Weekly New Arrivals

We’ve covered a lot of ground in the last couple years of Cellar Trading offers, from blue chip lists to ultra-rarities to weekday drinkers to greatest hits—and beyond. But we realized recently that we haven’t featured a diverse list of new arrivals in quite a while. Longtime readers will remember the days when our inventory was so small, and turned over so quickly, that nearly every Friday List was new arrivals, often selling out quickly and disappearing into the ether. Well, with today’s offer, we’re rebooting The Friday List and taking it back to its roots, bringing you our newest arrivals from all over the globe, and all from excellent provenance and storage. 

We start with a serious who’s who of Burgundy, including—but not at all limited to—DRC, Roumier, Dujac, Bachelet and Mugneret… and that’s just for the reds. There are plenty of other great producers as well, but we’ll call special attention to the Comtes Lafon. This historic winery has kicked into a higher gear in recent years, and the wines are better than ever. They should be on every Burgundy collector’s radar, but if you haven’t been buying them recently, you’ll definitely want to change that. And more importantly, drink some. You’ll thank us later. 

California also swings big today, with hot commodities like Dunn, Colgin, Scarecrow, Hundred Acre, Abreu, Maybach, Ridge Monte Bello, and much more. With big names like those, we’ll shine a spotlight on two small houses that might get lost in the shuffle: Ultramarine and Forman. The first has rewritten the book on California sparkling wine, with thrilling and dynamic cuvées that capture the exquisite Sonoma Coast terroir in a totally unique way. Forman, meanwhile, is a favorite of ours because he (Ric) was behind some of the 1970s Cabernets that we personally love to drink. Mature Forman wines are incredibly fun and complex, so if you’re looking for some special drinkers while your time capsules age, definitely add these to your list. 

There are more global gems on offer here than we can mention, so we’ll highlight a few of our favorites. While you might not normally associate Gaja with the word “value,” the magnums of 2019 Barbaresco are out of this world, and by far at the best price you’ll likely ever see. Also from Italy, we’ve got the 100-point Il Caberlot, the magnum-only Tuscan sensation that has garnered a justifiable cult following. For the uninitiated, this is as unique as it gets: a genetic crossing of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, only grown on the Podere Il Carnasciale estate. 

From Champagne, we managed to secure 5 more six-packs of Taittinger CdC, which unfortunately comes with a sobering message. Sadly, the number of great Champagne vintages for upcoming release will be incredibly limited, so finding truly outstanding vintage bottlings—at any price point—will likely be very hard to come by. This is our last call for the great 2012 CdC unfortunately, so if you’re looking to stock up, now is the time.