New Arrivals from Beaujolais: Alain Coudert's "Clos de la Roilette" Fleurie and More...
Alain Coudert's "Clos de la Roilette" Fleurie and Fleurie "Cuvée Tardive" have been great favorites of ours since the late 1980's when we purchased from Alain's jovial father Fernand. The 2022s have just arrived and we're happy to report that the mid-summer heat was followed by enough rain in August to bring in healthy fruit, producing wines that are ripe and full-bodied but with nice brightness and good acidity. It's not 2014 of course, but we found the "Clos de la Roilette" to be especially charming in this vintage. As usual, the "Cuvée Tardive," as the name implies, will need some time in the cellar...
Since taking over the estate from his father in 1991, Alain Coudert has become one of the most consistent and respected producers in Beaujolais. Alain was a reluctant vigneron, returning to aid the family after his brother had a serious accident in 1979. During our early visits to the estate, the modest Alain would defer to his father who would hold court at the long bar as old bottles were brought up from the cellar. Located near the border with Moulin-a-Vent and having a large percentage of clay with manganese in the soil, the wines here are quite structured for a Fleurie and even poor vintages will show well with ten years of age. "Vinification is the traditional, semi-carbonic Beaujolais style," says Alain. "We do a submerged cap, we do temperature control and we use native yeasts. The idea is obviously to best express our terroir...the result is a more structured wine, somewhere between a "typical" Fleurie and a Moulin-a-Vent. Cuvée Tardive is made from 80 year-old vines and can seriously age - in a way it's to prove that Gamay is a grape that can achieve more than youthful drinkability." The estate makes superb wines in vintages like 2022, with firm earthy acidity and good brightness balancing the ripe fruit. Both wines are highly recommended. The "Clos de la Roilette" for current drinking and 5 to 8 years of cellaring, and the "Tardive" for great enjoyment over the next ten to twenty years. (6 bottle maximum on "Tardive" please.)
And now there is a Moulin a Vent by Alain! - From newly acquired estate vines comes this first vintage of the Couderts' new Moulin-à-Vent. Vinification is identical to that for Roilette Fleurie wines: a traditional, semi-carbonic Beaujolais style. The whole clusters are harvested by hand and fermented spontaneously with native yeasts in open-top concrete tank. Maceration lasts around 14 days with a submerged cap rather than punchdowns. Sulfur use is quite minimal. The wine is aged in large, old oak foudres for about 9 months before bottling. This is for the cellar! (And there are a few bottles available of the 2021 Fleurie "Griffe du Marquis.")
A few more of our favorite Beaujolais...
Georges Descombes is one of the very greatest producers in Beaujolais - his 2019s and 2020s - both the "regular" cuvées and the Vieilles Vignes - are astonishingly delicious! Very little of these wines remain so be sure to grab some for current drinking or cellaring of 8 to 12 years.
Claude-Emmanuelle and Louis-Benoît Desvignes are the eighth generation of the Desvignes family to work their great vineyards in Morgon, on and around the famous Cote de Py.
2021 Morgon Javernieres "Aux Pierres" - 2020 was the first vintage from a new parcel in the historic lieu-dit of Javernières at the foot of the famous Côte du Py hill. "Aux Pierres" comes from this 0.57-hectare plot of 90-year-old vines on a steep, east-facing slope. The soils are iron-rich, red clay with schist, pyrite and decomposed volcanic rocks. The wine is aged in 30-hectoliter concrete egg for 10 months and bottled with a light, non-sterile filtration. The Desvignes family considers "Aux Pierres" to be a true vin de garde. 2021 Morgon "Cote de Py" Always a superb Beaujolais, the 2021 takes us back to a lighter and lower alcohol style. Fans of the 2014s will enjoy the balance and finesse of this lovely wine...
Domaine des Terres Dorées Year in and year out the organic Beaujolais of Jean-Paul Brun are among the most delicious and affordable wines of the region. Coming from old vines in the village of Charnay in the southern Beaujolais, planted on slopes sporting the area's signature sandy clay-limestone soils, featuring the particular local "dorée" or "golden" limestone that is laden with iron. The 2021 L'Ancien Vieilles Vignes is a lovely Gamay to drink young, vinified in a Burgundian style. The 2022 Beaujolais Blanc is aged in concrete and steel vats retaining the freshness and purity of this beautiful Chardonnay. With Burgundy prices going sky-high, this should be your house white! And Jean-Paul's "Rosé de Folie" is always one of the most vibrant and purely delicious of all rosés, for year-round enjoyment!
-David Lillie
