Michelin-star Set

Why are the wines at Michelin-starred restaurants so special? Michelin-rated cuisine is the best in the world and needs to be paired with equally impressive wines. But tasting these wines often comes at a premium. At a Michelin-rated restaurant, you should expect to spend a minimum of $100 per person just for wine pairings.

How hard is it for a wine to land on a Michelin-star wine list? Consider this:

The master tastemakers and guardians of these coveted lists often know exactly which wines they’re going to present. Our own Master Sommelier Sur Lucero tells us that discovery of a new wine can be happenstance — he is introduced to new wines through a group of nine Master Sommeliers he tastes with regularly, or up-and-coming Sommeliers who he mentors in Napa Valley, or is tipped off by reliable friends around the globe.

But we’re here to deliver a Michelin-star wine experience without the hefty bill, north of $1,000. You can enjoy this Michelin-star set of superstar wines for just $200 — less than the price of Michelin-starred wine pairings for two. 

 

NV Michel Turgy Reserve Selection Blanc De Blancs Grand Cru Brut | $50 | The French Laundry

It takes just four words to get a serious Champagne collector’s heart beating: Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Two of history’s most legendary Champagne producers are located there: Salon, the elite house whose rare releases (only four vintages per decade, on average) are some of the most highly sought-after in the business; and Krug, whose famous 1.85-acre Clos du Mesnil vineyard yields a Champagne that easily fetches $700 a bottle. But don’t fret: Domaine Michel Turgy delivers a seductive, affordable NV Reserve Grand Cru that Vinous calls “smooth, sweet, and expansive on the palate.”

The NV Michel Turgy Champagne Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru is an especially gifted storyteller. It’s 100% Grand Cru fruit, 30% of which is reserve wine drawn from 20+ distinct old vintages. This singular melange makes it one of the most expressive Blanc de Blancs to come off Le Mesnil soil. Pair it with caviar, foie gras, oysters, runny triple cream cheese, or any bite slathered in decadence.

2015 Matthiasson White Blend | $39 | Gramercy Tavern

The French Laundry. Gramercy Tavern. Marea. Each of these titans of the restaurant world makes sure its wine list has room for Steve Matthiasson’s coveted Napa Valley White. Matthaisson’s work with Spottswoode, Chappellet, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, and his eponymous label has long cemented his legacy. With his 2015 Matthiasson White Blend, The San Francisco Chronicle “Winemaker of the Year” has given ample reason why such room is made. But this rich, vivacious white is near-impossible to find — especially since a 2008 vintage that caused Robert Parker to wonder, “Why are there not more California white wines such as this?” Thanks to our relationship with Steve and his wife Jill, your search is over.

This 2015 Napa Valley White is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Ribolla Gialla, and Semillon, with a small amount of Tocai Friulano, drawn from two vineyards in the cool and foggy southern part of Napa Valley. All of the fruit is delicately whole-cluster-pressed and co-fermented in 20% new French oak, then aged on the lees without stirring. Acidity is preserved by blocking malolactic fermentation, then again by filtration before bottling after 10 months in barrel.

2014 Domaine de La Cote Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills | $45 | Michael Mina

Domaine de la Côte is perhaps California’s most talked about fine Pinot Noir, and the buzz is only getting louder with the release of this 2014 masterpiece. Decanter pinned on 97 points naming it their top Californian Pinot Noir of the 2014 vintage. “Outstanding,” says Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate of La Côte. The superstar duo at the helm — Rajat Parr, author, sommelier and one of America’s most famous vignerons, and Sashi Moorman, the ingenious winemaker at Stolpman Vineyards — have mesmerized wine directors in Michelin-Starred restaurants throughout America. $90 from the winery, just $45 per bottle from Wine Access, there will be no better chance to secure a true collectors Californian Pinot of this calibre at this affordable price.

Moorman, Parr and a financial partner purchased a collection of vineyards that were originally part of Evening Land Vineyards and are planted over 40 acres at the chilly western edge of the Sta. Rita Hills appellation. Set at 700 feet in elevation, with clayey soils strewn with chunks of white flint, the vines were planted to tight spacing of up to 7,000 plants per acre. Since temperatures rarely reach 80 degrees, even on hot summer days, the Pinot Noir vines are treated to extraordinary extended hangtime, explaining this bottle’s marriage of red-fruit opulence and riveting acid backbone. In the miracle vintage of 2014, acids held firm while berries were pert and ultra-sweet, making for this dazzling New World Pinot.

2016 Scribe Pinot Noir Sonoma County | $39 | Blackbird

The buzz about Scribe Winery in Sonoma Valley is unparalleled. Scribe has graced glossy magazine spreads in Travel + Leisure (“game-changing”), Food + Wine, GQ (“The Coolest Hundred Acres in Wine Country”) and made countless appearances on wine lists at the Bay Area’s best restaurants from Chez Panisse to The Restaurant at Meadowood.

Founded by two brothers and fourth-generation farmers, Adam and Andrew Mariani, Scribe sits at the end of a mile-long road in Sonoma, lined with palm trees and scrub. “This Pinot Noir is from a vineyard about a mile down the road,” Andrew told us, adjusting the brim of his straw hat after he’d splashed some of the pale-ruby 2016 into our glass. “We started planting it in 2007, and we’ve fallen in love with the fruit it’s producing. Clones are 50/50 Martini and Pommard. The soil is rich Huichica loam soil. The climate is slightly cooler, Carneros-like, which means ripening is often elongated. In the 2016 growing season, which was paced perfectly, it made for some of the richest, most beautiful Pinots we’ve produced yet.”

2014 Teeter Totter Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley | $55 | The French Laundry

Out of 20,000 wines tasted, only 40 wines made the cut for our Store. And of those, the 2014 Teeter-Totter Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is our #1 hottest, client-favorite wine — a stunning value from Wine Spectator’s 2014 “dream vintage.” Eight-time 100-point winemaker Benoit Touquette leveraged his network of exceptional vineyard sources from Yountville, St. Helena, Pritchard Hill, and Calistoga to create a Cabernet that could stand shoulder to shoulder with high-priced, high-profile Napa counterparts — for under $100. Robert Parker called this opulent, lip-smacking, black-fruited gem “heady, round” and “hedonistic.” 

A few prominent wine directors of 3-Michelin-starred restaurants have their allocation. In-the-know collectors have already laid down cases in their cellars. Don’t be one of those who miss out.