Wine Story will unveil three new agencies at its first portfolio tasting at Gauthier Soho on 3rd March 2015. Specialising in importing family-owned qualitative producers, Wine Story is consolidating its offer with the addition of three noteworthy estates: Château Godeau Saint Emilion Grand Cru, V&V Godier in Côte de Nuits and Domaine de Nizas in Languedoc.
Thibault Lavergne, owner of Wine Story explains “I am delighted to be the exclusive UK distributor for these three remarkable estates, which all share very high quality standards. They are in the hands of very passionate and dedicated teams, and have a real desire to challenge the UK market.”
Château Godeau was acquired in 2012 by Albéric and Agnès Florisoone, former co-owners of Château Calon Ségur. The lovely 7-hectare wine estate is located on one of the highest slopes of Saint-Emilion, and a close neighbour of famous estates such as La Mondotte and Tertre Roteboeuf. With the help of consultant winemaker Stéphane Derenoncourt, the new owners are breathing new energy into its vineyard through careful precision work and painstaking effort. Thibault comments: “I literally fell in love with Château Godeau’s seductive wines, their ripe fruit and soft, silky character imparted by the clay soils. Unlike most Bordeaux “grands vins”, Godeau is a real vigneron wine; Alberic Florisoone blended the 2011 vintage and the topography is such that most vineyards need to be ploughed using animal traction. I genuily think Château Godeau is one of the Saint-Emilion properties to watch.”
V&V Godier in Côte de Nuits was born from the encounter in 2010 between financiers Véronique and Vincent Godier and brothers Arnaud and Alban Chopin, vignerons in Comblanchien. Together they produce a Chambolle-Musigny from plots planted by Arnaud and Alban’s grandfather on some of the great Chambolle climats, and also a joyous Nuits Saint George from “La Charmotte”, a 50 year old south east facing vineyard to the north of the village. Thibault Lavergne continues: “We have been looking for a fine Cotes de Nuits supplier for a long time, which is not an easy task considering the extremely good Burgundy representation on the UK market and the small crops in recent vintages. But we have found the ideal partner in V&V Godier, who produce delicate wines that are extremely well suited to the fine dining scene.”
Domaine de Nizas is the Languedoc venture from John Goelet, of Clos du Val (Napa Valley), Taltarni in Victoria (Australia) and Clover Hill (Tasmania) fame. Based in Caux at the heart of the Pézenas-Languedoc appellation, Domaine de Nizas has currently 40ha in production, planted with Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Carignan, Rolle, Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. Emmanuel Saunier, Wine Story on-trade manager, explains: “Domaine de Nizas has constantly delivered vibrant, harmonious wines of great finesse which truly reflect the Languedoc-Pézenas terroir. I am really excited to represent these wines again having successfully launched Nizas on the UK market in 2003 under the Bernard Portet consultancy, along with the other estates from the John Goelet stable.”