I have not yet tried the Roilette, it’s been a yearly buy for me since the 2007 vintage, but 2018 flew off the shelves. Big props from the Uber-critics like William and also some key posters for this region, like Jayson Cohen.
So is the Corcelette Foudre 7 the only wine that has ever had the Foudre sub-designation?
I pay attention sometimes. I buy across the range, so have some of all of the wines that come into my market. I have yet to be disappointed grabbing one over the other as a result of my limited focus on the differences between them.
Cheers,
fred
I loved it, but I typically prefer riper to leaner Gamay. That said, I think there’s plenty of structure there. You just need to wait for the baby fat fruit to subside. See '97 white Loire wines for that.
Appreciate the heads up. Bummer. Hot Beaujolais is the last thing I’m interested in. The 25% tariff continues to sting. My buying has shifted to Italy for value (< $30) and “daily drinkers” unless there’s a sale. $35+, it’s OR Pinot for me. Avoid 2015 and 2018 unless you taste them before buying…check.
RT
Honored. Undeserving.
Also I was touting ‘17 Griffe although for an ‘18 (not a fan) Cuvee Tardive is decent. I would back buy ‘05 Tardive or open one if you have it. In a great place right now.
Sorry Jayson, had my vintages confused. I have 2017 Tardive but have not yet grabbed the Griffe. Need to do that, I have all vintages since the 09 inception.
No, a bunch of them did, but apparently his importers complained it was a nightmare so now (from 2018 on) he does lieu-dit and soil type on the label. Which I agree is the best solution.
Just about to open the bottle so the moment of truth arrives. But, Robert, can you confirm you opened the “Vieilles Vignes de 1926”? Because in 2018, Daniel also made a young vine Delys bottling which is labeled as merely Delys.
Okay, so I have the 1926 vines cuvée of Delys in front of me in the glass. Lots of blackberries, cherries and plums on the nose, which is pretty primary and fruit-driven. Full-bodied, ample and succulent on the palate, with quite a lot of powdery and cuvée-typical tannin that asserts itself on the back end. Serious concentration and plenty of flesh, and though it’s more immediate and front loaded than it sometimes is it hasn’t lost its identity in the process. One does feel a touch of alcoholic warmth but that’s simply the vintage talking, and this bottle certainly has what one would call “correct” acids: I can’t imagine the pH is more than 3.50.
I opened a Foillard Côte du Py and Métrais Moulin-à-Vent alongside and I made a short video tasting them and talking about the 2018 Beaujolais vintage which I’ll put on Instagram at some point I guess. As is typically the case, the Foillard and Métras are less rich and muscular than the Delys, with a bit less alcohol, and they are both very pretty wines. There’s a very subtle hint of brett to the Métras, so I wonder how that will show in the USA as opposed to in my cellar in Beaune (I picked up the bottles myself in the Beaujolais and drove them back with the AC ramped up last summer).
I just looked back at what I wrote about the vintage last year and thus far I don’t see any need to amend it:
The 2018 vintage in the Beaujolais was characterized by a rainy spring and a warm, sunny summer, and it has produced an abundant crop of supple, fruit-driven wines with below-average acidities. Pleasure-bent, round and expressive, these are wines that will give a great deal of immediate pleasure. Readers might want to think of 2018 as a suppler, more open-knit and less concentrated version of the 2011 vintage, though that analogy is far from perfect, and 2018 generally doesn’t hit the highs attained in 2011. Many producers observed that they had never seen such high alcoholic degrees from such generous yields. Indeed, the vines’ heavy burden of grapes, by retarding ripening, may have saved the vintage from the stylistic extremes of years such as 2015 and 2003 that combined below-average yields with warm, dry summers. If the 2018s have a defect, it is that they are somewhat facile: These are wines that are generally long on jammy but succulent fruit, yet they are somewhat short on the aromatic complexity and mouthwatering tang that many Beaujolais followers prize. In short, this is a very good vintage for the Beaujolais, but talk of a “historic” or “legendary” vintage—terms bandied around at harvest time—is clearly misplaced.
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Here it is…
Thanks, Williams. As all, your notes and comments are sensational. Would love to see that video linked here for all of us if that does not violate any TWA rules.
I’ve always said I have a country palate - Craig G calls it a yak palate - so frankly, readers should follow William for guidance. Heck, I prefer William’s notes over mine, lol. Our views totally paralleled on the most excellent 2017, and Bouland in general in the 2016 and 2017 vintages. This really is one of my fave producers in Beaujolais, this cuvee in 2018 obviously struck a raw chord with me, confirmed on the second day. Bummed, as I generally love it, and for Bojo, it ain’t cheap.
You did get me all excited with the hint of brett in the Metras . . . .
What if one’s idea of pleasure in the context of Beaujolais equals high acidity, moderate alcohol and overwhelming freshness? ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
On another note just bought my first bottle of 2018 Bojo: Régnié “Les Châtillons” from a newcomer called Aurélie Crozet. According to the retailer only 12.5% ABV, will report.
Well, I am writing for TWA remember 
More seriously, Gamay in Beaujolais has clearly always been something of a chameleon, and can veer towards Rhône Grenache or Burgundy Pinot depending on the vintage. My preference is for the latter, but recent vintages are delivering more and more of the former, and they can be very delicious in that stylistic register.
Just noticed that the Foillard CdP is labeled as fully 14.5%. All I can say is that it’s nicely integrated for that much octane. But it definitely makes the wine more fatiguing once you get 300ml into the bottle.
Discussing 2018 beyond Bouland, I had a Lapierre Juliénas recently that I found disappointing. It was ripe and dark, without the acidity to match the fruit, leaving the wine flabby. The label said 13.5% abv but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were higher.
I always find myself nodding my head yes every time I read something you write. I think we might be spirit brothers from far away lands! Hope you don’t mind, but I’ve always wanted a Finnish best friend! 
I claim Otto, then!
I am having the exact same wine in front of me, ie the 2018 Daniel Bouland Morgon Les Délys (VV).
If I take William’s note: “lots of blackberries, cherries and plums on the nose, which is pretty primary and fruit-driven. Full-bodied, ample and succulent on the palate, with quite a lot of powdery and cuvée-typical tannin that asserts itself on the back end. Serious concentration and plenty of flesh, and though it’s more immediate and front loaded than it sometimes is it hasn’t lost its identity in the process. One does feel a touch of alcoholic warmth but that’s simply the vintage talking, and this bottle certainly has what one would call “correct” acids: I can’t imagine the pH is more than 3.50.”
I’d say it’s a bit more dark fruited than “cherries” on the nose to my palate, but definitely “plenty of flesh” and “corrects acids”. I am surprised how fresh the wine is, mainly due to acid backbone for such a dense wine. I personally don’t get alcoholic warmth. My wife just tasted a bit and exclaimed: “wow this is good”, so that works for me.
After about 30 minutes in the glass, it seems to gain some weight and makes it a bit more monolithic. Will reward cellar time.
Woo! Fine by me.
Let me grab some nice, funky Cab Franc to celebrate this.
What a vivid, informative and elegantly written overview!
Touché I think you make a really good point regarding the stylistic leanings towards the Rhône and Burgundy, although before 2015 I mostly felt (either rightly or not) that these differences were terroir driven rather than vintage driven. Just saw the rather rare Lapierre Cuvée Camille this week online and was about to buy the only remaining bottle until I noticed that it too stated 14.5% ABV. I loved this cuvée in the 2016 vintage but am pretty sure that the ABV then was no more than 13%, likely less. I just could not pull the trigger.