Welcome to our newest series, The Somm Set. Each month we’ll be sitting down with a guest sommelier and uncovering their guilty pleasures, cellar staples, and everything in between! Follow as they hand-select their favorites from our warehouse, giving you the inside scoop on cellar must-haves!

This month on The Somm Set, we’re excited to feature DLynn Proctor, Director of Fantesca Estate & Winery. Join us as we explore everything from his love of Italian wines and his current endevours in the Napa Valley.

2016 All Great Things Justice II
2015 Crissante Alessandria Galina Barolo
King Richard's Reserve 2018
Raid Y(our) Cellar Live Tasting
Read Our Full Interview With DLynn Proctor
The Somm Set Home

 

This week from DLynn Proctor:

A whimsical, yet serious 59-degree day, drops me into a historic town. It's a place with its particular intricacies and curious quirks that bring me to visioning what perfect days look like.

With whom would I be? Where will I imbibe? What nuggets will shape my future? Whose heart will be put into a cuisine that I can pontificate on for years to come? As the car fills with the energy of wonderful beings, we depart north with windows down and each in our own heads.  

The time it takes to listen to the first five tracks of MBDTF(My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy) is a history lesson of oolitic limestone, chalk, a few castles, and a stained beard. As we arrive in the hamlet of Prémeaux, gasps of internal car sickness, thoughts of James Blake crooning instead, and the excitement of just being there are quickly forgotten when seeing Patrice and Maxime, which are second and third-generation farmers. I might add, I've not seen a fermette as welcoming or as charming as theirs.  

This is where an individual who is a self-professed Burgundy anorak would tell you about every wine tasted, the barrels, and which venerated producers of 1er Cru and Grand Cru bottlings it does or doesn't remind them of. 

As would have it, that will not be what graces the few lines of this excerpt. 

As I listened to the philosophy of picking, thinning, soil fauna, sustainability, and oxygen restriction, I felt the purity of one wine leap ahead of the others. I've gotten lost in the honesty and skillful hands of the Burgondionei before, and this indeed was no different. At this moment, something sang. Wild red fruits danced with intense florals while being lifted by a nervy acidity and a spice chest of perfume. This, for me, was the wine I wanted on that day, at that time, in that very place. The vintage immediately rang true with pristine balance and enough cluster for that 'crunch' you find in the greats of the Nuits. A scant south, a Clos houses a large vineyard where the philosophies of many different generations are striving to produce the best wines they can. While in Le Cras, Patrice and Maxime gave my soul what it longed for in that very instant. All I needed to complete the hat trick was escargot from La Cabotte.

It was a whimsical and less serious 15-degree day, and I was living in my place. 

Check out all the wines mentioned below!