In my (not huge) experience, the Desvignes Javernières takes forever to open up, so I was excited by Jim’s report last month that the 2021 was kickin’ ass so early in life. Hoping for a change in the winemaking régime, sort of like happened with Henri Gouges, I got meself three bottles.
On the day they arrived came Jim’s follow-up report that the beast had shut down hard. And then Rahsaan came out with an intermediate impression. Curiouser and curiouser, last night (a Root canal night) I opened one, hoping the ones on this side of the pond might behave differently.
Two hour decant. Smells like non-carbonic Gamay, which calls for an aside: this morning I checked some sites and they all say Desvignes is semi-carbonic. But then they say things like "The house style is not the easy, candied “carbonic” style favored by many in the region; ... Desvignes prefers to express his terroir in a more classical, Burgundian approach, though he eschews oak for concrete." (Flatiron site).
Ok, so he does a carbonic that doesn't smell or taste carbonic, perhaps because he wants to produce "wines (that) age terrifically and take on the character of Pinot Noir" (Louis Dressner site). I guess I want my Beaujolais to smell and taste carbonic -- without the attendant homogenization --, something I find in the best Gang of 4/5 examples and, reliably, Chateau Thivin, especially the Zaccharie. And which I don't find with Brun, which is why I don't buy Brun, though a fine winemaker he is.
Going back to the Javernières, it had a slight CO2 tingle, pleasant red fruit flavors, somewhat generic, with no cedar in sight (like the first note said; I love cedar). So, while I fall somewhere in the Rahsaan non-gushworthy camp, I guess this needs to slumber now before it becomes something I don't want it to become.
