I’ve got a few more bottles so I’ll check back. Have your bottles been on the lighter end of the spectrum color wise?
No, pretty much as I would have expected…
I left a 1/3 of the bottle from friday. Wife and I went out last night so forgot about it. Tonight it is more open and pleasing, but damn does it have some structure and tannin. Me likey.
Lapierre morgon 2017 is fantastic too. Sappy strawberry with hint of citrus and spice and just juicy- yum
I’m starting to see pre-arrival orders for '18s. Anyone know if '18 is indeed going to be a vintage like '15 stylistically?
Will visit Roilette and Bouland next week Wednesday - I assume the 2018s will be on show / sale. If anyone is interested, I can pen down some impressions. BTW really easy to get an appointment over there compared to Cote d’Or!
My report in TWA comes out at the end of the month, but happy to share a few impressions. 2018 was characterized by a wet Spring with above-average rainfall, followed by a very warm, dry summer. Yields were very large. Since a large crop takes longer to ripen than a small one, that helped slow things down, and it may even be the case that high yields actually saved the vintage, avoiding the kind of excesses found in 2015 and 2003. It was not an easy vintage to vinify, with above-average alcohols and below-average acidities, and sugars took a long time to finish fermentation. I heard plenty of horror stories of suck fermentations, volatile acidity and brett. But tasting some 450 wines over the course of ten days in the region, at least among the good producers, I encountered really very few flawed wines. I’m sure there’s an element of selection at play, but I was positively surprised. I think the hard-learned lessons of recent warm vintages such as 17, 15, 11, 09 and 03 surely helped.
In style, the 2018s are supple, fruit-driven and voluptuous, without the extremes of concentration of the 2015s, and often with more succulent fruit than that vintage, too, despite their below average acidities. People who love the mouthwatering liveliness and perfume of Gamay will not gravitate towards the vintage, but it’s a fleshy, front-loaded, consumer-friendly vintage that will likely win the region new friends even if it doesn’t routinely thrill its old ones. Some producers did really well and compare it with 2011 (I’d single out Morgon-based Jean-Marc Burgaud, Daniel Bouland and Louis-Claude Desvinges, though that won’t surprise any Beaujolais followers), so these are generalizations. I certainly found plenty to buy for my own cellar: perhaps the Thillardon brothers’ best vintage yet, very pretty wines chez Dutraive, etc etc.
The southern Beaujolais was a bit cooler and the limestone soils also help with acid-retention, so it’s a good year to look at Brun, Chermette, etc etc. But really, producer is more important than location, and it’s hard to think of a year where that isn’t the case.
Unlike Bordeaux, Napa and Rhône, a bit more ripeness in Chinon and Beaujolais can be nice. While you had to be selective in 2015, as in 2009, there were some major winners. The 2017 vintage, for my palate, has been a hit on every wine that I have tried. Thanks, William, looking forward to trying some 2018s.
I’d be more inclined to agree with that sentiment for Loire CF (and maybe even N. Rhone) than Beaujolais. For Beaujolais I found a lot of forward, fun wines in '09, and some of those are aging really well too. On theo there hand, in '15 I found mostly dark, overextracted wines bearing little that I look for in Beaujolais. There were exceptions, but very few. So, I think it can be a fine line. I’ll be interested to see what '18 has to offer but will continue to buy '16 and '17 with the expectation that '18s could be more miss than hit for my taste.
Thanks William, that is very helpful.
I’m a huge fan of the '16 Lapierre Morgon, so when I tried the '17, I felt like it went too far in the candied direction. So much so that after drinking a half case of the '16 (and wishing I had a full case), I stopped at one bottle of the '17. Maybe that is less an issue of the vintage and more of the wine making that year from Lapierre, especially given that I very much enjoyed the '17 Thivin CdB.
I have not tried the 2017 Lapierre, but the 2016 Morgon and the Morgan San Soufre are quite excellent. That 20176 Thivin is smokin.
Yeah, you know how those time portals heat matter up.
Thought I’d share some impressions from our day trip to the Beaujolais. Here we go:
- definitely more a farmer mindset at the 2 estates I visited (Roilette and Bouland) compared to the cote d’or, which I know much, much better. You can feel when you shake their hands. They still work the vineyards (sometimes, I feel like in the cote d’or, some estate owners have moved away from this, leaving that work to employees).
- the region is beautiful, more hilly than the cote d’or. Of course, the weather helped! Reminds me a bit of Piemonte. Quite a few vineyards are neglected though (not in Piemonte!). You see that there is simply more money in the cote d’or right now.
Picture from not too far from Daniel Bouland showing the hilly nature of the Beaujolais:
- As to the visit of Roilette. When we visited, the son, Alexis, showed us around. Really friendly guy, a bit reserved, in his early thirties. The 2018s we tried can be recommended, ie the regular Fleurie and the Cuvee Tardive. Nice balance, ripeness coming through but not over the top. Not like 2015, as he said. A couple of years will do them good. The Greffe du Marquis sees more wood, so we tried 2017. Pronounced menthol note. Bought 2 cases of the the regular and tardive, and 2 magnums of the Greffe de Marquis. Prices are ridiculous (8 EUR / 10 USD for the regular cuvee)
Pictures from the visit - as you can see, they use big foudres (didn’t know that, shame on me):
Tasting set-up, very low key (reminded me a bit of Rinaldi in Barolo, with the big barrels and same lighting):
Alexis:
- Before lunch, we had some time so dropped by the Fleurie store kept by 32 estates in Fleurie. Each estate must keep open the store a day a month. Each week, there are 3 wines on tap, plus each day a wine from estate opening the store that day. We met an estate doing thermovinification, ie vinification at + 60C°. Don’t think it’s with native yeasts… interesting shop though and the guy was super friendly. In the end, we bought a couple of bottles to give as present.
Shop picture:
Price list:
- For lunch, we had a quick bite at Joséphine à Table in St Amour. Food was simple but good quality. There is a Michelin star restaurant next door. Had some pâté and tandoori tartare. Wine list was long, but didn’t see older vintages.
- After lunch, we rushed to Daniel Bouland in Morgon. We arrived, and where met with a “ahhh…I am so busy… pfff I shouldn’t have accepted the appointment…pfff.”
Needless to say we were a bit surprised. But we got to his tasting cellar eventually, to taste his 9 cuvées on offer (7 of which are Morgon based). There are some serious “vins de garde”. Don’t touch for at least 6 years (according to Mr Bouland). Lots of concentration, smooth tannins, but balanced nonetheless. The Morgons are the real deal, but unfortunately nothing for sale (we didn’t insist, as the car is already overloaded). We’ll buy some Corcelette and Delys VV in Belgium. In the end, we spent 1.5 hours there, as he really opened up, especially after our small gift of Belgian chocolate and 3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek. We went in the direction of our car, but he then asked whether we wanted to revisit a cuvee, so there we went back in again… Great visit, despite the strange first encounter.
Tasting cellar:
The 9 cuvées tasted:
Some 2015 Chiroubles that he has kept back, so watch out for those:
Hope this encourages you to seek out this beautiful region. About 1.30 hours from where I am based, but around 1 hour from Beaune.
just reloaded on 17 bouland after drink a delys last weekend…delicious stuff
2017 Domaine du Vissoux / Pierre-Marie Chermette Moulin-à-Vent Les Trois Roches
Sensational. I’ve been buying Vissoux, and this particular cuvee, for years, but need to note, William Kelley drilled it on his review. This wine is electric, sensational. Ripe, succulent, big juicy wild raspberries, tart cranberries, blood orange citrus, with a chalky soil-inflected, minerality-laden finish. The acid is so alive on this one.
Great info in here, thanks everyone.
Just put an order in for
6x Ch Thivin - Cote de Brouilly 2017
4x Jean Foillard - Morgon Côte du Py 2017
4x Jean Foillard - Morgon Cuvee Corcelette 2017
Robert, have you had any of the other 17 Vissoux bottlings? If so, how do they compare?
Alain Coudert brought barrel samples of the Roilette ‘18s and the ‘17 Griffe (always sold one vintage behind) to NY last spring, and I thought the Griffe was magical (and didn’t get a menthol note). Curious to taste from bottle. One is on tap.
The ‘18 Roilette CT was also very good. Some are calling it the best ever. I don’t get into calling new releases “best ever,” and I’ve had many magnificent Roilette CTs over the years, but it’s a very good wine.
Thanks Jayson. Is the '18 CT more on the black-fruited end of the spectrum or is it more red-fruited? I’m considering buying a case of it for a family function early next year, but would have to buy blind. We are serving fish as one of the food options, so that is a concern.
Thanks, Jayson.
Love Roilette. Been buying the Griffe since its 2009 release but have not yet seen the 2017 hit the market. Can you relay who has it? The Cuvée Tardive is excellent.