I'm sitting here drinking a 98 Comte J. de Chabannes Cote de Brouilly. I've never heard of him. It's already pretty much packed it in. I opened it about six hours ago, cooking various things for Thanksgiving (turnip and potato gratin, onion pudding, all out of Olney's Simple French Food, my all time favorite food book).
This CdB was just lovely. Old Cote de Brouilly is wonderful stuff. It touches such a range of flavors - old faded 19th century roses, aged meat, ash, and a touch of that intense Swedish licorice. I like it a lot, in some ways even more than a good old Morgon, which is more brutish and meaty, without the delicacy.
If this CdB were from any other part of France, it would just be entering into maturity, if there yet. 98 Cru Beaujolais are well into their tertiaries. CB seems to be on an aging curve about twice that of any other good French wine, more or less. It's a great way to put together a cellar with a range of wines in secondaries and tertiaries reasonably quickly.
I just loved drinking Beaujolais Nouveau this year. I've never been into it before. Maybe it was the year - it was a damn tough one, to say the least, with a project I'd worked on four years going seriously sideways because of the economy. There was something about sitting down and drinking wine that was grapes two months ago and in foudre a week ago that was just great, a nice reprise to the year, however hard it's been.
As much as I appreciate all the great wines of France, there's something about the combination of quality, fun, seriousness, transitoriness, and enjoyment in Beaujolais that draws me in further all the time. I loved the thought of good Beaujolais Nouveau being the bellwether to the vintage, the thought of Aubert de Villaine or someone like him sitting down to a glass of Brun's Nouveau and getting an early take. An Adam Goldsworthy of wine.
This CdB was just lovely. Old Cote de Brouilly is wonderful stuff. It touches such a range of flavors - old faded 19th century roses, aged meat, ash, and a touch of that intense Swedish licorice. I like it a lot, in some ways even more than a good old Morgon, which is more brutish and meaty, without the delicacy.
If this CdB were from any other part of France, it would just be entering into maturity, if there yet. 98 Cru Beaujolais are well into their tertiaries. CB seems to be on an aging curve about twice that of any other good French wine, more or less. It's a great way to put together a cellar with a range of wines in secondaries and tertiaries reasonably quickly.
I just loved drinking Beaujolais Nouveau this year. I've never been into it before. Maybe it was the year - it was a damn tough one, to say the least, with a project I'd worked on four years going seriously sideways because of the economy. There was something about sitting down and drinking wine that was grapes two months ago and in foudre a week ago that was just great, a nice reprise to the year, however hard it's been.
As much as I appreciate all the great wines of France, there's something about the combination of quality, fun, seriousness, transitoriness, and enjoyment in Beaujolais that draws me in further all the time. I loved the thought of good Beaujolais Nouveau being the bellwether to the vintage, the thought of Aubert de Villaine or someone like him sitting down to a glass of Brun's Nouveau and getting an early take. An Adam Goldsworthy of wine.
