We recently tasted these new releases with Thomas Schmittel in France and were suitably impressed. If you are unfamiliar with the name, Schmittel is Maxime’s Graillot’s partner in the Equis micro-négoce, meaning—forgive the dad joke—there is not one, but dos equis. Thomas and Maxime met at wine school and have been great friends ever since. They established Equis in 2006 with the twist that all the grapes are sourced only from longstanding friends of the Graillot family. The emblematic wine is the deliciously juicy Equinoxe Crozes-Hermitage, the kind of vivid, pure-fruited Syrah that reminds us that Beaujolais lies only a few hours north. The label’s other two bottlings almost swap personalities: Cornas is uncommonly floral and charming, while the striking Saint-Joseph trades in rocky contours and teeth-staining extract—a scion of Hermitage. Maxime Graillot’s estate wines under the Domaine des Lises label continue to deliver in spades. Experience counts for a lot in France’s vineyards today, and there is a freshness and flow—and a crunchy 12 degrees—to Maxime’s 2022s that belies the dry and warm season. Yet it was also a year of nerve, muscle, and character, so you get a kind of friendly tug-of-war between depth and delicacy in these brilliant reds. The one wine we didn’t get to taste this year was the new-label, ungrafted Sérine-clone Crozes-Hermitage called Vignes Franches. Graillot makes only a single barrel of this wine, which is not shown to critics due to the meagre volumes. The pricing reflects not just the rarity of the wine but also that, as much as anything, Graillot makes this cuvée for quixotic reasons rather than commercial. But how could we resist? Regarding the quality, sometimes you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.