Mary's is truly a unique story, and her namesake wines represent everything that we value at The Road. Time and again, as we get to know each of her wines better, we are blown away by the quality, value and philosophies that these wines represent, and are thrilled to bring them to you here in Ontario. 

After hearing about Mary Taylor through a feature article in Punch Magazine, we were intrigued. Just a few months later, we were in LA on a warm, sunny day, visiting a friend who was running the wine program at one of those have-to-eat-here, hip LA lunch spots where the line to get inside takes as long as the meal. We'd snuck into a little inconspicuous table to try some of the wines he'd recently listed, and to start, he poured us – blind – the Mary Taylor Anjou Blanc. We were guessing wines that were priced WAY higher, and were floored when he brought the bottle out. We knew that Mary's aim was to make solid wine at affordable prices, but this was so much more than that.

After this encounter, we had to learn more, so we caught up with Mary herself, shocked that no one in Ontario had discovered her yet. 

Mary Taylor began her eponymous project in 2013 with the desire to take the guesswork out of finding conscientiously-made, beautiful (dare we say, natural) wines that are crafted by small, family-owned estates – and that are a fraction of the price of others of their kind. Working with artisan growers and winemakers across France, Italy Spain and Portugal, Mary wanted all of her wines to be made under the same minimalistic tenets: eco-friendly farming (strict adherence to true sustainability, and often organic+ farming practices), spontaneous fermentation and aging in stainless steel, and bottled unfiltered. Importantly, she also uses lightweight bottles, understanding and taking a stand against the largest Carbon-emitter in the wine industry: the transportation of glass bottles around the world. Her labels are defiantly classic and simple: pushing back against the illustrative, "should have left the kids' drawings on the fridge" kind of labels that seem to be the flag bearers for natural wine these days. 

Don't get us wrong, we're ALL for natty wines with cute labels (as long as they're tasty and balanced!) – and beautiful labels whose art reflects the craftsmanship inside – but the Mary Taylor wines speak to a European sensibility: the old adage of having good, honest wine from the less-traveled roads of wine country that can be enjoyed without breaking the bank. To make such wine, she’s spent the last decade establishing the right partnerships with growers who share her eco-conscious values – small, family-run, multi-generational organic and biodynamic farmers, as well as two small cooperatives: one in Bordeaux and the other in Saint-Pourçain.

We started with Mary’s electrifying Anjous (both Blanc and Rouge), which are exemplary: they are clean, precise, downright delicious wines that are quintessentially Parisian – the perfect bistro wines that are fantastic with food, quaffable on their own, and that just make you happy to have a glass in front of you. They sing of summer in cobblestone streets and warm, lamp-lit evenings (just ask New York Times wine critic, Eric Asimov, who published a full feature on Mary Taylor in the fall of 2021).

Much of Mary’s inspiration came from her time as a Cheesemonger in the late 2000s. She noted that many customers knew their favourite cheeses well: Stilton, Comté, Brillat-Savarin, etc. without realising that these are regional names, rather than the type of cheese – or even what animal they came from. As Mary notes, the opposite is true in wine: nowadays, people ask for the Pinot Noir rather than the Bourgogne rouge. A reality that has arisen almost as high as the prices of some of these “superstar” grape varieties.

As Asimov noted in his New York Times article, Mary’s project also touches on an important dynamic in the wine world, which is trusting the person who sources wine for your taste. That’s what we strive to do at The Road – our aim is to be a trusted source for people whose tastes align with the wines we import – and this is precisely what Mary is doing by partnering with the artisanal growers she’s working with across Europe. She insists on crediting them right in the middle of the front label, too, giving us modern-day wines that ultimately respect the work and traditions behind them.

Watch this space as we continue to grow the exciting selection of Mary Taylor Wines here in Ontario!

Currently Available from Mary Taylor

Mary Taylor: In the Vineyards

Mary partners with family-run vineyards to create wines of distinct regional expression throughout France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

In France, the vignerons she works with are all certified under HVE – Haute Valeur Environnementale – which regulates for increased biodiversity, decreased environmental impact (eschewing chemicals, fertilizers, etc), and improved water management for the entire farm including vineyards. In addition to adhering to the highest HVE standards, many of Mary’s partners are practicing organic, biodynamic and regenerative agriculture.

Pascal Boitteau: Anjou, Loire Valley, France (HVE3, sustainable, regenerative practices)

Pascal Boitteau is a fourth generation grower in the famed Anjou region of the Loire and grows Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc (adjacent to Saumur… another haven for gorgeous iterations of these grapes). Winemaking in this part of the Touraine stretches back to Gallo-Roman times (1st Century CE to 5th C. BCE). After the turn of the first millennium, Benedictine monks created and maintained a vineyard system that at its roots (get it) still exists today: Vouvray, Bourgeuil, Sancerre and Anjou – which is the second major city along the Loire river (behind Nantes). Soils range from chalky limestone, the classic “tuffeau” on which Chenin and Cab Franc thrive, to volcanic schist. The resulting expressions of these wines are hauntingly delicious. Chalky minerality leads the way, and goes hand-in-hand with incredible concentration of flavour on a dry frame.

This is the home of the Mary Taylor Anjou Blanc and Mary Taylor Anjou Rouge, our first loves and backbone of the Mary Taylor portfolio here at The Road.

Christophe Avi: Agen, France (biodynamic, regenerative organic)

Just up-river from Bordeaux is the beautiful little town of Agen. Here, the same Bordeaux varieties reign supreme, and are farmed through deeply regenerative practices by Christophe Avi, who began working biodynamically decades ago. His reds are hauntingly delicious – deep, savoury wines with incredible freshness and balance. His rosé made with Mary Taylor has a lot of similar qualities: earthiness, texture for days, really beautiful, round-yet-fresh flavours that are luminous when it’s served not too chilled. It’s a lovely, living wine that marks one of the best values here at The Road!

The Mary Taylor Agenais Regenerative Rosé is made from 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc.

Jean Marc Barthez: Bordeaux, France (HVE, sustainable)

At the edge of Enter-Deux-Mers, in the ancient village of Monségur, lies the small cooperative winery run by Jean Marc Barthez. Grapes for the Mary Taylor wines come from the surrounding vineyards, which are farmed Certified Sustainably with organic practices by the likes of Christophe Cannellos & co., who we had the pleasure of meeting in Boston in Spring 2023! This is where the Mary Taylor project came to life, over ten years ago, and on first taste, it’s apparent why she started here. Both the Bordeaux Blanc and Rouge are fermented and aged without oak to preserve the underlying expression of this classic terroir, and the resulting wines show incredible typicity as channeled through the unique prism of Bordeaux – both with the texture, elegance and richness that are the region’s hallmarks.

This is the home of Mary Taylor Bordeaux Blanc (Sauvignon Blanc lovers, rejoice!) and Mary Taylor Bordeaux Rouge – a beautiful back-vintage, ultra-classic red.