All Hallows' Eve, 06 Thivin and 06 Aufranc Chenas VV de 1939

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Sample of many candies pilfered from the children: Reese's cup, Whopers, NECCO's, large sized Smarties (American, not British), and a nice new edition Nestle Crunch with caramel.

And then there was the wine: a delightful, structured, and fairly angular Aufranc Chenas old vine speciale (although: are 1939 vines really all that old in Beaujolais?). Crunch, interest, fruit, ageable, good stuff. Yes, Chenas clunkiness, but that's ok. Vinous. A delight to walk in from trick or treat and be handed a glass of this. Gone fast.

The Thivin let me down a bit, if only for it being talked up by multiple parties. Soft and loose, nice Gamay sap, but certainly less put together than the Aufranc (which is nearly half the price). Another nice cool not cold wet weather fall wine, but just ok. The recent Roilette certainly a step up in class. I have gone thru about 3 cases of 04 Thivin halves, which I certainly prefer for their structure, delineation, and clarity.
 
Hi Brad,
I had just about the opposite experience with the Thivin. We drank it one night with the '06 Roilette (which I like, and ended up buying 6 bottles) and found the Thivin was leaner, brighter and with more edge than the Roilette, at least on day one. Both wines for me taste better after they have been open a day. The mineral side of the Roilette shows up with air. The Thivin has less alcohol and gras than the Roilette, and for me was a better food wine.

Thanks for the tip on the Aufranc Chenas. I like Chenas, the ripeness of '06 probably helps there.

I have a Valrhona chocolate bar saved for you.
 
Brad:

Thanks for posting. These days, I read Beaujolais tasting notes nearly as avidly as I do the latest political news. I'll have to check out the Aufranc, if I can find it.

Ian
 
originally posted by Marc D:
Hi Brad,
I had just about the opposite experience with the Thivin. We drank it one night with the '06 Roilette (which I like, and ended up buying 6 bottles) and found the Thivin was leaner, brighter and with more edge than the Roilette, at least on day one. Both wines for me taste better after they have been open a day. The mineral side of the Roilette shows up with air. The Thivin has less alcohol and gras than the Roilette, and for me was a better food wine.

Thanks for the tip on the Aufranc Chenas. I like Chenas, the ripeness of '06 probably helps there.

I have a Valrhona chocolate bar saved for you.
Click to expand...

Hey Marc, I did see your note. That was in big part why I think I was surprised. It also just seemed to fade into the evening.

I do wonder sometimes how often we are talking about the same wine (I speak here globally). Whenever I visit these small producers it seems like some of them have blending tanks and others not, or at least tanks that won't handle the whole vintage. Bottling by pulling off multiple foudres seems like a hassle and I would doubt it's done often, and even if it is, it would seem like from a hydraulic standpoint that the wine would be pulled from different tanks at varying rates as the bottling process occured would result in a varying blend over time. I would tend to think the wine delivered through the same distributor would be the same, but it's possible it could be drawn from 2 or 3 different tanks.

Looking forward to the Valrhona!
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Brad:

Thanks for posting. These days, I read Beaujolais tasting notes nearly as avidly as I do the latest political news. I'll have to check out the Aufranc, if I can find it.

Ian
Click to expand...

It may be hard to find. It came in through Wine Traditions, who I don't think distributes that broadly.
 
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