Jerome Bretaudeau Domaine de Bellevue Ornate 2022 100925OFFER Richard Luftig spent 25 years

Richard Luftig spent 25 years buying wine for New York restaurants

bottled unfined and unfiltered with a barely-there dosage

and his 'A' Merlot comes off his own plantings

and prickling with notes of fresh grapefruit rind and cherry blossom

This is Gamay from old family plots on granite

Jerome Bretaudeau Domaine de Bellevue Ornate 2022 100925OFFER Richard Luftig spent 25 yearsYes, this is Merlot from Muscadet country. Jerome Bretaudeau's Ornate is a wonderful provocation 100% Merlot grown on sloped granite with white and pink quartz around Getigne, a stone's throw from the Atlantic. Farmed biodynamically and aged in foudre, then bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulfur. Don't expect a Bordeaux clone: this is a cool climate, ocean influenced Merlot, lithe and savory rather than plush, with the energy and salinity