Recent Beaujolais vintages

I have tasted some excellent aged Lapierre and Folliard. The best aged Beaujolais I have ever had was a Folliard Morgon VV with 7 years of bottle age on it. It continued to get better over the course of 2 hours. Is there a floor limit for what you mean by aged, Rahsaan?
 
originally posted by Bill Averett:
I have tasted some excellent aged Lapierre and Folliard. The best aged Beaujolais I have ever had was a Folliard Morgon VV with 7 years of bottle age on it. It continued to get better over the course of 2 hours.
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Sounds great, I would love to taste something like that.

Others around here may have more experience, but from what I've tasted I would choose producers with more structure in their wine (e.g. Coudert or Desvignes) for aging as opposed to the fragile carbonic style from Lapierre and Foillard.

But, I guess I may be wrong!
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Bill Averett:
I have tasted some excellent aged Lapierre and Folliard. The best aged Beaujolais I have ever had was a Folliard Morgon VV with 7 years of bottle age on it. It continued to get better over the course of 2 hours.
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Sounds great, I would love to taste something like that.

Others around here may have more experience, but from what I've tasted I would choose producers with more structure in their wine (e.g. Coudert or Desvignes) for aging as opposed to the fragile carbonic style from Lapierre and Foillard.

But, I guess I may be wrong!
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Rahsaan, if you mean others may have more experience, as in they have actually visited the wineries, then I would love to hear from them. I believe you are grossly mistaken about Lapierre and Folliard practicing carbonic maceration. Everything I know of these producers has pointed in a different direction.

And I don't think I would ever describe either of their wines as fragile. Fragile, maybe, because they are natural wines, but certainly not flimsy or clumsy.

Here's a great article for you to read if you haven't already:

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www.saveur.com
 
Thanks for the article. Good stuff.

originally posted by Bill Averett: I believe you are grossly mistaken about Lapierre and Folliard practicing carbonic maceration. Everything I know of these producers has pointed in a different direction.
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This seems to suggest that Lapierre uses semi-carbonic.

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www.marcel-lapierre.com

I can't find Foillard's website right now and I'm on my way to a meeting but if you google Foillard and carbonic (or carbonique for French results) you get a lot of hits suggesting that they use the process. And they certainly taste that way to me. Which is not meant to be an insult. I love the wines. But they are a special style, which I find very fragile fresh and vibrant and I definitely did not mean to imply flimsy or clumsy.
 
I was under the impression all of the producers who take after Chauvet utilized semi-carbonic vinifications. Certainly the gang of four, plus Georges Descombes.
 
Is there not also the issue of "semi," as in, how much is carbonic and how much traditional vinification each producer uses? I've consistently found more structure in Foillard than Lapierre, but I haven't aged either of them for more than a couple of years, yet.
 
originally posted by Steve Edmunds:
Carbonic macerationseems to me to be ill-defined.
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Are there a lot of variants? I thought it was pretty straightforward and referred to fermentation prior to crushing.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong: If I recall correctly, the "semi" in "carbonic semi-fermentation" or "semi-carbonic fermentation" refers to the opening or unsealing of the fermentation tank after carbonic fermentation has begun and proceeded for some time. After the unsealing and exposure to oxygen, yeast fermentation may begin in earnest. No unsealing would be, I guess, the full carbonic and it's not a serious option anywhere that I know of because it ferments to a very low alcohol level.

Lapierre and gang are definitely in the semi camp, as far as I have read.

I'm actually giving a 1996 Chamonard a whirl as I write. I've always wanted to try one of his wines since reading that Saveur article a few years ago and saw it on the CSW site last week. Bricked and cloudy and also fresh and tart. Delicate fruit, with an earthy, meaty tone. On the downhill slope, I'm sure, but still alive and kicking. Reminds me a bit of an Oregon Pinot from the same year that I had a few months ago.
 
I only tasted and drank a range of crus when they were very young so I've no later datapoints - for those that don't like the 04 'vintage character' in their red burgundies, do any of you find it in your Beaujolais too or did the region escape?
cheers
(ps very happy to have a few 06 Foillard MCdP mags in the cellar)
 
originally posted by bill nanson:
I only tasted and drank a range of crus when they were very young so I've no later datapoints - for those that don't like the 04 'vintage character' in their red burgundies, do any of you find it in your Beaujolais too or did the region escape?
cheers
(ps very happy to have a few 06 Foillard MCdP mags in the cellar)
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I don't recall an herbal note on the Beaujolais, but the acidity on some was on the fierce side when they first landed. Foillard was beautiful; alas, I didn't save any.
 
originally posted by bill nanson:
I only tasted and drank a range of crus when they were very young so I've no later datapoints - for those that don't like the 04 'vintage character' in their red burgundies, do any of you find it in your Beaujolais too or did the region escape?
cheers
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Yes, many of the wines had/have that "character." Some went through an extreme stage where that character predominated and was overwhelming during a shut-down phase and then evolved fairly quickly to the point that the herbal/green character became, for me, an appealing trait. As i think has happened/will happen with several '04 Burgundies I've tried.
 
I've never noticed the greenness in any 04 Beaujolais. But then, I've only noticed it that strongly in a few 04 Burgundies (the latest an 04 J Voillot Volnay Fremiets, where it was quite pronounced on the first night, but then was just fine on the 2nd).
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Right, but my map says that Chambolle-Musigny is not 2km from Beaune.

Volnay was hit by hail in '04.
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Plenty of green in Nuits St. Georges in '04. Hadn't heard about hail there, did they get some?
 
Dixit Jim Coley of another board, re: '04

The Cote de Beaune suffered a fair amount of hail in August, and on the 23rd, a viscious storm battered the vineyards of Volnay, Pommard, Beaune and Savigny.
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And Claude Kolm:

Sharon -- Checking my notes from my visit to Marchal in November 2005, his Volnay vines, on the border with Pommard, were struck by hail on 28 August. That may, or may not, have something to do with what you perceive as green. A number of posters on this board who perceived green streaks in the 2004s early on have noticed this subsiding as the wines get more age -- which is what I would expect given my (now rather long) experience tasting young Burgundy.
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