First, it was a hell of a lot of fun. Weve been to many corners of France and this is one of our favorites, by a lot. We didnt hear another American from the time we left Paris to the point we got on our flight home to Amsterdam Beaujolais is not on the radar. Not many tourists, and the few that are there seem to trend Benelux and English.
Folks were incredibly friendly. We realized that in our first three connections there (eating, visiting domaines), we left with gifts. We arrived to our inexpensive gite to find a nice bottle of wine, a big bouquet of flowers, and a delicious jar of homemade jam. People were just so gracious with time and connection. They were thrilled to find fans of their wine who would make the effort to seek them out.
I have mixed feelings about posting this stuff on the internet as the times we had with folks were particular to the time and place and not really for public consumption. As an alternative, Im posting some photos and leaving the rest to your imagination.
That said, we did visits with Jean Paul Brun, Claude Geoffroy at Thivin, Michelle Chanrion, Andre Laissus, Jean Paul Thevenet, Marcel Lapierre, Agnes Foillard, and Alain Coudert. Other than the visit with Michelle Chanrion, which we squeezed in, we spent 2-3 hours with each, covering lots of topics and wines and in a couple of cases more extended stuff like driving to their vineyards etc. Im skipping the details of that here and focusing on wines and wine related discussions we had. I had really wanted to get to Georges Descombes and Claude Desvignes but we just didnt get to them. We also tried to see Yvon Metras, but he was a little challenging, so we gave up. We felt pretty maxed at one visit more or less a day, and honestly I was more interested in actually hanging out and getting to know folks more than trying to do super detailed notes. I took notes later so theyre more sketchy nothing like a wine geek grasping for every descriptor during a tasting to squelch a good time. So sorry for the Clive Coates-ish generica.
Before I get started a few words about 2009. Yes, it is clearly outstanding. Everyone there loves it and most think its one of the best couple of vintages in the last couple of decades. I was quite blown away by the quality of the lesser crus and cuvees even pichet 09 Beaujolais at random cafes. It is a big year, though, so bear this in mind I personally wont be touching the more substantial crus for a few years. While its very well balanced and thus very drinkable now, for current drinking of the larger crus I would tilt towards 07. That said, 09 is not 05 it is much more accessible for early drinking and thus you can tuck in with gusto, and those of you that dont like aged Beaujolais will love it. So, anyway, forgive these generalizations, but there they are. I continue to be a huge fan of 07, and if I had to choose a vintage for current drinking of beefier crus since 02 I would pick 07, all else being equal. But lesser stuff is just fab now. I do agree with the comment on the other thread that it is worth trying stuff out and deciding what you like rather than just wholesale jumping in.
Bear in mind the 09s for the most part are recently bottled and I suspect that affected how they showed.
OK, heres notes in order of our visits.
Coudert. As I think most of you know, his vineyards are in the NE of Fleurie, up against MaV, in fact are formerly MaV vineyards.
09 regular. Very complete, balanced, classic CdlR, very good.
09 Tardive. Beautiful, long haul wine, probably the best Roilette Ive had. I took a quick look at SFJoes notes from earlier this year and I had the same experience. One to load up on. This was one of the top Beaujolais of the trip.
08 regular. Its very good, classic, young.
08 Tardive no note
00 Tardive Leftover from an earlier visit from Joe Dressner, so it had faded a touch, but very nice. Somewhat loose. Sorry to miss you Joe, I heard I also just missed seeing you at the Ritz.
99 Tardive Delicious, lovely and complete. Perfect age, nice acids.
02 Tardive A little tough on opening, stern, a little young. Not on par with 99.
02 regular (at Auberge du Cep). Weaker version of Tardive, still fun to drink, esp. with food.
I was struck by the consistency of the wines here they are quite distinctive when you drink a pack of them together. I found an interesting prune-ish note in almost all the bottles that I hadnt noticed before but really stood out. Prune-ish in a good way.
Lapierre. Marcel seems to continue to aim for a more balanced and elegant Morgon, less Py-ish and meat driven.
09 this is not nearly as hefty as I would expect given the vintage, but it is delicious and complex. And good now. It was not the best of the 09s, but Marcel is keeping his pricing reasonable and you really cant miss with this.
MMIX I have had the chance now to try a number of the uber Beaujolais cuvees, and Im starting to have some mixed feelings about them, articulated below. This, though, is just delicious, very complex, and one of the best Beaujolais Ive had. One to seek out. Hold, but excellent now. **
08 classic Lapierre
07 beautiful complex florality, I cant wait to try some of this once the meat starts to emerge.
06 Meat just coming on the scene, nice gardenia tones, a lot of fun right now. Right at that transition into secondaries. Actually more advanced than I would have expected. I am not crazy about most 06s at this time but this was delightful. We drank all these outside with Marcel and this was my favorite, other than the MMIX.
MMIII (purchased at Bacchus and Ariane in Paris) Pretty good for an 03, but this had some overt oak. Marcel said in 03 the Roman number wine had a newish barrel which led to some tasteable oak.
I would like to pause here and end the ongoing question about whether later vintages of the Roman number wines have new oak. They most definitively do not. Marcel said any sense of oak came from the very old vines. The only exception was the MMIII as noted above.
I asked Marcel what he likes to drink outside of Beaujolais and he said he really gravitates toward Burgundy.
Thivin. Vines on the south side of CdB.
Rose not sure of vintage, but I think 09. Quite delicious, I wish this was imported regularly.
Petillant rose fun and refreshing.
07 Thivin CdB Zaccherie. Dense, articulated, structured, needs time. This cuvee comes from the best, oldest wines.
09 CdB Sept Vignes (the classic cuvee KL imports, it is called this in France). From seven separate vineyards throughout domaine. Very nice, complete, good now.
09 Brouilly. Incredible neon purple, one of the coolest colors in a wine Ive seen. Just delicious, exuberant, fruity, I loved this. Im not sure this is available in the US. Archetypal naked in the vineyards type wine. I commented on the color and Claude smiled and said they were really excited by it.
09 Chapelle. Comes from an old vine plot at the top of the Cote, facing south. Pure class, beautiful, I preferred to Zaccherie. I think this may occasionally come into the country and I will keep my eyes open for it.
08 Zaccherie. Round and full.
09 Zaccherie (barrel sample). Dense and some oak (Claude rotates through newish barrels for the Zaccherie and I think he grabbed the sample from one of these).
Geoffray and Thivin really stand out when youre there most winemakers and wines there are pretty rough and tumble, and he and his wines stand out as more classic, aristocratic almost, Burgundian.
Brun. Jean Paul continues to expand in new and very interesting directions
We talked at length about closures and as Joe has noted he is going back to all cork in 09. I am really happy. You should have seen his expression when I told him that Id been recorking plastique. It gave him a good laugh but I think he appreciated having a fan base that would go to such lengths. Kind of a combination of get a life and appreciation.
09 classic blanc a great year for this, delicious, nice acids.
08 barrel blanc I liked this more this year, tho I incline to the tank blanc. A little bitter, in a good way.
08 Rousanne yes, you read it here. Delicious and pure. From seven year old vines in Beaujolais. Beautiful acidity.
09 Rousanne riper, fuller and more complex than the 08. But still taut.
Condrieu, not sure of vintage. I liked it a lot, reminded me somewhat of Erics, though not quite hitting at that level. Elegant. From family vineyards.
09 Primeur a young vines red cuvee. Very dense, a little challenging.
09 lAncien really great. The best vintage Ive had of this. Multi case purchase for me. Accessible now and later.
09 CdB I adore the 08, and this is tighter and more aggressive. I would say give 3-4 years. This comes from two locations, on the east St. Leger slopes and then over on the west by the col.
09 Morgon Very good, very heavy duty, needs serious aging, as much as any Morgon Ive had, other than some Desvignes. So different than the other crus. From the south part of CdP, close to Javernieres.
08 Fleurie no note, happy memory
09 Fleurie Very aggressively beautiful, full. I wrote down two stars, which must mean something because I didnt do that much. Seek out.
09 MaV complete. JP has told me twice now that he thinks MaV is the definite star of Beaujolais, which says a lot since he is familiar with a range of villages in a way others are not.
I would add here it is fascinating to taste JPs crus in the same vintage as the village differences are so pronounced and clear.
07 Cote Rotie I loved this and thought it was fascinating. Very wild and sauvage. Reminded me of a cleaner and purer older style Jamet (which for me is about as good as it gets). From Bassenon (incidentally, which is where Jamet is). From family vineyards. Jean Paul was pretty low key about this but it is special.
In Extremis Austrian style sweet wine. Slightly botrytized. Very good.
Labour dOctober richer. Sketchy notes at end of long tasting
Charme a very dry white petillant! Joe please import! Really enjoyable, biscuit, very brut. A nice change, a little unique.
I asked Jean Paul what he likes to drink outside of Beaujolais and he said he likes good Chenin, and singled out Chidaine and Nicolas. We had a nice chat about them as I love them too.
Chanrion. A quick visit with Michelle Chanrion Nicole was in London selling wine. Michelle is very nice. I think Chanrion is underrated it is nice classic typique Beaujolais, slightly rough. We had an 05-08 vertical and it was very illuminating.
08 a little aggressive still, needs a bit more time
07 perfect.
06 pretty blocky, but more accessible than most 06s now.
05 starting to emerge from its shell, it is eye opening drinking this next to the other vintages it is a reminder of how great this year is.
JP Thevenet We really enjoyed hanging out with Jean Paul. His place is outside of town, in Pizay. Im really frustrated to see I didnt even take notes while in France so Im doing this by memory a week later. Not a hint of brett or volatility I might add. Jean Paul said he only adds a touch of sulfur at bottling which made me wonder about the brett and volatility issues and whether they are less of an issue in France.
08 Regnie (actually his son Charlys wine) this was good but I dont have a note.
09 Morgon young vines (cant remember name). This is a lighter, less expensive Morgon for the French market. It is quite good.
09 VV Outstanding. On par with the Lapierre MMIX. Beautiful and complex, all star stuff, now or much later. On my short list.
09 Regnie (barrel sample) very good, but marked by oak (even though barrel was several years old). JP said Gamay sometimes shows oak in barrel that is gone once bottled.
Andre and Frederic Laissus. Andre is the winemaker who owned the gite we stayed in, and I was pretty impressed with their wines. Not imported to the US.
07 Regnie Classic crunch, great balance and acid.
08 Regnie stouter version of above.
08 CdBrouilly more obvious complexity than the Regnie, more articulated.
08 Morgon Accessible, from south of CdP. But the sternest of the group. Interesting to taste three different villages from same vintner and vintage.
08 Regnie VV This wine really made me sit up, it is gorgeous. From 100 year old vines. A lot of compressed complexity. I would love to taste this in a few years. Made me think a bit of the Descombes Morgon VV, also the 07 Foillard 3.14.
Foillard. Tasted with Agnes Foillard. I was really distracted with several people talking and tasting, not in a bad way, but I had a hard time really taking them in.
06 3.14 (purchased and drunk in Paris). Very dense, very similar to the Lapierre MMVII, but blockier. Challenging to drink, really wants a lot of time. I think too it is somewhat closed. Not my favorite.
07 3.14 Class, significantly prefer to 06.
08 Corcellete I have a half case of this and the first bottle at home was a little disappointing but at the domaine it was lovely and complex, with great florality. Not really CdPish, really more like a high class Regnie. I suspect some travel shock for the Seattle bottles.
09 Fleurie I have no note, but I remember liking this a ton, like almost my favorite.
09 Morgon CdP excellent, tho I prefer the Thevenet.
Agnes spoke in hushed tones about Bourgogne when I asked her what else she liked to drink, also non on the lees whites.
Other bottles:
94 Pierre Savoye Morgon VV meaty rosy classic CdP, two bottles different times at AdCol du Truge.
08 G. Descombes Chiroubles very tasty, top of cote crunch.
09 Coop Chiroubles major chug. At Bastille Day party at Chiroubles Terrace.
09 Y. Metras Beaujolais If I have any vinous regret on the trip, it was not trying every wine of Metras that we saw in Paris. There were a lot of things there, his Fleuries, vintages, and somehow I thought wed hook up in Beaujolais and that the wines would be around. They arent. This Beaujolais was obviously gorgeous, but corked. Metras is clearly sort of an asterix player, operating at a high level but also divorced from the mainstream of Beaujolais.
08 Christophe Pacalet MaV very dense, old viney, like some of the special cuvees, and also reminded me of Phillipes wines. Honestly, not my favorite.
07 Charly Thevenet Regnie Couer de Braves very old viney, like Lapierre MVII and 06 3.14. Appreciated but not enjoyed as much as others.
05 Dubouef Prestige MaV Dense, oaky, uck.
Here are some miscellaneous ramblings on Beaujolais:
More than ever I tend to distinguish Morgon from the Cote du Py. The classic meaty Morgon is really more Cote du Py than Morgon. Get away from the hill, and the wine gets more elegant and doesnt tend toward meat so much as it ages. I think this is reflected for example in Lapierres wines, which come from all over Morgon (and never get THAT meaty), Foillard Corcellete, and comparing the Foillard Py Morgons.
I am not so sure what I think about these uber cuvees (the 3.14, the Roman number wines, the C. Thevenet Couer des Braves, or the Pacalet MaV (I think of the Tardive differently). These wines are generally so dense that I dont find a lot of early drinking pleasure to them for the most part theyre possibly not all successful. I am curious how they will age (I just dont know). I wonder if they might be better kept in the main cuvees. They have been a fun curiousity but now that Ive tried almost all of them, Im not completely sure how I feel. Only the MMIX really made me swoon, and to some degree the 07 Pi.
Food: The Auberge du Cep really must be tried. Our lunch there was four hours long. Mme. Chagny is incredible, thats all Ill say. She speaks very good English for the non-French speakers out there. Auberge du Col du Truge is great as well, known for coq au vin but everything we had there was delicious. Auberge du was recommended by both Agnes Foillard and Jean Paul Thevenet, and it is a relaxing fun place with a short interesting list. The bistrot right in Villie Morgon on the edge of the park apparently has ok food but they have a huge Beaujolais list and pour by the glass so its a great way to try things out.
A word about speaking French. I dont, really, and L. is fluent. Honestly our experience would have been much different if she wasnt conversations were wide ranging, getting into details of wine and going from there. I have been in parts of France on my own and rather than 3 hour visits I tend to have 5 minute visits that are very frustrating and disappointing. Only one of the producers we visited spoke a decent amount of English. It is a big factor so take this into account.
Accommodation we very much liked our gite at the Laissus. It was basic, not luxurious, but it was very functional, with two big kitchen windows about 20 from Regnie vines. Regnie is in a very central location, five minutes from Cote du Py and Cote de Brouilly, seven from Beaujeu, and fifteen from the Chiroubles ridge pretty hard to beat. Super quiet, we loved it. For 250 Euros for a week, ridiculously cheap. The boulangerie and tabac/presse is a seven minute walk into town, but the gite happily is outside of town so very calm and quiet.
Bonus photos:
