Welcome to Rosenthal Wine Merchant
Rosenthal Wine Merchant is one of the most respected importers of fine wine in the United States. From the outset, founder and CEO Neal Rosenthal has been devoted to working with small, family-owned estates producing limited quantities of exceptional wines which reflect their place of origin with great character. Over forty years later, the Rosenthal portfolio encompasses nearly every viticultural area of France and Italy, as well as Switzerland’s Vaud and Valais districts, Spanish Catalonia, and, most recently, four of Austria’s major winegrowing regions. Every wine bearing the iconic Rosenthal back label speaks clearly of its origins, and we pride ourselves on extraordinarily close relationships with our growers – multi-generational, family-run enterprises that share the company’s founding commitment to the notion of terroir.
Rosenthal’s Swiss Growers in Vogue
In Vogue’s most recent article “Why Fall Is the Perfect Time to Visit Zürich—And Discover the World of Swiss Wine” by Maggie Harrison of Antica Terra, she profiles some of her favorite Swiss growers, including two of Rosenthal Wine Merchant’s very own, Sandrine Caloz of Cave Caloz and Fabienne Cottagnoud of Cave des Tilleuls.
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We discovered Nathalie Richez through a bottle of her Bouzeron during a quick lunch in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Struck by its frankness and its satisfying depth, we arranged a visit for our next pass-through, and indeed both Nathalie and her simple setup proved to be a breath of fresh air.
Terroir is hardly the exclusive province of fermented grape juice, and it is thrilling to encounter ciders such as these which bear such an indelible sense of place.
Even among our family of modestly sized growers, however, Nadir Cuneaz in the Valle d’Aosta stands apart. With less than a single hectare’s worth of family holdings, Nadir qualifies as our very smallest producer in Italy, and the handful of cases we buy from him each year are true homemade wines in every sense of the word.
It is with relish that we begin our partnership with the La Raia estate in Gavi, in the rolling hills of Piedmont’s southeast. A fully functioning biodynamic farm, La Raia encompasses 180 hectares, with 48 hectares planted to grapevines and the remainder devoted to pastures and to woodlands of chestnut, elder, and acacia which teem with wildlife.
Our launch earlier this year of Josef “Joe” Fischer’s ebullient wines from the Danube’s southern banks met with immediate success, and we are thrilled to expand our work with this up-and-coming Wachau superstar this fall.
We are thrilled to introduce Domaine de la Touraize—the eighth grower in RWM’s long history with the Jura. André-Jean (“A-J”) Morin is the eighth generation of Morin to tend the vine in Arbois, beginning with his ancestor Etienne in 1704, but the family enterprise nearly didn’t survive the calamitous 20th century.
We may be historical partisans of the Jura’s inimitable and classic sous-voile style of white wine, but recent exciting developments at our beloved Domaine Montbourgeau in L’Etoile have left us no choice but to engage with the World of the Topped-Up…
Happy to report to all that we have been drinking well this week. Below are shots of two wines that meet every test for rendering classic versions of terroir with an intensely satisfying level of concentration married to grace.
The Thermenregion in TRINK Magazine
Bernhard Stadlmann is one of nine Thermenregion producers who have opted to join the ÖTW. His family estate in Traiskirchen has roots that reach back to the Napoleonic era, when the French recognized Stadlmann wines for their excellence. His familiarity with Burgundy stems from his days as an enology student there. But the most important lesson he took from that experience is: “In wine regions that are rich in tradition, you learn how strong the traditions of your own region are.” The Thermenregion might not seem so sexy at first glance, he says, but the conditions it offers should be alluring to young growers.
2022 Rosé Vintage Snapshot – Southern Rhône/Luberon
These regions more or less followed suit with Provence in 2022, experiencing high temperatures and borderline drought conditions, yet producing rosés of greater freshness and lift than in recent years.
2022 Rosé Vintage Snapshot – Provence
In Bandol, Etienne Portalis of Château Pradeaux reported his earliest harvest ever in 2022 (September 7th to September 24th), yet his rosés in ’22 are higher in acidity than either 2020 or 2019. Domaine du Bagnol in Cassis reported a similarly scorching-hot and dry growing season, with only 250 milliliters of rain for all of calendar year 2022, but their rosé ended up fresher and saltier than the 2020 and the 2019.
2023 Rosé Offering
One begins to feel like a broken record describing French growing seasons in this era of climate change. Yet, while the 2022 vintage—which comprises the bulk of our offering this year—was broadly similar weather-wise to recent vintages like 2019 and 2020 (very hot and very dry, with early flowering and an early harvest), the overall character of the 2022 rosés is different: nimbler in feel, less weighty on the palate, and slightly lower in alcohol across the board.
