From Alsace, the still and reigning champion of my hart, Beck-Hartweg!

Florien's was a visit early in my importing journey that brought me many years of perspective and wonder. Discovering something so unique and wildly delicious in that way was transformative. I didn't know how rare such an encounter would become until much later. But still, the experience I chase on the wine trail today follows after this one. When I heard from Eben and David Lillie at Chambers St. that they'd been working with Florien for a while, I felt like a kid in a record shop who finally garnered the approval of his trainspotting heroes. 

It's a special one for me. It's an ancient winery with a modern bent towards forward thinking agricultural invention. The wines are wildly complex and delicious. There's an infinity to experience in the glass, but they are immediately, undeniably, sources of pleasure.