, (click here) on this great video.

Favorite Photos from 2010......

2010 was an amazing year for Destination Cellars in many ways. We truly have magical clients, incredible winery partners, amazing alliance partners and honestly a lot of great friends.

We had clients visit South Africa, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Tuscany, Spain, Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley and Oregon.

Our clients had the opportunity to really take a look "behind the scenes" of the world of wine. Whether they were hanging out cooking at Altesino in Tuscany, having a magical dinner with Mr. Bernard MAGREZ at Chateau Pape Clement in Bordeaux, hanging our with Ben & Tara at Capture, taking a little ride in the "Willy" with Laurie Clark at Clark Claudon, taking cooking lessons with Chef Sarah Heller, chilling out with our friends at Kosta Browne listening to some tunes and drinking pinot noir or playing a little bocce ball at Fantesca, there were definitely a lot of smiles and memories made in 2010!

We had winery partners travel with us throughout the United States to do host events in Houston, TX, Dallas, TX, New York, NY, Boston, MA, Miami, FL, Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, Washington, DC and St. Louis, MO with alliances partners ours like MasterCard, YPO, Exclusive Resorts, Merrill Lynch, Continental Airlines, Bain Capital, Ameriprise, Saks Fifth Avenue and many others.

We can't even start to go through every event that took place around the US but we can say, "wow, we had a blast". Author George Taber of the famed book, "Judgment of Paris" participated in events with us in Miami, Los Angeles and Napa Valley with our friends from YPO and Exclusive Resorts. We still can't imagine what it was like in Paris in 1976 during that tasting! We had the pleasure of getting our tails handed to us by LPGA Pro Meaghan Francella but at least the golf bag looks great!

Our Estate Sommelier, Sean Meyer joined our team in late June after what he calls, "the two year interview". Sean has helped us tremendously over the last two years and we're incredibly happy to have him as a part of our team. As Sean always says, "It's better to drink wine than to talk about"......

On that note, we won't write about our world of wine any longer, I think we will now partake in a little wine. We hope to see you all somewhere around the world of wine in 2011. Cheers from all of us at Destination Cellars.