Jura: The Next Small Thing

As the smallest appellation in France with an entirely idiosyncratic way of making wine, Jura has serious indie cred. Thanks to isolation afforded by the wooded, rolling Jura Mountains, this region between Burgundy and Switzerland has developed a unique style that you won’t find replicated anywhere. The wines are quirky, food-friendly—and really, really good. Some Jura winemakers have taken steps toward making more readily recognizable table wines, but truly, its deeply rooted traditional style is what has put it on the map: oxidated, nutty whites; meaty, light-bodied reds with grip; and an array of dessert wines—all from mostly native grapes.

One Grape, One Harvest, One Parcel

Cedric Bouchard is revolutionizing Champagne from the inside out. Since 2000, he’s made wine in decidedly his own fashion, with a single-vintage, single-vineyard, single-varietal mantra that harkens more to nearby Burgundy than to traditional Champagne.

Fire Drinkers of Campania

The history of eruptions in the Campanian volcanic arc have laid the groundwork for some of the most exquisite whites coming out of Italy today—it’s no wonder that ancient wine-loving Romans worshipped Vesuvius as a power of Jupiter; they were prescient. With roots in ancient grapes and deeply complex soils, Campania today produces wines as passionate and fiery as the volcanoes whence they came. And if that’s not elixir fit for a fire god, then I don’t know what is.

Brawn & Brains: Paso Robles' Rhone Blends

If ever there was a winegrowing region that felt like a frontier, it’s Paso Robles. Situated along the Pacific Coast in Central California, the landscape is straight out of Easy Rider: rugged, tawny hills are littered with chaparral and oak trees as they roll on for miles. Harley Davidsons cruise along narrow, twisting roads under the blazing sun. It’s been dubbed the wild west of the wine industry, for more than just its many cattle ranches. The town’s roots go back to real cowboys: it was cofounded by Jesse James’s uncle, and the outlaw himself spent time in Paso while healing from gunshot wounds from a bank hold up. But history aside, there’s an ethos here among winemakers that matches the pioneer spirit. Paso’s winemakers are pathfinders, eschewing standard practice and forging ahead with whatever their hearts—and tastebuds—dictate.

Oregon Soil...It's what's for dinner.

Jay Somers is a man of many passions—his dogs, his guitar, and—where this matters to his devotees, who are legion—his soils.
As proprietor of J. Christopher Winery, Somers hand crafts wines that are so deeply zeroed in on place that he eschews the term “Oregon wines” as too broad. What he makes are Willamette Valley wines, and good ones: Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc that show a Burgundy and Sancerre influence while showcasing the nuances of the AVAs in Willamette Valley.