Domaine Anita Beaujolais

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BJ

BJ
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rosenthalwinemerchant.com

I bought a mixed case from RWC...interesting stuff. Not quite like any Beaujolais I've tried. Very fine grained, dense yet open, non naturelle...not a hint of VA, brett, etc.. I can't decide if it's a new elevated era in Beaujolais or just something else.

Getting a lot of raves in the press. I'm not sure I'd go quite as far as some.

Interestingly, brought in by Rosenthal, my favorite importer.
 
As a long time Bojo lover, I have a very different view on these wines.
For me it is just one more Bojo producer that makes Bojo for people who don't like it, Like Lafarge, des Jacques, etc...
Typical of these Bojos that get reviews like : "Blind I would have said Gevrey" or even worse " Rarely had a beaujolais that pinote so much".
I don't get it. Trad Beaujolais Gamay is such a joy to drink
 
this sounds suspiciously like the raves that thierry germain has been getting with his red saumurs. the ones that i've had (not a lot) are pretty much just super clean fruit. no rose petal, pencil shavings, graphite, earth, etc. maybe with enough bottle age the wines will become interesting, but for me, make it bernard baudry, jacky blot, clau de nell, catherine and pierre breton, etc.
 
Robert,

That is probably a good comment about similarities to Germain. Super clean, dense fruit.

Eric, I don't think Anita is at all like Jadot Beaujolais (I haven't tried the Lafarge, but I could guess that being similar to this stylistically). I can't stand Jacques, totally non pleasurable dense monolithic wines. I agree trad Beaujo is so excellent, and I know what you mean about why do anything else? But these feel different to me, a pretty strong clean purity that doesn't line up with anything else I've had from Beaujolais.

Count me in the still not sure category. If I limit my expectations about "trad" Beaujolais, I think of this as fine wine.
 
Brad,
I didn't think of Anita being stylistically close to Jadot.
It's more the intentions that bother me.
I am a bit concerned by Beaujolais being the next Northern Rhone, where the wines will eventually please James Suckling and Michel Bettane.
Not good news for people like me...
 
originally posted by Brézème: the next Northern Rhone, where the wines will eventually please James Suckling and Michel Bettane.
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Eric, Northern Rhone wines used to be some of my most favorite wines but my interest has waned a bit with the recent taste profile (and pricing). I haven't been keeping up. What exactly have they done with the Northern Rhones?

. . . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

originally posted by Brézème: the next Northern Rhone, where the wines will eventually please James Suckling and Michel Bettane.
Click to expand...

Eric, Northern Rhone wines used to be some of my most favorite wines but my interest has waned a bit with the recent taste profile (and pricing). I haven't been keeping up. What exactly have they done with the Northern Rhones?

. . . . . . Pete
Click to expand...

Eric can certainly answer for himself but to me it’s the introduction of new French oak and the use of barriques rather than the more traditional foudre. There were also changes in viticulture and vinification (less use of stems, picking grapes later) leading to plusher, riper wines. In a word, spoofulation.

Mark Lipton
 
I feel the beginnings of an important discussion.

I hate spoofed northern Rhone. Just look at what happened to Jamet, Chave.

FWIW Anita is not new oaked as far as I can tell.

There is a different sort of new clean wine out there, quite pure, direct. No stinky baba cool, no new oak/maquillage, not industrial, not traditional either. Anita seems like a good representation of this. Perhaps Germain is as well.

I sense a shift underway and don't quite know what to think.
 
Pretty much Derenoncourt&Co style for people who are not looking for 95-100 WA (read minimum oak taste required).

I honestly can't see any terroir expression in those wines (Anita).
Again, most of the raving reviews are from people who have always considered Bojo as quite a vulgar wine producing area (typically Suckling and Bettane), not up to its geographic proximity with Burgundy.

As the Northern Rhone is concerned, it is not the modern style of Cote Rotie or Hermitage that pisses me off. These are wines for the richs and the geeks.
One gets what one deserves.
It is more plain Crozes or St Jo, that used to be a very unique and simple expression of Syrah in cool climate. The syrah equivalent of Bojo gamay.
In the 80s, the couscous place where we used to go was pouring Morgon from Chamonard and St Jo from Trollat BTG. Same price. Same spirit.
Northern Rhone is now, at best, just the politically correct expression of what it used to be : nice, clean, unoaked fruit without any sense of the place.

Will Beaujolais be the next?

Can it really be a lot more interesting than Thivin, Chamonard or Brun?

I don't know.
 
originally posted by Brézème:
Northern Rhone is now, at best, just the politically correct expression of what it used to be : nice, clean, unoaked fruit without any sense of the place.
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This. I was just at the Marche Aux Vins in Ampuis. The winemaking is tres propre pretty much everywhere; it isn't easy to tell one wine from another.
 
Eric, this is something that has concerned me, too. When I first was exposed to the wines of the N Rhone (thank you, KLWM) Cornas, Cote-Rotie and Hermitage was fairly easy to tell apart. St Joseph was just Trollat at that time, who seemed to be sui generis, and Crozes was generally low quality. My question: have the changes been in the vineyard (clonal selection, site location) or the winemaking, or both?

Mark Lipton
 
In fact, vineyards have vastly improved! Better clones, quite a lot of massalle around (thanks to dépérissement) , better soils, better practices (pruning, ébourgeonnage,...).
A lot of the soulless wine producers are knowledgeable, organic certified farmers.
They all hire winemaking consultants from the last generation, very aware of the curent Bordeaux nightmare and its causes. No more oak, no more outrageous practices. Smooth and nice.
 
originally posted by Brézème:
In fact, vineyards have vastly improved! Better clones, quite a lot of massalle around (thanks to dépérissement) , better soils, better practices (pruning, ébourgeonnage,...).
A lot of the soulless wine producers are knowledgeable, organic certified farmers.
They all hire winemaking consultants from the last generation, very aware of the curent Bordeaux nightmare and its causes. No more oak, no more outrageous practices. Smooth and nice.
Click to expand...

Except for your last sentence, this all sounds to the good. I understand the negative connotations of "smooth and nice." But what accounts for them? If it is because they are all making the same wine, surely it is not because they are doing the things you describe in the rest of this post.
 
French enology consultants are trained as food processing engineers.
No oak and no more outrageous practices are just new parameters in their procedures.
Grape is only one ingredient in the process.
 
In french, EU regulation for conventional wines

Fermentation

levures*
écorces de levures*
lies fraiches*
bactéries lactiques


Nutrition des levures

phosphate diammonique
thiamine
autolysat de levures
levures inactivées
sulfate d'ammonium
bisulfite d'ammonium

Stabilisation / Conservation

anhydride sulfureux
bisulfite de potassium
métabisulfite de potassium
acide ascorbique
acide citrique lysozyme
DMDC
PVPP
acide sorbique

Clarification

albumine*
caséine
caséinate de potassium
gélatine alimentaire*
colle de poisson*
colle protéique végétale*
(issue de blé ou de pois)
dioxyde de silicium
(gel ou solution colloïdale)
charbon à usage oenologique
tanins*
enzymes pectolytiques
alginate de potassium
betaglucanase
alginate de calcium
kaolin
chitine glucane
colle issue de la pomme de terre**
extrait protéique de levure (EPL)**
chitosane**
enzymes (activité autre que clarification)**

Acidification

acide lactique
acide L(+) tartrique
acide L malique
acide D-L malique
Désacidification
acide L(+) tartrique
carbonate de calcium
tartrate neutre de potassium
tartrate de calcium

Gaz

air
oxygène gazeux
dioxyde de carbone
azote
argon (inertage)
argon (barbotage)

Stabilisation de trouble

acide métatartrique
gomme arabique*
bitartrate de potassium mannoprotéines**
carboxy-méthyl- cellulose (CMC)
polyspartate de potassium**
tartrate de calcium
acide D-L tartrique

Filtration

perlite
cellulose
terre de diatomées
plaques filtrantes avec des zéolithes

Divers

citrate de cuivre
morceaux de bois de chêne
résine de pin d'Alep
sulfate de cuivre
phytate de calcium
ferrocyanure de potassium
co-polymère PVI/PVP
uréase
caramel
 
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