2009 Château Thivin Côte de Brouilly- France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Côte de Brouilly (5/31/2012)
This was heads and shoulders the best btl in a very very good recent lineup of Cru Beaujolais. This wine more than any other btl that night showed precision and focus of fruit. Just the right amount of acidity gives this wine such lift and freshness. I love this producer so much I may start only buying Thivins Cru Beaujolais to the exclusion of other producers who seem heavier and show less finesse than Thivin. If you haven’t tried the 09 Thivin, you’re completely missing out. Perfect ripeness, pefect balance and such a silky texture. As good as I can imagine Beaujolais could ever be. This wine would still be a great value at $70 per. I’m reloading with 4 more btls to bring my count to six after drinking 2 of my original 4 already. I almost never buy six or more of anything…ever! (93 pts.)
Very glad to see this note. I also felt this wine was at the top of the heap in a tasting in early 2011, and holding a lot in reserve. It really seemed like it was made for long aging. I also have six, and I think it’s gone locally. 2010 was nice too, though leaner.
I bought a case of this wine and have enjoyed a few without taking too much notice. I’m on holidays in Malaysia and brought a few bottles down so will pay close attention to a bottle tomorrow night.
Thanks for the note. This wine was my favorite cru Beaujolais in 2005. I haven’t seen it around at decent prices since, but may rouse myself an pay the small premium necessary.
I thought it was the best of all the 2009 Beaujolais. Truly amazing stuff.
Has anyone tried the 2010? Is it a buy? That’s all you can find at retail these days; W-S Pro just turned up nothing for the 2009. I think I have 4 bottles left.
Im a big fan of the wines from Thivin but I don’t enjoy them young all that much. They are very “beaujolais” in their extreme primary fruitiness but I love how they age.
Don’t laugh, I passed on the 2005 for $2.39 on blowout in March. It was in my hand for a few seconds. I was tempted but ended up buying many cases of other blowouts to compensate and exceed my storage space.
I still have most of my 05s, James; On the other hand, I’ve got some 09 magnums from Vinopolis now.
Here’s my note on the 05 from September '11, fwiw: The burly structure of this wine is thinning out year-by-year, now beginning to approach silkiness, only very modestly plumped by the suggestion of underlying fruit. WIth air, a hint of cherry emerges. It’s very nice wine, and delicious with food, just barely coming out of its shut-down phase. The last glass on the third day after opening was the best, with a heart of pure cherry.
I was really taken by the structure of the Thivin from my first taste of it.
Craig - what other Beajolais did you drink in the tasting?
Just knocked back an '09 Lapierre Morgon. Now this is a wine I kick myself repeatedly for not buying a full case or even more. I bought 6. Tonight and last night was the best showing yet. Starting to develop some silkiness to go along with the verve. Perhaps my favorite '09 Bojo as of now.
I tried the 2010. It is more austere than the 2009 but I liked it. I want to buy but I’m trying not to buy anything that’s not mission-critical right now.
Could anyone enlighten me as to the difference between the Cote de Brouilly and Cote de Brouilly “les 7 vignes” bottlings? The latter is slightly more expensive.
“We vinify grapes from each of our 7 plots separately, for each has its own qualities. This enables us to make single-vineyard wines such as “La Chapelle” and “Le Clos Bertrand”, or to combine our seven plots to produce a wine which represents the «Côte de Brouilly»appellation, “Les 7 Vignes”.”
Thanks so much for posting this note Craig. I grabbed a bottle at the local shop and loved it. Not sure I’ve had a better Beaujolais, though I don’t drink them very often. Can anyone help me with the drinking windows for aging Thivin or other cru Beaujolais of this style? I’ve only had them young. Do they typically close up for a while? This one is delicious now, so I don’t know if I could keep my hands off anyway.
Gamay matures quicker than Pinot Noir but Ive had Thivins that are 10+ years old that were drinking wonderfuly and still lots of life in front of them. I think I have some notes on this board. I adtually feel like Thivin needs time (to my subjective tastes) to settle down.
The Thivin website says, iirc, five to eight years for the regular CdB (but you might want to check the site yourself to be sure). The 05s are undergoing very nice development now, the substantial structure softening to give very tasty cherry flavor. Greg at Envoyer told me once that he tasted one with several decades on it that outshone a very prestigious Cote d’Or Burgundy.
The 09 sounds like it has more fruit, less structure than the 05, so it might come into a mature drinking window more quickly.
Thanks. I don’t feel like the 09 needs time as the structure is not too firm, but it may benefit. It was singing straight out of the bottle, but I was surprised that it actually seemed more closed on night 2 though. Not sure what to make of that. May have to open another. (for the sake of science of course)
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