Wine Wednesday: Four Classic European Terroirs
Exploring the North Berkeley Imports Portfolio
Wednesday, October 7 | 5:00–7:00 PM
This week, Wine Wednesday turns the spotlight on North Berkeley Imports, one of the longstanding names in American fine-wine importing and a portfolio particularly admired for its growers from France and Italy.
North Berkeley Imports has built its reputation around small, family-run estates and wines with a strong connection to place. Rather than searching for a single house style, the portfolio brings together growers whose wines reflect their vineyards, regional traditions, and individual personalities.
Our lineup this week offers a terrific cross-section of that philosophy. We’ll begin in Champagne’s Vallée de la Marne with Francis Orban and a 100% Meunier Extra Brut, travel to Verduno in Barolo for the elegant Nebbiolo of Fratelli Alessandria, head south to the elevated limestone slopes of Gigondas with Domaine La Bouïssière, and finish in the northern Côte de Nuits with Frédéric Magnien’s remarkably rare Pinot Blanc from Marsannay.
Four producers. Four classic regions. Four dramatically different expressions of terroir, all through the North Berkeley Imports portfolio.
Champagne
Putting Meunier Center Stage
The Vallée de la Marne is the great stronghold of Meunier, one of Champagne’s three principal grape varieties. Historically treated as something of a supporting player beside Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Meunier is increasingly being celebrated by growers who recognize its ability to produce serious, vinous, and distinctive Champagne.
Its reliable ripening in the cooler conditions of the Marne, combined with generous fruit and naturally supple texture, makes Meunier particularly compelling when a grower allows the grape to stand on its own.
NV Domaine Francis Orban Extra Brut
Leuvrigny, Champagne
The Orban family has deep roots in the Vallée de la Marne, with the family estate dating to 1929. Based in the village of Leuvrigny, Francis Orban has made Meunier the defining voice of the domaine.
This Extra Brut is 100% Meunier, giving us an opportunity to experience the variety without Chardonnay or Pinot Noir sharing the stage. Approximately three years of aging on the lees adds texture and subtle brioche character, while the low dosage keeps the finish dry, energetic, and precise.
Look for wild strawberry, red apple, citrus, orchard fruit, light brioche, and gentle spice, with lively acidity and the broader, vinous texture that can make Meunier so appealing at the table.
Why We’re Pouring It
Meunier is essential to Champagne, yet we rarely get the chance to taste it completely on its own. Francis Orban gives the grape center stage, showing its combination of generosity, freshness, and savory depth in a wonderfully food-friendly style.
Barolo
The Elegance of Verduno
From Champagne we travel to Piedmont, and specifically to the northern edge of the Barolo appellation.
The village of Verduno has a distinctive personality within Barolo. Its wines are often associated with perfume, red fruit, spice, finesse, and particularly graceful tannins. While Nebbiolo is never exactly shy, Verduno can reveal a more lifted and elegant side of Barolo.
2020 Fratelli Alessandria Barolo del Comune di Verduno
Barolo DOCG, Piemonte
Fratelli Alessandria is one of Verduno’s historic estates, with the family producing Barolo since 1860. The domaine remains closely connected to the vineyards surrounding the village and has become particularly admired for capturing the aromatic finesse and elegance that distinguish Verduno.
The Barolo del Comune di Verduno draws Nebbiolo from several vineyards around the village, making it a wonderful portrait of Verduno as a whole rather than the expression of a single cru.
The wine spends approximately three years in traditional large oak casks, allowing Nebbiolo to mature and soften while preserving its delicate perfume and transparency.
Expect red cherry, raspberry, dried rose, orange peel, anise, savory herbs, earth, and subtle spice, supported by vibrant acidity and fine, persistent tannins.
Why We’re Pouring It
This is a chance to explore Barolo through the lens of a single village. Verduno’s perfume and finesse make it especially compelling for Burgundy lovers, while the structure, acidity, and complexity remain unmistakably Nebbiolo.
Gigondas
High-Elevation Grenache Beneath the Dentelles
Our third stop takes us to the Southern Rhône, but into a landscape quite different from the broad, warm plains many people associate with the region.
The vineyards of Gigondas climb into the dramatic Dentelles de Montmirail, where altitude, limestone-rich soils, and cooler nighttime temperatures can preserve freshness even under the Mediterranean sun.
That combination of southern ripeness and mountain influence is one of the qualities that makes Gigondas so distinctive.
2022 Domaine La Bouïssière Gigondas
Gigondas, Rhône Valley
The Faravel family’s story in Gigondas began in the 1960s, when vines were planted on steep hillside parcels beneath the Dentelles de Montmirail.
Today, Domaine La Bouïssière is particularly associated with its high-elevation vineyards, where cooler conditions help maintain freshness and aromatic detail. These sites give the wines a lifted quality that balances the concentration and generosity of the Southern Rhône.
The estate’s Gigondas is Grenache-led, delivering the ripe fruit expected from the appellation while retaining a distinctly savory and energetic character.
Look for dark cherry, blackberry, violet, lavender, cracked pepper, Provençal herbs, and spice, with generous fruit, supple tannins, and an impressively fresh finish.
Why We’re Pouring It
Gigondas offers much of the richness and complexity people love about the Southern Rhône, but the altitude and limestone slopes of the Dentelles can bring an additional sense of freshness and definition. La Bouïssière beautifully captures that more lifted, mountain-influenced personality.
Burgundy
A Rare White from the Northern Côte de Nuits
We finish in Marsannay, the northern gateway to Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits.
Marsannay is unusual in Burgundy because it produces noteworthy wines in all three colors: red, white, and rosé. Its higher vineyards near the forest line experience cooler conditions, helping the wines retain freshness and mineral tension.
Our final bottle, however, is unusual even by Marsannay standards.
2022 Maison Frédéric Magnien Marsannay Blanc “Saint-Jacques”
Marsannay, Burgundy
Frédéric Magnien is a fifth-generation Burgundian winemaker from Morey-Saint-Denis. His approach emphasizes careful vineyard work, indigenous fermentations, and élevage designed to preserve rather than obscure the character of each vineyard.
The Saint-Jacques site sits high on the Marsannay slope near the forest line, where the cooler position and stony soils bring freshness and precision to the wine.
But what really sets this bottle apart is the grape: 100% Pinot Blanc.
White Burgundy today is overwhelmingly associated with Chardonnay, making a pure Pinot Blanc from the Côte de Nuits an uncommon and fascinating bottle. Older vines, indigenous yeast fermentation, and aging in older French oak allow the grape and vineyard to remain at the center of the wine.
Expect lemon peel, green apple, pear, white flowers, subtle herbs, chalk, and crushed stone, with a textured mid-palate and a long, mineral-driven finish.
Why We’re Pouring It
This is exactly the kind of wine that makes a tasting fun. Pinot Blanc from Marsannay is rare enough to spark curiosity, but this is far more than a novelty. It offers a fascinating look at another side of Burgundy and at the diversity still hidden within one of the world’s most studied wine regions.
Four Growers. Four Regions. One Exceptional Portfolio.
This week’s lineup captures what makes the North Berkeley Imports portfolio so interesting. There is no single grape, region, or stylistic formula connecting these bottles. The common thread is the emphasis on growers, vineyards, regional identity, and wines that taste unmistakably of where they come from.
We’ll taste the generous but precise personality of Meunier from the Vallée de la Marne, the perfume and structure of Nebbiolo from Verduno, the Mediterranean fruit and mountain freshness of Grenache from Gigondas, and finally the remarkable rarity of Pinot Blanc grown high on the slopes of Marsannay.
It’s an unusually diverse lineup and a terrific opportunity to explore four important European wine regions through the lens of one of the country’s longstanding fine-wine importers.
Wine Wednesday
Wednesday, October 7 | 5:00–7:00 PM
Explore. Taste. Learn. Four classic European regions and four distinctive growers from the
North Berkeley Imports portfolio.