The Beaujolais TN thread

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2021 Ch. Thivin Brouilly Reverdon was very pretty tonight with grilled quail. Very young, natch, but juicy and mineral with smooth tannins and fresh acidity. Nothing not to love here.

Mark Lipton
 
I drank a 2022 Thivin Cote de Brouilly Cuvée Zaccharie (natch) in Paris recently, and while it was not a lighter-bodied red, it was fantastic.
 
I am uncertain whether 2020 Christian Ducroux Prologue belongs here, or in the Elegant thread. I am sure Jeff will tell me to pick one place and provide a hyperlink in the other.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
I am uncertain whether 2020 Christian Ducroux Prologue belongs here, or in the Elegant thread. I am sure Jeff will tell me to pick one place and provide a hyperlink in the other.

I had similar qualms. Oh, the pain of decision!

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Zachary Ross:
I drank a 2022 Thivin Cote de Brouilly Cuvée Zaccharie (natch) in Paris recently, and while it was not a lighter-bodied red, it was fantastic.

Gtk they deliver when young too.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
a Schiit Modi Multibit DAC

you can't really do better for the money than their preamps

and i've heard them plugged in with some badass equipment at 10-20 times the cost

Schiit has a very good rep, per my samplings; using the multibit dac as a proxy, their pricing has been stable when others have argued supply chain to raise theirs.

Do you have any strong feelings on tubes vs. no tubes in the preamp? I know nothing.

Re: 2005 Javernieres, what flavors/aromas/textures say "clay" to you in Beaujolais?

My last note, FWIW, about a year ago, was:

"Dominated by grainy tannins for a long time, but still good to drink very cold, near refrigerator temperature, especially with food. Then the tannins soften and integrate, easing the wine texturally and unlocking some fruit-derived flavors. I liked the wine very well, and the flavors that ultimately emerged were pleasant, but they weren't interesting enough that I could counsel a friend, for example, they were worth cellaring a bottle for 16 years to experience."

Not sure which camp that puts me in, but I have a few bottles left to toy with.

PS: Is the 1st bottling the upper tier bottling?
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Do you have any strong feelings on tubes vs. no tubes in the preamp? I know nothing.

love jazz on tubes (both amp and preamp) and classical on solid state. This is a massive generalization, but unless you have a stereo system for each period in music history as some of us own separate stemware for each region it seems to work for me, particularly because over half of the "classical" I listen to is actually pre-classical where I love the precision of solid state. Funny you should ask though because a friend who has the ability to play the same hi def track on either all-solid or all-tube in different rooms via a single button click invited me to do just that over several hours sometime in the next few weeks. Happy to report back.

Re: 2005 Javernieres, what flavors/aromas/textures say "clay" to you in Beaujolais?

there is a very distinctive type of density/texture that is synergetic with red brick flavors that ultimately yields towards the finish - unlike much harder granite/tuffeau that does not. It's especially prominent with Merlot which is a softer grape and does spectacularly well with this type of structure, e.g. in the haut-medoc band just north of saint estephe, old vintages of Cos, partially Latour, and notoriously in Petrus, which I am sure you haven't had since lunch. It would make sense for Gamay as well, if vinified a certain way. I forget my Desvignes tech sheets but believe it's been mentioned here they are an outlier.

PS: Is the 1st bottling the upper tier bottling?

1st bottling
 
It would be great to hear about what you hear at your friend's, many thanks.

Clay is just fine-grained soil, right? I'd expect granitic and tuffeau-based soils to be generally at the sandy end of the grain size spectrum. Clay's fine grains cause high capillary pressure in the vines' root zones, impeding drainage, whereas sandy soils drain well. With clay, you'd expect generally more persistent water availability after precipitation than in sandy soil. Different species will be better adapted to different conditions, e.g., Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Apparently, Gamay is versatile enough to produce well in both these conditions, albeit with variations.

Anyway, I asked you about the experience, the rest is beside the point. Thanks for your take. I'll have my ear cocked for clay, as it were, the next time I open a bottle of Desvignes.

I dimly recall superlatives associated with some of the St. Emilion and Pomerol wines but don't traffic much in Bordeaux. Apropos the adjacent Loire red threads, though, Cheval Blanc is mostly (entirely?) Cab Franc, isn't it?
 
On day one a 2017 Foillard Py was as yummy as expected, but the second half, on day three (having been kept in the fridge), was yeasty enough to compete with any shepherdess armpit. Down the drain it went. Ye holders of said, beware.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Beware of what. Do you usually have good experiences with Foillard on day three?

Beware of waiting. Until mid-2023 my wife and I shared a bottle every night, so there was no day two, much less three. Then, mid-2024, she started drinking less, and as a consequence so did I. Then, three months ago, she started drinking only on weekends. I'm still holding fast to my reduced daily quota, but unfinished bottles in the fridge have become the norm. Finally, I can see how they evolve over the course of a few days, like Jeff. Many improve, but this Foillard showed the most precipitous decline so far.
 
I had a great experience with 2017 Foillard Py the other day, although the wine itself was actually elsewhere, consumed by other wine lovers. Inspired by the infamous blessing for the tsar in Fiddler on the Roof, I celebrated the Foillard from a great distance with a bottle of 2021 Serol eclat de granite which shined in spades in integration and perceived concentration compared to its counterpart last summer.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
I had a great experience with 2017 Foillard Py the other day, although the wine itself was actually elsewhere, consumed by other wine lovers. Inspired by the infamous blessing for the tsar in Fiddler on the Roof, I celebrated the Foillard from a great distance with a bottle of 2021 Serol eclat de granite which shined in spades in integration and perceived concentration compared to its counterpart last summer.

That's a winna, and shouldn't fall apart after a pair of days.
 
I thought that 2014 Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py was in a good spot last night. Took a minute to open and there was still some structure but worked well with hearty winter sausage, kale and potato soup with local olive herb sourdough round.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by VLM:
I thought that 2014 Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py was in a good spot last night...

Sounds good. I've been eyeing 2014 Coudert Tardive.
Let me know if you open it. I’ve got a magnum of it that’ll probably outlive me.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by VLM:
I thought that 2014 Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py was in a good spot last night...

Sounds good. I've been eyeing 2014 Coudert Tardive.

Don't think for a minute that we haven't noticed that you're cutting down on the use of exclamation marks as a way too give the end of the sentence a lift!
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by VLM:
I thought that 2014 Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py was in a good spot last night...

Sounds good. I've been eyeing 2014 Coudert Tardive.

Don't think for a minute that we haven't noticed that you're cutting down on the use of exclamation marks as a way too give the end of the sentence a lift!

Well that makes one of us. I hadn't noticed!
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Do you have any strong feelings on tubes vs. no tubes in the preamp? I know nothing.

love jazz on tubes (both amp and preamp) and classical on solid state. This is a massive generalization, but unless you have a stereo system for each period in music history as some of us own separate stemware for each region it seems to work for me, particularly because over half of the "classical" I listen to is actually pre-classical where I love the precision of solid state. Funny you should ask though because a friend who has the ability to play the same hi def track on either all-solid or all-tube in different rooms via a single button click invited me to do just that over several hours sometime in the next few weeks. Happy to report back.

Hey, Pavel. Did you ever do the tube - no tube comparison at your friends? Results?
 
Last of five bottles of 2013 Thivin Zaccharie started off gloriously last night. Let's see if it falls apart tonight. But I doubt it. It's got stuffing.
 
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