Through our many years of partnership, we have advocated incessantly for broader recognition of the greatness of Chateau Simone. Super-famous in their homeland and gracing the list of seemingly every good restaurant in France, Simone for many years was something of an underground phenomenon in the US, known to some cognoscenti but virtually unrecognized by the larger wine-drinking public.
Fortunately, that has changed somewhat in recent years, and where we used to have a multi-vintage vertical of both Blanc and Rouge from Simone, just a small handful of wines grace our warehouse floor today. This situation may be due partly to relative value; while prices in many blue-chip regions have skyrocketed in recent years, Simone’s has risen with inflation but no more, and a bottle of Simone is now significantly less expensive than pretty much any village-level Cote d’Or Burgundy.
For such a classic-looking label and such an old-school reputation, Chateau Simone still holds the power to shock with its visceral individuality. A newcomer to Simone is liable to be stunned by the assertive aromatics of the Blanc—pine resin, lanolin, blasted limestone—not to mention its singular texture, simultaneously oily and elegant. And the Rouge, a real shapeshifter, gets the mind seesawing between great Burgundy and great Bandol; it’s a sensory paradox, a union of the rugged and the ethereal.
For such a classic-looking label and such an old-school reputation, Chateau Simone still holds the power to shock with its visceral individuality. A newcomer to Simone is liable to be stunned by the assertive aromatics of the Blanc—pine resin, lanolin, blasted limestone—not to mention its singular texture, simultaneously oily and elegant. And the Rouge, a real shapeshifter, gets the mind seesawing between great Burgundy and great Bandol; it’s a sensory paradox, a union of the rugged and the ethereal.
More on Château Simone here.