In the passage quoted above, I’m using “gastronomic” to denote concentrated, vinous, structured wines, without too much dosage, that can be paired with food—in contradistinction to more, without intending to be pejorative, frivolous, aperitif styled wines—or, for that matter, and in another register that is more commonly encountered among growers than big houses, very fine-boned, minimalist, lean, acid-driven Champagnes. This definition clashes with some of the polarities proposed here, which I suppose is a salutary reminder that commonplace French wine terminology (in this case, gastronomic vs aperitif) doesn’t always translate very intuitively into English, something that’s easy to forget when you spend half the year speaking French. What all the wines in my list have in common is that they are quite ripe, concentrated, muscular, sapid, and dry.