Bastile Day & The Six Corners of France
Bonjour from France, where today is Bastille Day — the French national day of celebration. It commemorates the storming of a notorious prison 237 years ago, an event as symbolically charged as the Boston Tea Party is for Americans: a moment when a bastion of the old regime fell, and something new became possible.
We just celebrated our own Independence Day, and while the two revolutions are separated by an ocean and a few years, they share a common spirit of what is possible, and still shape their respective countries to this day. The American experiment, even after 250 years of growth and change, is still encapsulated by the Declaration of Independence. Correspondingly, the French Revolution is distilled into just three words — the national motto carved into buildings and ingrained in the psyche of every citizen: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. A rallying cry that holds together an extraordinarily diverse nation.
While the events of 1789 were centered in Paris, they shaped the lives of a whole country. Today there are parades and fireworks in the capital, but I am once again out on the road, exploring what the French call La France Profonde — the deep France, the country beyond the Grands Boulevards, monuments and museums. France is referred to as the Hexagon, for the rough shape of its borders, but it also describes the multi-faceted landscape, culture, and yes, wine.
So today, in the spirit of the occasion, I've put together six wines from six corners of this magnificent country. Choose a three-pack of whites, a three-pack of reds, or both to taste the full range. Just 24 of each three-pack available.
Liberté Egalité Fraternité
White 3 Pack
Domaine Begue-Mathiot
Chablis 2024
What better place to start than with the spiritual home of Chardonnay: Chablis. This eminently adaptable variety has been exported all over the world, but nowhere is it expressed with more purity and elegance than in Chablis. Bègue-Mathiot's flagship wine is fermented in stainless steel, with not an oak barrel in sight — just bracing acidity, delicate floral aromas, a featherlight texture and mineral finish that is pure Chablis.
Domaine Delaunay
Muscadet ‘Le Val-Fleuri’ 2025
The Loire is called the Garden of France for its verdant landscape and productive agricultural land. The region has long supplied the capital with a steady supply of wine, with Muscadet quenching the endless thirst of Paris cafés. Delaunay’s Val-Fleuri is a classic example, with a delicate floral nose, followed by a layered texture on the palate. Lean, mineral, and refreshing — a quintessential white for seafood, a Caesar salad, or as an apéritif while you figure out the rest of the evening.
Vins François Baur
Riesling Herrenweg 2024
Alsace, a region that has traded hands between France and Germany for centuries, has it own unique culture. But it’s denizens are as enthusiastic about their food and wine as any of their French compatriots. Here is an archetypical Alsace Riesling — emphatically dry and loaded with tension. Lemon pith, apricot and white peach on the nose, followed by a stony edge and laser-like acidity on the finish.
Liberté Egalité Fraternité
Red 3 Pack
Câteau La Rose Vimiere
Bordeaux 'Les Eymerits' 2022
Bordeaux is a practically synonymous with red wine, with this part of France exporting its model of winemaking all over the world. While Bordeaux is now dominated by large châteaux, négociants and middlemen — at its origin were small family-owned estates who worked to produce wines of real character, like Vincent Lagrave.
The Rose Vimière is a classic right-bank Bordeaux — Merlot-forward for lush texture and dark, plummy fruit, with Cabernet Sauvignon adding structure and complementary notes of cassis and graphite. This is inviting whenever you open it.
Domaine la Font de Notre Dame
Cotes-du-Rhone Villages Rasteau 2022
Rasteau epitomizes the Côtes-du-Rhône, with it’s bold Grenache based reds that nourished the hard-working paysan eking out a living on the arid land. The village was elevated to its own distinct appellation, encapsulating the revolution in winemaking quality around the country since the end of WWII.
Right out of the gate, this is a rich, opaque liquid that is inviting and powerful at the same time. Composed of 75% Grenache noir, 20% Mourvedre, and 5% Cinsault. Notes of dark fruit and menthol on the nose, followed by black plum, dried fig, and spice on the palate. A silky texture, with a finish of freshness that will sustain you through a meal.
Clos de Mez
Fleurie ‘Mademoiselle M’ 2022
While Beaujolais is better known in America thanks to George Duboeuf’s marketing of Beaujolais Nouveau, the region has long supplied quality wines to culinary capital of Lyon, the home of French Cuisine as we know it. Marie-Elodie Zighera brings a serious and fastidious approach to her winemaking, when she is not training future vignerons at the enology school in Beaune.
From the low granite hills of the Beaujolais, her Fleurie has the perfect mix of perfumed aromatics, crunchy strawberry-blackberry fruit, and grip of tannins that pairs so smartly with food, bringing energy and joy to any meal.