Southold Farm & Cellars "Le P'tit Rouge" Vin de France 2024

This is Southold's first vintage of wine since they moved from Fredericksburg to Bordeaux, and they're off to a great start. "Le P'tit Rouge" is the first red Southold makes every vintage. The grapes are harvested earlier, before the fruit warms up and gets plush. This is how they figure out what the year is providing. 2024 gave them Merlot with structure and a cool growing season that kept everything taut. This 100% Merlot is a deep ruby color that looks powerful, then opens with fruit that's neither cranberry-tart nor currant-sweet, but somewhere between the two, if you could combine them. Whole cluster fermentation, mineral backbone, enough elegance to keep you pouring after the food's gone. Drink it now or wait five years.

40-year-old Merlot vines on mixed soils, hand harvested, 30% whole cluster fermentation, aged 10 months in neutral French oak. 4,620 bottles produced.

Regan and Carey Meador started Southold Farm + Cellar on Long Island's North Fork in 2012 and quickly built a following, but a zoning decision in 2016 forced them to cease operations. In 2017, they moved everything - name, inventory, family - to the Texas Hill Country. Texas gave them room to experiment, but the climate required constant intervention just to keep the vines alive. The agricultural landscape made organic farming literally impossible. In 2023, they moved to Bordeaux, not because of its prestige, but because it finally gave them the ability to make precise, elegant wines without fighting the environment. Continental climate, limestone soils, the freedom to farm organically.