Hey guys!
Today we’re talking wine salons in the Loire Valley, sharing three wine-related products we’ve been enjoying lately, and spotlighting some of the best wines coming out of Ardèche right now. Hope you enjoy!
Natural Wine Week in the Loire 🇫🇷
Inside La Dive Bouteille and the gatherings that bring the global wine community together
Pictured: La Dive Bouteille
It’s that time of year again: La Dive Bouteille, the most legendary gathering in the natural wine world, returns to the Loire Valley. Once a year on the first weekend in February, growers, importers, writers, sommeliers, and curious drinkers from across Europe, North America, and beyond make the pilgrimage to the Ackerman Caves in Saumur. The point is to taste wines, share ideas, reconnect with friends, and strengthen the relationships that hold this community together.
Pictured: Ackerman Cave
Founded in 2002 by Sylvie Augereau, La Dive has long served as the trade anchor for the entire wine week in the Loire. Around La Dive, a broader ecosystem of satellite fairs and tastings comes to life, including gatherings like Les Pénitentes, Natur-all, plus countless other tastings, pop-ups, and late night hangs outside of Cercle Rouge and La Tonnelle. Together, the community turns a few cold days in the Loire into an immersion in the natural wine world as it exists right now.
Pictured: Loire Valley Bottle Line-up
Getting there is part of the experience too. You fly into Paris, hop a train from Gare Montparnasse to Angers, then continue on toward Saumur before descending into the vast, winding cave system of Ackerman Cave. The first time my brother and I went, it felt like a small odyssey, equal parts logistics and anticipation, and stepping into the caves was genuinely magical.
Every return since has reinforced to me why people keep coming back. It’s not just about tasting great wines; it’s about generosity, curiosity, and being present for the one week each year when the global natural wine community briefly exists in one place. If you work in wine and are thinking about going, we couldn’t recommend it more.
Three Wine Products We’ve Been Using Recently 🔨
We use a lot of different wine products on a day to day so wanted to take the time to highlight a few we’ve been using.
A friend recently gifted me one of these corkscrews, and I’ll admit I was skeptical at first. It’s not double-hinged, so I assumed pulling a cork would be super awkward, or worse, end in a fully broken cork. Turns out I was completely wrong. It’s quick, surprisingly easy to use, and once you get used to applying a bit more leverage, it actually feels really solid. It’s grown on me fast, and now I reach for it more than I expected.
Pictured: Cartailler-Deluc Corkscrews
This is such a sleek piece of wine equipment. I recently met up with the creator, Martin, who let me test-drive the 4-bottle basket for a few days, and I’ve genuinely enjoyed using it. The bottles feel super secure, it handles a range of different sizes with ease, and it looks like something pulled straight from a neo-brutalist art catalog.
Pictured: 4ER Wine Basket
As some of you may have seen, I recently met up with Aldo Sohm to chat about his new book, Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings, and I’ll admit I didn’t know much about it going in. After spending time with Aldo, hearing his philosophy on food and wine, and then diving into the book itself, I’m convinced it’s something most people would genuinely enjoy. It’s a really helpful resource without ever feeling overly technical.
Pictured: Wine Simple - Perfect Pairings
Producer Highlight ⭐
One of our favorite parts of wine is the discovery: we’re constantly being put on to new regions, producers, and cuvées from our friends. We’ll never be able to try EVERY wine, but we want to take a moment to mention some producers that excite us!
Le Mazel🍷
Location: Valvignères, Ardèche, France 🇫🇷
Pictured: Ardèche, France. Image by Wikipedia
In Valvignères, a small village in southern Ardèche, Le Mazel grew out of a pivotal shift in mindset. Gérald Oustric, who originally selling his family’s fruit to the local cooperative, experienced a turning point after meeting Marcel Lapierre, legendary Beaujolais winemaker, in the 1980s. That encounter inspired him to explore the world of organic farming and natural winemaking. After years of transition, Gérald and his sister Jocelyne left the local co-op in the late 1990s and founded Le Mazel, committing fully to wines made without manipulation.
Pictured: Gérald Oustric. Image by Not Drinking Poison
Today, the domaine farms roughly 19 hectares of clay/limestone and limestone soils planted to a wide range of local varieties, many from older vines passed down through generations. The approach is simple: organic farming, low yields, hand harvesting, and cellar work guided by gravity. Fermentations are spontaneous, with no added yeast or sulfur, and the wines are given time to settle and mature before bottling.
Pictured: Gérald Oustric. Image by Super(Natural)Wines
Gérald is also an incredibly influential figure in the Ardèche natural wine community. He has helped many younger producers get started by sharing grapes, vineyards, equipment, and cellar space, fostering a deeply collaborative spirit in the region. The wines of Le Mazel are energetic, rustic, and alive, embracing vintage variation as part of their identity. Each year offers a new expression, shaped by place, weather, and patience.
Pictured: Le Mazel Line-up
We first crossed paths with these wines early in our own wine journey, opening a bottle at the since-closed Miami wine bar Paradis Books & Bread without fully grasping what was in the glass. Fast forward to La Dive Bouteille in 2025, where we found ourselves tasting at Gérald’s table, this time with the context, curiosity, and time. Meeting him and tasting through the full lineup was an eye-opening experience, and it made it clear just how special these wines are.
Pictured: Le Mazel at La Dive
Thankfully, Le Mazel has recently started landing in New York after a long hiatus, making them much easier to track down at shops like Discovery Wines, and firmly placing them into our regular rotation.
Wine Club Updates 🍷 📦
January’s shipment is heading out this week! This month’s lineup should be super fun. A lot of exciting updates on the horizon as well so stay tuned.
If you have any questions or run into any issues, feel free to reach out to [email protected]
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That’s it for today! Hope to see some of you at La Dive next weekend, it’s always one of our favorite times of the year.
Thank so much for reading, and as always, drink responsibly! 🥂