Walter's World, Edition No. 24 (July 2026)
Bonjour Walter's amis!
July's theme is France because pourquoi pas?
It had been two years without a French-focused release, and as you all know, we loveeeee our French wine around here. It took no time at all for us to put this lineup together—in fact, the hardest part was deciding what to leave out. We tasted so many good options!
We settled on the wines that, to us, embody French summer vibes:
crisp Muscadet that's delicious now, but could age gracefully if you wanted to hold onto it, unique Jacquère from Savoie, and the most delicious Morgon from a producer whose other four cuvées we somehow collected first. (Look, Ma, we collected them all!)
Our Bubble Club got the French treatment too—but with an upgrade:
a limited-release Champagne from the iconic Roger Coulon
and a sparkling Cabernet Franc rosé from Limoux
(definitely not the norm there).
We hope these wines fuel all your summer adventures like they're fueling ours.
Cheers,
the Walter's team
P.S. – See something you'd like to try?
Shop this month's selections using the links below.
We'll happily get your favorites into your hands!
I | Domaine de la Pépière Briords
2025 | Château-Thébaud, Muscadet Sevre et Maine, France | Melon B
More Muscadet!! We last featured the Monnières-Saint-Fiacre from Pépière back in December. That was a communal wine, meaning from a specific village that denotes higher quality and a typicity. This wine hails from a single vineyard of old vines on a hillside above the river Maine. Just a tiny plot of 3 hectares of 60+ year old vines, the Briord vineyard is one of the jewels of the winery.
Last week for my birthday I [Chris] opened a magnum of the 2018 and it was in a wonderful place - full of salted lemon, flinty minerality, citrus curd, and white flowers. These wines have the magical ability to be light and refreshing while lingering on the palate from their surprising density. While delicious now, a little patience in the cellar will reward you handsomely. We had ours with a few summer salads - heirloom tomato with a ginger vinaigrette, watermelon with feta & basil, and a peach & corn deelio that was out of this world.
II | Domaine Louis-Claude Desvignes Corcelette
2024 | Morgon, Beaujolais, France | Gamay
The vineyard of Corcelette was made famous by Jean Foillard 15 years ago and now there are a handful of producers with access to its fruit. The soils vary quite a bit, and therefore the styles do too, with Foillard’s vines in sandy soils producing really silky and rich expressions of Gamay.
Desvignes sources theirs from 50-year-old vines growing in a pocket of pink granite. That soil, famous from the neighboring crus of Fleurie & Moulin-A-Vent, produces a more floral, refreshing, high-toned style.
Louis-Claude’s children have recently taken over the estate and the wines across the board are pure, perfumed, and vibrant. We have several of their other single sites on the shelves if you’d like to explore more of their bottlings!
III | Camille & Mathieu Apfel Avant la Tempête Blanc Sec
2023 | Savoie, France | Jacquère
The Savoie region is something out of a storybook. Tucked into eastern France in the picturesque Alps, bordering both Switzerland and Italy, the wines taste of the mountains – crystalline, electric, full of alpine herbs, and glacial minerality.
Mathieu is originally from the Jura but moved to the Savoie in 2013 to start making wine with a friend. A few years later he broke out on his own and Camille joined him to help convert the recently acquired vines from conventional to biodynamic farming.
Jacquère is a grape that always shocks me with its precision, full of acid but not in an assaulting way, at least not after the second sip. The first can jolt you, but then that crystalline mineral-water-like quality washes over your palate and feels like it's hydrating you, like you want to gulp down a glass akin to water after a hard workout. It just makes you feel good.
Jicama, crab apple, seaweed, and tarragon is how I’d describe this one, which I know sounds weird, but I think you’ll find it tasty too. Sushi is one of my favorite things to eat with a bottle of Jacquère, especially lean fish like bream, fluke, and squid.
IV | Chai de la Dive Les Moulins Rosé
2025 | Saumur, Loire, France | Cabernet Franc
If you’re a fan of Chenin Blanc or Cabernet Franc you may be familiar with the names Guiberteau & Stater-West. Guiberteau’s wines have reached legendary status, especially their Brézé Chenin with bottles hitting 3 digits more than 5 years ago.
On release the wines are almost undrinkable because they are so acid driven and made for significant bottle aging, generally needing 7+ years to really warrant pulling a cork. Brendan Stater-West is a new kid on the block and friends with the latest generation of the Guiberteau family. His wines have made a splash with the cool natty kids opening wine bars, and while I can be cool I’m not always into the natty stuff. As Brendan’s winemaking has evolved I’ve come to appreciate the wines more and more.
With Chai de la Dive, he has teamed up with Camille Guiberteau and partner Alex Crochet to purchase fruit from trusted growers to make a style that is more approachable in its youth as well as price point. This rosé is made from several sites of Cabernet Franc quickly macerated before being fermented in stainless steel with native yeast.
It captures one element that only rosé can express in my tasting experience which is an agave character melded with hibiscus and salt. Almost like a paloma cocktail but more eloquent. No food required for this one, but if I was hungry I’d make some guacamole topped with salsa negra from local Milpa Masa.
BUBBLE CLUB
I | Champagne Coulon Heri-Hodie 1er Cru Extra Brut
NV | Vrigny, Montagne de Reims, Champagne, France | Meunier
This wine blows my mind. Release after release it always has this lime character that defies the category and in this case the variety. I’ve tasted it in their other wines too so it’s related to some process of their house style, and I just love love love it.
They’re located in Vrigny, a premier cru ranked village in the northerly sub-region of Montagne de Reims, and their family has been making Champagne for nine (!) generations. The latest brother and sister are young bucks but learning the ropes from their parents with aplomb.
Meunier is well established in Vrigny and has been made famous by the “Vignes de Vrigny” bottling by grower/producer Egly-Ouriet. Coulon’s bottling is largely drawn from a solera, or cache of blended vintages, that was started in 1995. This adds complexity and richness to their otherwise laser-like style. It’s a push and pull on the palate, like a rollercoaster of fruit and umami. So stoked to feature this wine for y’all this month!
II | Les Hautes Terres 'Là-haut’ Rosé Petillant Nature
2025 | Languedoc, France | 100% Cabernet Franc
This is made by a husband-and-wife team in the south of France’s Languedoc region, more specifically in Limoux which many historians believe to be the oldest area to intentionally produce sparkling wines before science provided reliable means.
Geneviève & Gilles make this particular Cabernet Franc in the méthode ancestrale approach, meaning that there is just one fermentation that starts in stainless steel and then finishes in bottle. This cuts down on the labor and preserves the freshness of rosé while making the texture a bit creamier because of the lower atmospheric pressure. Everything is done by hand and is grown organically. This is the definition of a ‘porch pounder’!