TN: 2014 Julie Balagny Fleurie Chavot (France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie)

A little Julie Balagny Fleurie last night.

• 2014 Julie Balagny Fleurie Chavot - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (1/9/2017)
  Pales perhaps to the 2012, which remains my recent fave from Julie, but this showed the same lively red fruit that is both sweet and tangy. Youthful edge here that is covered a bit by heady funkyness, and slight reduction that does blow off a bit. Air it out a bit if you open. Not too geeky, here.

Posted from CellarTracker

Thanks for the note. I typically like her wines and find them energetic and high strung…as she’s sometimes described. Some of her earlier efforts could be quite funky. Check out this video (by Bert Celce of Wine Terroirs) and her using a hand press. Old School! This is a newer location compared to her former reportedly more rustic digs.

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RT

That is pretty cool! Thanks, Richard.

Great video.
Anyone try her '13’s?

Thanks!

Here’s one note from (almost) 3 years ago:

** Julie Balagny
Fleurie “en Rémont” 2013
10.7%.
4/15.
C: Dark and dense.
N: Brooding
P: Nothing like the Carioca. Much deeper and darker; black fruits, almost a tarry note. More like a Burg than a Bojo, in fact. Still young, a bit sharp on the tongue, but very interesting and compelling. Clearly very carefully made. Should develop nicely in a few years.

Fun label too.

I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands

Frankly, I don’t understand why, each time a Beaujolais wine shows a bit of depth, one has to say it shows more Burgundian style than Beaujolais.
Julie is absolutely not growing grapes and making in wine in the burgundian style. She is into the real tradition of Beaujolais vignerons, expressing her terroir through old school typical winegrowing and wine making from this area.
And who have seen a 10.7% alcohol pinot from burgundy those days, anyway …
The great terroirs and vignerons from Beaujolais make great wines in a very specific enjoyable style than does not exclude depth, especially on the great terroirs of Fleurie, Chirouble, Morgon or Moulin à Vent. Julie is definitivaly one of them, with a very specific touch of brightness in her wine, imho.
If you want to taste what burgundian touch and winemaking does to Beaujolais grapes, try Chateau des Jacques (modern conventional) or Lafarge (more traditional, natural). Miles away from Julie’s work, I think.
Just a bit of jalousy from a beaujolais geek!

Eric, thanks for the input. Whether someone finds or makes a comparison between Burgundy and a particular bottle of Beaujolais doesn’t bother me. Tastes and perspectives are personal.

I’m wondering if you might be suggesting that the phenomenon of “Pinotter” doesn’t exist? I don’t believe for a moment that Julie is trying to make Burgundy. Same is true of most of the region’s “great” producers (at least those I prefer). But aren’t there sometimes similarities? In particular I’m remembering some older Chamonard Morgon Lys.

RT

Eric, I get where you’re coming from. But please let me explain that the comparison to Burgundy is just to put her wines in a context that most wineaux can relate to. Beaujolais, unfortunately, has the reputation of being bright and light, no doubt due in large part to Beaujolais Nouveau (which kept me away from all Bojos for years, because being young and foolish I didn’t realize there were serious ones as well). So it’s just a reference point, nothing more.

Me too. I paid no attention for years.
Thanks for the ongoing info and discussion. Helpful.

Thanks Dennis, I now have a few '12s and '14s coming! Love finding new stuff.