Terry Theise has garnered a great deal of attention and praise for pioneering the import of small producer Champagne and has a stellar collection of German and Austrian wines. Italian importer Marc DeGrazia offers a stable of Italian thoroughbreds.
The Theise tastings are always on the top of my list as I has been an early advocate of his Champagnes, going back to my time working the retail floor in San Francisco in 1999, when I first became aware of these wines. For several years the Rene Geoffroy Champagne has been my personal favorite and is a classic example of the ten or so house Theise represents.
The Geoffroy family has been growing grapes in Champagne for several centuries, but this father and son team is part of a movement that is making their own wine instead of selling off their bulk wine to be part of a blend of a major house. Geoffroy, like others in the Theise portfolio farms from 14 hectares resulting in a tidy, handmade batch of 10,000 cases of distinctive juice from their village of Cummieres as opposed to the grande marquees that crank out 500,000 cases or more from multiple parcels.
That's the beauty of these small producers. They are so distinctive and of exceptional quality. It's a great start of the year.
