It’s hard to find anyone making more consistent and accessible Chablis today than Virginie Moreau. After taking over for her late husband in 2016, Virginie has not only maintained an incredible level of quality but elevated the winery to cult status among smart collectors. Purchasing by the case is highly encouraged!

Moreau-Naudet

The Domaine came to be in 1950 after the marriage of the two families, both of whom had roots dating back to the 17th century in Chablis; Stéphane Moreau was born to craft the stuff. After deservedly capturing the eye and palate of so many with his delicious take on Chablis, Stéphane suddenly passed in 2016 at 47 years of age. Succeeded by his wife, Virginie and their assistant winemaker Coco, the estate was shepherded through the crisis and the quality maintained at an incredible level. 

During his life, Stéphane eliminated the use of pesticides and herbicides in the vineyards—which Virginie continues to this day—and the focus is on extended élevage on lees in a mix of vessels to maintain a balance of freshness and complexity. Along with extended élevage, the team at Moreau-Naudet puts an emphasis on achieving proper ripeness for their grapes, creating a style of Chablis that is Burgundian to the core and displays a unique density for the region.

Today, the domaine is about 20 hectares large and the stable is full, spanning the entire range from Petit-Chablis to Grand Cru. Virginie works land in the Premier Crus of Forets, Montee de Tonnerre, and Vaillons, with the lone Grand Cru site in Valmur. They also have a variety of parcels in the Chablis and Petit Chablis appellations. The Petit-Chablis and Chablis wines are raised entirely in stainless steel, while the Premier and Grand Crus see no more than 1/3 barrels.

Marco Pezzuto is part of the ongoing revolution of young, talented producers emerging from the Roero. This region has continually proven to be a terrific source of wines of great finesse and brightness in contrast to the boldness and firm structure from the Langhe. With his first release in 2024, Marco's wines are captivating in their freshness, exuberance and drinkability while also showing a window to his promising talent as a vigneron within one of our favorite regions.

Marco Pezzuto

To introduce you to these wines, I'm going to jump to one of the last things said in our meeting, through interpreter Tom Myers: "These are wines that make you smile. Complexity doesn't need to be complicated."

That was In July of 2024, when we as a team had the opportunity to sit with the ebullient Marco Pezzuto, whose natural passion couldn't be contained by his lack of English fluency. The question posed to Tom, rather than Marco was, "Knee-jerk reaction, how do Marco's wines strike you?" And Tom's response perfectly captured what we had seen emitting from the man sitting next to him.

Marco said he came to the vineyards at a very young age, and was taken by the process, eventually enrolling in a local oenological-focused high school. In 2006 he first worked a vineyard, and in 2007 he took his first job with a winery in Roero, the appellation where he had grown up. Working with wineries in Roero and the Langhe provided a wealth of experience, exposing Marco to a variety of styles; he admits that early on, he saw the Roero winemakers trying to mirror the Langhe styles, as they had more successfully caught on commercially. Today, the pendulum has swung again, and Marco – along with Stefano Occhetti, another Roero native – is in the midst of talented, homegrown young producers.

Bees. It was bees that framed Marco's understanding and led to his success. In 2017, he resigned from the winery to pursue a beekeeping as a vocation, eventually renting his first piece of land in 2018, which he would plant for himself that year. He grew his colonies from 200 families to 400, packaging his own honey and selling some in bulk. As his vineyard began to grow, just as he cared for his bees and crops, he too saw his level of care impact the vines. From the original thought of creating wine to sell came the ideal of attaching his name to something he could be proud of—all because of bees!

In 2021, Marco made his first wine from his 2018 planting. He saw surprising promise in those wines, which emboldened him enough to seek out more vineyards to lease, more vines to give a solid base to the Marco Pezzuto domaine. In 2023, an opportunity was presented to lease a vineyard in Roero with plantings from 1950 and 1980; older vines would lend complexity to the youthful exuberance of his own vineyard.

Marco acknowledges Roero for what it is, rather than trying to create other styles within it; while he admits he is still searching for his own style, what he's already created represents beautifully the direction of what we love about Roero. He admits he doesn't look to many producers as inspirations in terms of style, but rather their energy and impact. "So much of the other producers' wines are place-determined, so it doesn't make sense to use as a reference. There's a search in the Langhe to make wines with more finesse, more drinkable, whereas it's easier to do that in Roero," says Marco. Anyone who he looks to has created "an energy and a spirit in their wines," he says.

Back to Tom's musing on Marco's wines, he continued: "I see a great maturity in the wines already, in that he's not trying to overplay his hand. That's difficult when you're trying to find your way. Ultimately, they are fun to drink, but they have a sense of wisdom about them." Says Marco, "Terroir to me is not only the soil and microclimate, but also the person in the vineyard and winery. I want the wines to be complex but drinkable – on so many occasions, wines can seem like a bomb in the glass but you have trouble finishing them. I want an impressive nose, but I want you to be able to finish it quickly!"

Viticulture & Vinification

Marco crafts his wines in a cantina underneath his grandfather's house that he renovated. He claims his winemaking process is "very simple" - for the red and rosato, he pays very close attention to the macerations, tasting consistently multiple times per day to capture "what I want and nothing more". Translation: these are wines of delicacy and brightness, the extractions controlled.

Without the addition of sulfur, the fermentations take off rather quickly. Most are fermented in wood, and all wines age in wood, a small portion of which is new, given the rather small size and short history of the domaine. In the future, there will be cement tanks both for fermenting and aging.

In the vineyard, the processes are organically-focused; he saw early on with his bee colonies that they reacted very well to the strength of the soil stimulating the health of the flora around them. He utilizes his own compost that he's enriched with microorganisms, earthworms, and also the chipped and composted vine clippings from the year prior—one of the tenets of biodynamic viticulture in its cyclical nature.

With the 2023 vintage supplying two out of the three wines, the massive hailstorm in early July left him with about 10-15% of his expected crop, leaving almost no leaves on the vines. However, the lively soils contributed to incredible health in the remaining fruit, and Marco has been quite happy with the results. Eventually, he expects to create between 8,000-10,000 bottles each year; he doesn't want to go beyond his reach, to maintain that same energy and spirit (that he has so aspired to) within his own wines.

About the Label

"The logo is a stylized representation of a gentleman holding a child - actually it is a picture of my grandfather holding me as a child on a particular day, My grandfather in all his life had never seen the sea. And that day he had only come there because I had been there for a week and he couldn't last without seeing me for another week. However, he was on the beach all day in his long pants and tank top - that's why it's a picture that is very tender to me. That tells me about a generation of people who lived a lifetime of toil, who lived through the war, who worked just so they could eat (not in a starred restaurant but to feed themselves), who kept our area alive in the years when it was easier to go to the city and work in the factory. But most of all it represents my grandfather, the one who taught me that hard work and hard work get you where you want to go, who taught me that music is cheerfulness and celebration, that celebration and cheerfulness are important even if it is not all easy...and so many other things. My biggest regret is he cannot see what I am trying to do today, but that I am also doing it in his name." -Marco

Marco's Notes on the 2024 & 2025 Vintages

"As for the vintage, I’m releasing the 2025s; first of all, it’s the first time in three years running that I haven’t had hail in the vineyards. It’s a good vintage and I think the 2025 Roero Rosso is going to be a cracker!! I’m also very happy with the Roero Arneis and the rosé; it’s a vintage that has given the white wines balance and an interesting palate.

"As for the reds, I’ve just released the 2024s, which was a very difficult vintage for me, with 24 treatments in the vineyard and very little sunlight to allow the Nebbiolo’s polyphenols to ripen. It was tough, and given the conditions, I think the result is a wine I couldn’t have imagined: a vintage that certainly plays on immediacy and simplicity, with little concentration but aromas and drinkability to spare." - Marco Pezzuto

Founded by ex-pilot Diego Molinari in 1977, Cerbaiona has firmly established itself as one of the premier producers in Tuscany. The iconic Montalcino fortress depicted on the label has become synonymous with some of the highest-quality Sangiovese coming from all of Italy.

Cerbaiona

With roots going back to the 1400s, Cerbaiona exists at the intersection of modern winemaking advancements and the rich tradition of winemaking in Tuscany. The palatial estate and gardens were built in the 17th century, with tax documents detailing an estate with vineyards dating all the way back to 1435. The modern history of the winery begins in 1977, when Diego Molinari purchased the estate and quickly built an incredible reputation for the producer.

In 2015, he passed along the winery to a group led by American collector Gary Rieschel and current estate manager Matthew Fioretti. Since the acquisition, the pair has overseen the construction of a new cellar, a restoration of the villa, and a massive replanting project to isolate the best genetic material on the property.

Production revolves around three wines: the world-renowned Brunello, a Rosso di Montalcino consisting of declassified fruit bottled after a year and a half of aging, and the Grammatica—an IGT Toscana bottling that debuted in 2020 as the entry point to the lineup. Despite a modern winery and access to the latest technology to vinify and age wine, the focus remains on minimalist, biodynamic work in the vineyard.