Le Caveau, a 26 year-long journey in six landmark wines
When we opened our doors for the first time, on the Market Yard, Kilkenny in the middle of September 1999, our selection consisted of wines sourced from diverse Irish wine importers, a fridge full of cheeses, salamis, patés and about 36 wines of our own imports. Our list has now grown to include over 700 wines, all of them sourced from genuine artisan producers.
The following six wines, 2 bottles of each included in this case, are perfect examples of Le Caveau's style.
2 x Red - Château du Cèdre, Cahors AOP
2 x Red - Jean-Claude Regnaudot, Bourgogne 'Pinot Noir'
2 x White - Meyer-Fonné, Gentil d’Alsace
2 x Red - La Stoppa, Trebbiolo
2 x White - Vire-Clesse, ‘Cuvée Spéciale’ Domaine Bonhomme
2 x White -Judith Beck, Weissburgunder
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Le Caveau, a 26 year-long journey in six landmark wines
When we opened our doors for the first time, on the Market Yard, Kilkenny in the middle of September 1999, our selection consisted of wines sourced from diverse Irish wine importers, a fridge full of cheeses, salamis, patés and our own wine imports.
These wine imports were sourced from family-owned and run vineyards, exclusively from France for the first couple of years.
The South-West of France took the lion’s share of our selection, at one stage we had 8 different wines from the village of Cahors, 5 or 6 from the Madiran region, few from Bergerac and a couple of from Jurançon. Out of a total of around 36 wines we imported directly, we had to urgently re-think and re-balance the provenance of our offering!
Château du Cèdre, Cahors We visited and discovered Pascal Verhaeghe in our first buying trip, in Easter 2000 ( a trip, where we clocked 3,000 kms on my brother’s brand new car!)
Pascal introduced us to the World of Organic and Biodynamic farming. Although he was not certified then, he believed from day one, that you can only make great wines from the healthiest grapes, and these could only come from farming without crutches, without chemicals. He was able to produce the most expressive and articulate Cahors wines from his hand-tended Malbec grapes. Chateau du Cedre Cahors is a landmark not just for us, but for the entire appellation which it has revitalized.
Jean-Claude Regnaudot Bourgogne Pinot Noir This one is a family affair, my brother Hubert, who has worked all his life with some of Burgundy’s greatest – J. Roty, Barthod-Noellat, Robert Groffier, Vincent Girardin, Domaine Leflaive and currently La Pousse d’Or – always bought Regnaudot’s wines to age them and serve at landmark family events.
We approached Jean-Claude Regnaudot in 2000 and became his first export market. Bourgogne 1998 gave us our first review in an Irish newspaper. Today the 7-ha estate is run by Didier Regnaudot, who was named ‘Vigneron of the year’ in Guide Hachette.
This is pure, Burgundy Pinot Noir, black and red berries, perfectly well-judged oak aging, and a lengthy finish.
Domaine Meyer-Fonné Gentil d'Alsace In 2001, Revue des Vins France wrote an article on Felix Meyer. The piece ended with: ‘This estate produces, year in, year out some of the best value white wines, in the whole of France.’ That was enough for us to investigate who was this vigneron. Felix follows biodynamic principles in his vineyard, and looks for razor-sharp clean style of wine. Focusing on getting the particularity of his granitic terroir into his wines. Gentil is a generous, medium to full-bodied wine with layers of fruit and superb freshness.
La Stoppa Trebbiolo We started working with Elena Pantaleoni’s wines in 2011, a few years after we discovered Natural wines. Elena is helped in the vineyards and cellar by Giulio Armani. She features in Jonathan Nossiter’s documentary ‘Natural Resistance’.
Elena came to visit us numerous times, she loves Ireland dearly.
Trebbiolo is a unique blend of Barbera and local grape Bonarda. The current vintage, 2023 is one of the best we’ve experienced, sleek, generous fruit, super clean and focused, layers of ripe black fruit, lovely fresh finish. This is a beautiful wine.
Domaine Bonhomme, Vire-Clesse, ‘Cuvée Spéciale’Shortly after opening Le Caveau, we heard that South Burgundy had given appellation status to a tiny piece of land, near Mâcon (1998).
The areas of Viré and Clessé were known for their unique situation, generous sunshine and a mix of rocky limestone and clay soils, and André Bonhomme, who had been running his estate since 1956, was at the forefront of this accolade for his region. His wines, made from the healthiest Chardonnay grapes, had been known for several decades, offering the best of Southern Burgundy. Generous, ripe, exotic fruit-scented with a mineral backbone. Meursault meeting Mâcon in short.
Today the 11-ha farm has converted to Biodynamic farming and his run by André’s son in law, Aurélien Palthey.
Judith Beck, Weissburgunder When we discovered the World of Natural wines in 2006, we started to work with numerous leading estates in France, Italy and Spain. Few years later, we extended our search to Austria, and after meeting and tasting the wines of Judith Beck, we had no doubt about working with her.
Judith runs a biodynamic 16-ha vineyard in Burgunland, near Vienna. With her precision in winemaking and compromise-free attitude in the vineyard, she produces some incredible wines. Weissburgunder is one of them - richly-textured, flower and white fruit scented and crystal clear finish.
As so many others, the above 6 vignerons have become very good friends over the years; they are true artisans, who love and care for their land and enjoy what they are doing. Sláinte!