The Middle Cellar, as I’ve come to calling it in recent years, is always my personal favorite. $15,000 for 150 bottles works out to a clean $100 per bottle, a price point where you can find exceptional wine in almost every region and style across the wine world. As you climb past $100, rarity and hype take up more and more of the total bottle cost, but at $100 I find you’re still paying almost entirely for quality if you buy the right producers. A few notes before we get started:
- I challenged myself to use only Grand Cru Direct offerings for this $15k cellar and the upcoming $50k cellar, and I nearly succeeded on this one. You will find three choices without hyperlinks below, but rest assured, these are real prices, based on confirmed-in-stock communication either directly with the producer or with their California wholesaler. All three will likely make appearances in our private client email offers soon.
- As a reminder, 13% has been added to pre-arrival imports for tariff parity.
You can see all the details at a glance here.
Sparkling
Loads of fun can be had at this price point in Champagne, and all four of the 6pks in this cellar hail from the undisputed heavyweight champion of all sparkling wine regions. Agrapart 7 Crus is always fresh and sherbet-y, and is counterbalanced nicely by the more oxidative richness of Egly-Ouriet Les Premices. For special occasions, I’ve tapped one of my all-time favorites and a Champagne that is criminally underpriced: Vilmart & Cie. Coeur de Cuvée 2013.
Perhaps due to some in-born contrarian urge, I tend to like my white froth rich and powerful, unlike the zero-dosage enamel erasers favored by many modern sommeliers. So it is probably appropriate that in rosé sparkling, where sommeliers tend to endure more richness and dosage, I like mine lean and ethereal. Subtlety is the strength of Henri Giraud’s Rosé Dame Jane, whose white bottlings are so overt. Aging in ceramic vessels instead of their usual oak is part of that equation, but the depth of Äy Grand Cru fruit still shines through, making this one to ponder over a long evening.
Chardonnay
I find myself unable to keep good Chardonnay in stock these days. Through the tribulations of the premox crisis and the over-oaked era, Chardonnay has really found its footing over the past decade, with wines that expertly balance approachability and age-ability. I had Laurent Tribut’s village Chablis in the $5k cellar, and the 1er Cru Beauroy is the obvious choice here, as even $100 per bottle doesn’t get us into Dauvissat/Raveneau territory. The Côte de Beaune is next with the Bachelet-Monnot brothers’ beautiful 2023 Puligny-Montrachet.
Ken and Erica at Walter Scott Wines in the Eola-Amity Hills made an incredible batch of 2023s, and the Freedom Hill is the best domestic Chardonnay I tasted this year. Ken’s pursuit of concentration borders on obsession, and he is paying his farming partners by the acre rather than the ton, so that he can have them push yields down to levels his neighbors find indicative of mental illness. But the wine in the bottle is Ken’s vindication. If you haven’t tasted these wines, run, don’t walk to find some. Or wait a few weeks and we should be offering them! I recently tasted some 2019 Leflaive Clavoillon out of magnum that was a dead ringer for this Freedom Hill (at roughly four times the price).
Last but certainly not least, we need some age (man cannot live on 2023s alone). I waxed eloquent about Kumeu River last week, so I won’t rehash it here, but the legendary 2014 vintage at the opulent Coddington Vineyard will do nicely.
Dry Riesling
I have recreated the same Wachau/Germany split used in the $5k cellar for my dry Riesling selections this time around, simply trading the wines up a bit. The electric 2023 vintage at Weingut Knoll produced a phenomenal example of Emmerich’s Ried Kellerberg Smaragd, a wine that can be consumed now with glee or held for a decade or more. For Germany, I’ve chosen a wine from the Rheingau I’ve tasted at least nine or ten times over the last five years, and gets more exciting every time I taste it: Peter Jakob Kühn Doosberg GG 2019.
Chenin Blanc
I’ve traded the 2022 vintage in the $5k cellar for the cooler 2021 of my beloved Thibaud Boudignon Anjou Blanc. Every year in the cellar is a boon to this wine, and I never have the patience to keep the bottles I buy on release. As a counterpoint, I’ve turned to Savennières legend Eric Morgat, whose oaked Chenins are a revelation. 2017 was a disastrous harvest that forced him to declassify his single vineyards, creating the one-off Croisée des Chenins, a rare blend of his top sites that totally outperforms the vintage.
Other Dry Whites / Sweet Wines
150 bottles is only 25 six-packs, and my love for sparkling wine and Chardonnay has already put me into a bind trying to cover all my vinous bases. Two more wines should round out our options. Benanti’s fabulous 2019 Pietra Marina is a testament to Sicily’s under-appreciated white wine potential, and for times when only sweet wine will do, a bottle or two of 2011 Donnhoff Hermannschole Riesling Spätlese will be perfect.
Rosé
A single six-pack is all we can spare, and why not buck Provençal tradition? We’re headed farther north, for a Pinot Noir rosé from a Burgundy producer with a cult following: Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Bourgogne Rosé de Pinot Noir 2023.
Pinot Noir
The heartbreak grape nabs three six-packs in this cellar. The first is another offering from Will at Violin Wine, his 2021 Witness Tree, which recently outshone a rarer and pricier bottle of Littorai Hirsch Vineyard at a blind tasting at my kitchen table (quite a feat in my book). Burgundy secures the other two spots, with the riper, more structured 2013 Henri Gouges 1er Cru Les Pruliers balancing the more ethereal 2017 Ghislaine Barthod Chambolle-Musigny.
Sangiovese
We’ve traded up the Terreno Chianti Classico for the profound 2019 Gran Selezione “A Sofia”, a master class in balance and complexity, without a hint of the overextraction or over-oakiness so common in this recent Chianti designation. The other half of our Sangiovese is perhaps a bit obvious, but no less delicious for it: Montevertine Toscana IGT 2019.
Nebbiolo
I have a love-hate relationship with Nebbiolo, and in real life I tend to buy fresh styles of Langhe Nebbiolo that don’t require long-term cellar age to show their best. But I’ve had a handful of moments this year with 10+ year-old Barolo and Barbaresco that have made me give credit where credit is due. Roagna Barbaresco Paje 2013 and Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva 2008 Anniversario 50 presided over two of those moments, and well earned their spots on this year’s Middle Cellar.
Other Reds
Three six-packs remain, and I bear well in mind that I could be credibly accused of an imbalanced cellar if I don’t give myself a few more structured and dark-fruited options. To give ourselves room to spend on the other two, a case of 2010 Viña Tondonia Reserva is an easy choice. “Impossible not to love this wine” is how Jancis Robinson described the ’10, and I must say I wholeheartedly agree.
Northern Rhône Syrah is an occasional craving for me, and the 2016 Côte-Rôtie Côte Blonde from Rostaing is just entering the beginning of its drinking window, which works well with the roughly one bottle per year of Syrah of this caliber I typically open. Enjoying its evolution over the next six years sounds like an absolute treat. Lastly, for when a mature Bordeaux is needed, I’m calling on the 2001 vintage, oft overlooked due to the prominence of 2000 and 2005 on the left bank, but truly stellar in Pomerol. 2001 Clos l’Eglise is drinking beautifully and will more than satisfy any Bordeaux lover who stops by for dinner.
In Conclusion
Keeping myself to full 6pks this year has narrowed the total offerings in this $15k cellar, but the depth of quality on offer at this price point is truly outstanding. For both immediate drinking and positive evolution over the next decade, the wines above have my mouth watering. Perhaps I need to turn this from a theoretical exercise into a more practical one.