SWURL’s Top Wines of 2024
Written by Nathan Bodenstein
Barbichette
Seneca Lake, New York
Barbichette is a wine producer driven to showcase the full expression of New York’s local fruit. Through their relationships with growers, they work exclusively with locally-grown fruit fermented naturally.
Long inspired by the countless parallels between wine and specialty coffee, they made their first thirty cases of riesling in a corner of their Brooklyn coffee roastery, Cafe Integral. Committed to a less-is-more philosophy, they source the highest quality grapes, from growers whose farming practices align with their vision of celebrating terroir and quality. They believe in making wine by hand using simple, manual methods without the use of added sulfites, yeasts, chemical additives or fining and filtering. Simply put - nothing added, nothing removed.
Wine: ¡Claro Que Sí! 2022
Grape: Chardonnay
Price: $28
Availability: Henry’s Wine & Spirits
100% organically cultivated Chardonnay from Seneca Lake, 70% of the fruit spends 10-days on the skins while the remaining 30% is directly pressed. This Pet Nat is cloudy, fruit-forward wine with zesty acidity and herbs. Unfiltered and un-disgorged.
Cantina Terracanta
Lazio, Italy
Cantina Terracanta is a project, vision and sharing of ideas of Carlo and Lucia, who have been managing the Ceglia farm with the biodynamic method for over 35 years, which includes 15 hectares of kiwifruit, vineyards and olive trees. Located at the foot of the Lazio volcano, Vallericcia, between the valleys of the Roman countryside.
Wine: Angelina 2021
Grape: Trebbiano
Price: $29
Availability: Wine Therapy
Grapes ferment spontaneously, and after a two-week maceration on the skins, they are aged for 9 months in an underground terracotta amphora (qvevri), unfiltered, unfined. Tropical fruits, well balanced acidity, perfumed nose, a refreshing and enticing orange that's very approachable.
Floral Terranes
Long Island, New York
Floral Terranes, founded in 2017 by Erik Longibardi and Benford Lepley, focuses on very unique ciders and wines on Long Island. Their ecological preservation efforts involve preserving old trees through pruning and grafting and, despite challenges balancing full-time jobs and family, they remain committed to crafting distinctive ciders and wines, emphasizing Long Island's underrated potential.
Wine: Chardonnay 2022
Grape: Chardonnay
Price: $35
Availability: Vanderbilt Ave Wine Merchants
“The wine sees a week’s skin contact before going into barrel. To deal with some early reduction, they incorporated some oxidative wine making techniques to expose the wine to just the right amount of air. It's rounded in texture (the kind of way that really suits Chardonnay) and has layers of flint and minty/spicy herbaceousness. Ever so subtle melon and honey tones transistion back into an herbal finish.”
Le Domaine de Chevillard
Savoie, France
Sitting in the French Alps, Le Domaine de Chevillard is an organic vineyard of approximately 6 hectares in the heart of the Combe de Savoie Valley. Matthieu Goury is a passionate and committed young winemaker running the estate and producing exclusively white and red wines with a Protected Designation of Origin (AOP) Vin de Savoie and Roussette de Savoie.
Wine: Jacquere Apremont 2020
Grape: Jacquere
Price: $45
Availability: Leon & Sons
This a ridiculous Alpine white of 100% Jacquere from a new grower from the Savoie. It has beautiful acidity, complemented by a subtle chalkiness derived from the limestone soil, accompanied by notes of toasted almonds and hazelnuts.
Le Piane
Alto Piedmonte, Italy
In the 90s, and together with enologist Alexander Trolf, Christoph Kuenzli visited Boca and its forgotten vineyards and both became enthusiastic about the region and it’s excellent potential. At that time we became acquainted with Antonio Cerri, one of the last winegrowers to produce the typical and outstanding Boca wine. In view of his advanced age, more than 80 years old, Antonio Cerri handed over to us his small vineyard (0.5 hectares), cellar and his old vintages. We seized the opportunity and step-by-step acquired further small plots of forest. Like a jigsaw, the property developed to become a whole. The best areas of Boca – 4 vineyards with about 1.5 hectares (4 acres) each – were cleared and replanted with Nebbiolo and Vespolina vines. “Le Piane” now has an area of 8 hectares (20 acres) of vineyards, 2 (5 acres) of them with old vines.
Wine: "Nebbiolo Colline Novaresi" 2022
Grape: Nebbiolo, Vespolina
Price: $30
Availability: Thirst Wine Merchants
“Produced with Nebbiolo and Vespolina grapes from the Novara hills. This wine is the fruit of Alto Piemonte's vocation for flavour, fragrance, crispness of fruit and drinkability. Produced in the simplicity of our tradition, macerating for six days with a daily pumping over and maturing for about nine months in steel containers. Although an affordable wine, it is the result of careful harvesting and ageing that give it softness of tannins and excellent harmony.”
Lelarge-Pugeot
Vrigny, Champagne, France
“Lelarge-Pugeot is an eighth-generation winery (dating back to the1790s) in the Premier Cru village of Vrigny on the rolling slopes of the Montagne de Reims (about 15 minutes west of Reims). It is a real family operation, helmed by the two parents, Dominique and Dominique, and supported by their kids.
The family’s 8.7 hectares of vineyards, which are planted mostly with Pinot Meunier, face northward, offering some protection from the effects of global warming, though Clémence is quick to note that they can now make red wines for the first time in the history of Champagne. The domaine, which has been certified organic since 2014 and Demeter-certified biodynamic since 2017, is comprised of 42 distinct parcels where Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay are grown at elevations of 400 ft.”
Wine: Tradition NV
Grape: 65% Pinot Meunier, 20% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay.
Price: $52
Availability: Thirst Wine Merchants
This entry-level beauty features a meunier-dominant blend. We had this wine over Thanksgiving and it was even tasting great the day after. It’s ripe with some richness that’s cut by the sharp acidity with notes of hazelnuts, brioche, apple and apricots. For $52, this wine punches well above its weight. She’s beauty, she’s grace, she’s grower champagne. The minerality in the soils with the delicate aromas of grapes from a blend of 30 parcels within Vrigny is a true reflection of the terroir.
Monastero Suore Cistercensi
Lazio, Italy
Cistercian nuns have been organically farming their five hectares of vines in Vitorchiano, Lazio, since the early nineties, but it wasn’t until Bea began advising them in the early 2000’s that their wines gained a larger audience.
“Fate can have lovely consequences. Our fortuitous encounter with the Bea family of Umbria of course led to the unearthing of one of the great domaines of Italy. But, we have been additionally blessed as we marched together with Giampiero Bea as he made the acquaintance of the Sisters of the Cistercian order living and working at their monastery in Vitorchiano, ninety minutes or so north of Rome in the Lazio district. Here at this quiet religious outpost eighty women of this religious order work vineyards and orchards and gardens organically.”
Wine: Coenobium Lazio Bianco 2021
Grape: Trebbiano, Malvasia, and Verdicchio
Price: $31
Availability: Wine Therapy
The Coenobium: is the basic wine of the Monastery with an approximate annual production of 12000 bottles. Its intrigue comes from the volcanic soils that underlay the vineyards and the longer than usual contact that the fermenting juice has with the skins … this being a vinification technique encouraged by Bea. The wine’s co-harvested and co-fermented Trebbiano (45%), Malvasia (35%), and Verdicchio (20%) translate the power of Vitorchiano’s volcanic soils with a sombre interplay of smoke and iron with green apple, fennel frond, and honey. These grapes are grown in the Monastery according to natural methods, without the use of synthetic chemical treatments. Coenobium displays notably breadth — yet it is muscular and chiseled rather than corpulent.
Nicholas Carmarans
Aveyron, France
For a long time, Nicolas ran a natural wine bar in Paris. From 2002 to 2007 he dabbled in winemaking in the same appellation where his great-grandfather made wine. Then, after purchasing his prized "Le Mauvais Temps" site, he was all in. He's worked tirelessly to restore the natural terroir of this beautiful site, surrounded by forests and all the biodiversity responsible for the unique character of his unique wines. Never any chemicals or pesticide, minimal sulphur, and truly authentic.
Wine: Josette 2022
Grape: Fer Servadou
Price: $31
Availability: Maine & Loire
The Josette is 100% Fer Servadou from estate plots in the Aveyron. The vines are about 30-60 years old and look over the Selves river on their steep cliff. Mauvais temps or bad times is a century old name for this place where it never rains, so you never get a day off.
Quentin Harel
Beaujolais, France
“Going into 2017, it had been a few decades since we added a winemaking family to our Beaujolais portfolio. With the likes of Lapierre, Foillard, Thivin, and Thévenet, just to name a few, there seemed to be no need to expand that cohort of all-stars. Then we stumbled across the reds of Quentin Harel. On each occasion, his wines affirmed that it was time to introduce U.S. drinkers to a new rising talent from the region. Even leaving out a discussion of their remarkable value, Quentin’s wines represent everything that we love about the Beaujolais: they are at once joyful and elegant.” - Kermit Lynch
Tragically, Quentin Harel passed away in last year. This is a winemaker we came across a few weeks ago and is a wine that we truly loved in every way. To hear of his passing after the fact was tragic, and from what we’ve read from Kermit Lynch, he was an amazing person. If you’re fortunate enough to come across one of his wines, you will not be disappointed.
Wine: “Charron” 2021
Grape: Gamay
Price: $22
Availability: Flatiron Wines & Spirits
This Gamay designed entirely for quaffing, simply bursting with playful red berries and bright, perky acidity. It’s a beautifully elegant wine that plays on the more classical side which we love.