Hey guys!
Between a short visit to Washington D.C., a Beaujolais Nouveau party at Thirst, and a spotlight on the legendary Lapierre family, we cover a lot of ground this week. Let’s dive into it 🥂
A Wine Trip Down to Washington D.C. 🇺🇸
Three great wine stops I made while in the nations’s capital
Pictured: Washington DC. Image by TripAdvisor
This past weekend I made a quick trip to Washington D.C. to visit friends and check out a some wine spots around the city. My brother and I went to college here but haven’t been back since graduating, so it ended up being both a return visit and a chance to see how the wine scene has evolved. Here are a few places I stopped by:
Gemini 💫
Gemini feels like a small slice of Paris in Washington D.C. When you walk in, you’re greeted by the smell of fresh baked goods and a wall of mostly domestic wines at very fair prices. Eric Moorer, the Beverage Director, focuses heavily on domestic producers, keeping a rotating lineup of bottles he believes in, with a few Rieslings and Champagnes included. They also run an excellent ice cream program called Happy Ice Cream, and I got a Basque Cheesecake flavor that blew me away. Very Folderol-like.
Pictured: Eric Moorer at Gemini
Lutèce 💙
This spot really feels like the Four Horseman of Washington D.C. It’s a small restaurant putting out thoughtful food with a super impressive wine program. We held an event here on Saturday, pouring a few Jura wines by the glass, and later sat for dinner. The night ended with several open bottles, full stomachs, and a few new friends. This spot should be a priority for anyone visiting.
Pictured: Bottle Line-up from Lutece
Domestique Wine 🛍
Domestique is one of the most recognized natural wine shops in the country, known for its incredibly impressive curation. Their shelves are filled with bottles that are even hard to find in New York sometimes. We hosted a tasting there on Friday featuring a few selections from this month’s wine club and had the chance to meet many of you in person which was so much fun.
Pictured: Domestique Staff
Really appreciate everyone who came out to the events at both locations. Can’t thank you enough for the support!
The trip went by too quickly, and I’m already planning to return soon to explore more of the scene. A few spots on my list for next time include Maxwell Park, Reveler’s Hour, and Maison. Thanks again to everyone who made the weekend such a memorable one.
Beaujolais Nouveau Explained, Plus the Party That Goes With It 🍷
A simple breakdown of the holiday and a peek at how we celebrated this year.
Every year on the third Thursday of November, the wine world celebrates the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau, the first taste of the new Gamay harvest. What began as a simple local tradition, where growers made a young, quickly fermented wine to mark the end of picking, eventually expanded into a global phenomenon. By the 1960s the release date was formalized, and in the 1970s and 1980s major producers in the region transformed it into an international event. Over time though, the rapid growth and shift toward mass production reduced the holiday into a marketing ploy, and people lost interest.
Pictured: Thirst Nouveau Party Flyer
In recent years though, Beaujolais Nouveau has experienced a welcomed revival. A new generation of producers, especially those making low intervention wine, have reclaimed the day as a celebration of place and craftsmanship. Instead of chasing mass quantity, these growers use Nouveau to offer a small snapshot of the year’s fruit. The holiday now feels less like a marketing campaign and more like what it once was: a small, joyful marker that a new vintage has begun.
Pictured: Blind Tasting Beaujolais at Thirst Wine Merchants
This year we celebrated at Thirst Wine Merchants in Fort Greene, where Nick, the shop’s manager, continued their growing tradition of hosting a large blind tasting of the new releases. All the freshly landed Nouveau bottlings were poured blind, allowing everyone to taste and rank their favorites.
Pictured: Blind Tasting Result
Beyond the tasting itself, everyone brought some more aged Beaujolais, using it as the perfect excuse to open up some fun bottles for everyone. The whole event was a great reminder of what makes Nouveau enjoyable in the first place; something casual, communal, and rooted in sharing a moment with people who simply like drinking wine together.
Pictured: Metras and Breton Beaujolais
The winner ended up being our friend Jacob who makes wine in Pennsylvania and was a last minute blind addition. The favorite Nouveaus were from Guy Breton and Domaine de la Cadette.
Thanks so much to Nick and the Thirst team for a great event 🙏
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!
Domaine Lapierre 🍷
Location: Morgan, Beaujolais, France📍
Pictured: Beaujolais Map. Image by VinePair
Located in the village of Morgon, long before “natural wine” became a global term, Marcel Lapierre set the foundation for one of the most influential shifts in Beaujolais, and in modern winemaking more broadly. He took over his family’s domaine in the early 1970s, inheriting old vines in a region driven by the commercial rise of Beaujolais Nouveau. Everything changed when he met Jules Chauvet, the chemist and researcher whose ideas around low-intervention winemaking would reshape Marcel’s entire approach. What began as guidance soon grew into a movement: alongside Guy Breton, Jean-Paul Thévenet, and Jean Foillard, Marcel helped form the group that importer Kermit Lynch famously dubbed the “Gang of Four,” united in their effort to return Beaujolais to its pre-industrial, traditional roots.
Pictured: Marcel Lapierre. Image by SevenFiftyDaily
Their philosophy was straightforward: organic farming, harvesting at optimal ripeness, fermenting with native yeasts, and avoiding the additives and shortcuts that defined the era. But the discipline behind those choices made Marcel stand out. He closely tracked fermentations, sorted fruit with extreme care, and proved that wines made with little to no sulfur could still be clean, stable, and age-worthy. At a time when mass produced Beaujolais filled the shelves, Marcel’s wines sent a different message, that Gamay handled gently and transparently could show depth and precision comparable to France’s greatest regions.
Pictured: Lapierre Morgon. Image by Kermit Lynch
By the time of his passing in 2010, Marcel had become a reference point far beyond Morgon, influencing growers throughout France and inspiring a generation of producers worldwide. His children, Mathieu and Camille, now lead the domaine with the same focus and technical focus and the Lapierre wines remain benchmarks of Morgon.
I had the chance to meet Camille when she was visiting town earlier this year, and can confirm she’s one of the kindest and most knowledgable voices in wine today.
Pictured: Camille Lapierre and me
For many people (including us), the Lapierre Morgon is often an entry point into natural wine. We first bought it on a friend’s recommendation, told it would be one of the most “alive” red wines we’d ever taste. It was exactly that: bright, lifted, and full of dark cherries.
Pictured: Thanksgiving Plate
For Thanksgiving goes, Gamay is our pick for the best wine to bring to the table; its dark fruit, freshness, and acidity pair perfectly with turkey, stuffing, and the rest of the plate. More often than not, that bottle ends up being Lapierre’s Morgon.
Fun Fact: The Lapierre domaine actually bottles their Morgon in two versions; one made with a small addition of sulfur and one made without. You can tell them apart by the letters on the label, “S” for the cuvée with sulfur and “N” for the no-sulfur bottling.
Wine Club Updates 🍷 📦️
November’s shipment is on the way, and you should have your bottles in hand by Thanksgiving! We picked three domestic wines that are perfect for Thursday’s dinner or any Friendsgiving plans this week. If you have any questions or run into any issues, feel free to reach out to [email protected]
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That’s a wrap! Wishing everyone a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend with friends and family. Make sure to open something you’re excited about, this is the perfect time for it.
Thanks for reading, and as always, drink responsibly 🦃 🥂