The Super Secret “Upper Section” bottling from Louis-Claude Desvignes

5/24/2007 -

This wine is so secret that Joe Dressner, the Desvignes importer did not even know about it. Unbeknownst to the American importer (Joe Dressner) the Desvignes made two bottlings of Javernieres from an "upper section" and a "lower section" of the vineyard. So what the heck is this wine that no one knows about it? To give a little background I (Lyle) thought that the 2005 Desvignes Morgon "Javernieres" was the Morgon, if not the wine of the vintage. Against some stiff competition including Lapierre, Brun, Foillard & Breton the Desvignes Javernieres stood strong. It was stony, taut, structured, floral and just achingly beautiful. It had it all. So when I heard a rumor circulating about another Desvignes bottling I quickly went to work to find out what it was about and how I could get some.

The first thing you need to know is that Javernieres is already a subsection of the Cote de Py vineyard. Along with the "Cote de Py" bottling these two represent the flagship bottlings at chez Desvignes. What makes Javernieres special is that there is high concentration of clay in the soil which adds to the structural integrity of the wine. So now with all that information lets push this further. There are two sections of the Javernieres vineyard, the upper and the lower, with the upper comprising of a more schist/granite concentration which imparts more minerality than the lower section bottlings. There is no designation on the label so you have to trust us that this is the "upper section." So how does this stuff taste? Well I have not tasted it but some very respected palates that have never let me down went bonkers over this stuff and say it is easily the wine of the vintage. If it is even a smidgeon better than the regular "lower section" then you are in for a treat.