Whoa. Love me some Thivin. Where you be finding this cuvee?
Having loved a 2010 Coudert Cuvée Tardive recently, I bought some pre-arrival 2016 Tardive this Fall. Glad to hear people are enjoying the ´16s.
Last week I popped a 2016 Lapierre Morgon and it was absolutely delicious! Strawberry, silky with a touch of candied red fruits. Killer stuff!
I have had 10-15 different bottles, and all have been 2014-good. Last night, the 2016 Terres Dorees L’Ancien was lovely - perfectly ripe fruit and some orange peel, forest action adding complexity and freshness. For my palate, far better than almost every 2015 that I have had.
Looks like 2016 will be another good Cru Bojo vintage. This unusual Lapierre bottling is amazing. Still imagining the flavors from last night. Too bad the bottle is gone now!
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2016 Marcel Lapierre Juliénas - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Juliénas (12/22/2017)
Beguiling expansive, perfumed nose. On the palate, fresh acidity at the forefront, good depth, and intriguing flavor profile more reminiscent of Burgundian Pinot than Gamay. Slightly bitter orange peel on the finish does not detract much, though not that attractive to my palate. Great first effort for this Cru. Loved this. Need to pick up a few more bottles to see how they progress - my guess is that a few years wait will be rewarded. (92 pts.)
thanks for the note. Seems like the Julienas was a one-off cuvee made from purchased grapes because of the crop reductions from hail in 2016. I liked how Lapierre spoke of “natural” wines and his winemaking, seems very reasoned and practical without excessive ideology.
http://www.winespectator.com/blogs/show/id/Lapierre-Morgon-Natural-Wine
Fred, thank you for posting the link to that article. I appreciated the information in it and it does, indeed, describe a sensible (although time-consuming) approach to achieving as sulfur-free wines as reasonably possible.
Somehow, I missed the 2015 vintage of this bottling. I loved the 2014, and this 2016 is also very good but perhaps a bit larger scaled.
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2016 Château Thivin Côte de Brouilly - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Côte de Brouilly (12/28/2017)
Loads of boisterous young Gamay on the nose and it carries through to the palate. Rich and ripe with a good dose of tart acidity. Some nice earthy notes lurking beneath the primary fruit. To be honest, this was a little overwhelming to my palate, but it should develop into a beauty after it sheds some baby fat. Hold for a couple of years minimum. (90 pts.)
Martin, glad to hear the '16 is good as I had the '15 recently and found it quite OTT, but then I’m finding almost all of the '15s to be too rich, too dense, too much. Maybe that will make them great for aging but I won’t be likely to find out, as I mostly enjoy Beaujolais for its youthful fruit.
2016 on the other hand has been good to me so far. The Antoine Sunier Regnie was really excellent. Fresh and red-fruited but with plenty of juiciness and great acid balance. I really liked this wine. I know his brother gets all the praise, but this was excellent.
Tonight the Pavillon de Chavannes Cote de Brouilly Cuvee Ambassades was similarly fresh and zingy, though maybe a bit more backwards, and closed down a bit over the time it was open.
Michael, I am hopeful that some 2015s will stretch out with time in the bottle and ameliorate that too-much-of-everthing character you describe, but I am not certain. There are a few beauties though, most recently the Terres Dorees Moulin a Vent and the Robert-Denogent Cuvee Jules Chauvet. Although there is not much wine available in 2016, my experience thus far is uniformly good.
Martin my concern is that while I enjoy them with some age, and I’m trying to experiment more with that, I really like these wines when they are young and vibrant, but only if that means sufficient acids and red fruit in good balance. Even a somewhat darker wine like the '14 Thivin (which I loved and drank maybe 2 cases of at now-unheard-of pricing) had vibrant acidity. The '15s OTOH seem very leaden and weighty. Maybe the more structured of them will age like Burgundy but I have little of it in my cellar to follow. The '15 Terres Dorees is available at an awesome price locally but that wine probably isn’t much of an aging bellwether. That’s the rub though; I don’t want to put a lot of money into the “better” wines just to see if I enjoy what they become. I’d rather buy more from vintages that drink better right away. It’s funny though, I enjoyed '09 a lot but have found '15 to be too much.
How do you guys “prepare” wines like those from Lapierre for drinking in view of the substantial barnyard smell that seems to be in his wines? I was told by someone at K&L to decant and let it sit for a day and much of the barnyard smell will blow off. I did not follow this procedure last year with the '15 Cuvee Camille due to a lack of time.
Not sure if this is just a reductive smell or brett:
Curious if you gamay fools like Northern Rhone gamay?
I’m smitten with Souhaut. The 2016 Souhaut La Souteronne is smoking. I mean, literally, it’s smoky, matchsticks, brooding. A meaty style of gamay, with the ripeness of fruit one expects from Beaujolais but with the depth and meatiness one would expect from Northern Rhone. A killer QPR at about $26. This stuff rivals my beloved Thivin.
Lapierre definately can have some Brett. I drank a case of 09 back in the day and about half the bottles had too much Brett for me. Not sure why you’d want Brett in such a fresh style wine? I’ve resisted going back since but would love to hear if they’ve cleaned things up
On day two the wine still tasted of barnyard so I suspect it is Brett, which to me qualifies as a flaw. Definitely got in the way of that wonderfully pure fruit. I still have their '15 marcel lapierre and '16 morgon in my cellar, hoping it isn’t as bad.
Just enjoyed the 2016 Lapierre Morgon for a couple of nights. Much improved from the 2015 IMHO. Simultaneously elegant and persistent. Delicious. Not much complexity at this stage, just a lovely pure expression of redder fruited Gamay. Should’ve bought more.
RT
I fully agree, Richard. I drank the 2016 Lapierre Morgon Sans Soufre (which is what Kermit generally distributes in CA) recently and it is lovely, and much more to my liking than Lapierre’s 2015 (no Sans Soufre in that vintage).
Disclaimer: I sell Lapierre.
Just picked up a few 2016 Jean Foillard Côte du Py. Can’t wait to pop one.
16 fleurie cayenne from j. balagny is quite good with bright red fruit, fresh acidity, nice minerality, and pretty florals after the reduction dissipates. probably will be better in a few months time when it has settled down a bit. back to form from her 14s and 15s which were not exceptional, however it is seemingly a shift in style from her darker 13s. definitely the most metras-esque wine i have tasted from her. curious to try the other cuvées in the line up. for me i still prefer 13 as her standout vintage as those wines were very singular, most clocked in around 10-11abv yet had great extract and structure.
i had a glass of 16 foillard cote du puy back in november at a restaurant in paris and thought it was wonderful. i have avoided the 15s from him so far.
do you find the 16s to be more similar to the 14s?