Last night, local wine geek Marshall Manning and his delightful wife Carolyn came over for an evening of wine and cheese. It’s always a treat to drink with Marshall, who knows more about wine than anyone I know. We wanted to thank Marshall for helping us with some plans for our trip to France, but in typical Manning style, he and Carolyn arrived with a cooler full of wines and some gorgeous cherries from the tree in their yard.
We started with some whites, which we paired with Comté, Izarou, and a little Crottin de Chavignol. We also had Salumi’s house salami and prosciutto. When we moved on to Burgundy, we paired it with a pungent disc of Époisses. We didn’t take any notes-- just some general impressions.
2006 A. et P. de Villaine Bourgogne Blanc Les Clous- France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Bourgogne Blanc (7/10/2009)
Delicious. It was open for a few hours by the time I tried it, and it was love at first sniff. Slightly tropical on the nose with a (not at all cloying) pineapple note that made my mouth water. Very fresh, layered, and balanced on the palate.
2005 Domaine Pierre Guillemot Savigny-lès-Beaune Dessus Les Golardes- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune (7/10/2009)
70% Pinot Blanc, 30% Chardonnay. Incredible terroir here-- pure gravel. Great acid. I wish I’d taken detailed notes on this wine because I absolutely loved it. A steal at $30-something.
2005 Philippe Faury Condrieu- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu (7/10/2009)
Lovely florals and stone fruit-- absolutely textbook. A bit unctuous on the palate, but this is downright racy compared to most of the Viognier-based wines I’ve had. It’s not my cup of tea, but if you like Condrieu, it’s a well-made wine.
2007 Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py- France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon (7/10/2009)
Youthful but delicious. Deeper and richer than the Lapierre Morgon I prefer, but no less interesting. Everything about it was purple-- the color, the plummy fruit, and the deep violet florals. Steve and Carolyn both noticed a slight band-aid smell, but it was faint and they both loved the wine. My first taste from Foillard, but I will definitely buy a few of these to stash away for 3-5 years.
2006 Domaine Pierre Guillemot Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Serpentières- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru (7/10/2009)
We knew this was way too young, but we’re visiting the producer and we wanted to try as many of their wines ahead of time as we could. The nose was teasingly effusive, with a heavenly bouquet of red fruit and spice. I say “teasingly” because the palate is clamped down hard and gives up almost nothing. There was a good balance of acid and tannin, but no flavor or texture to match the nose. It finally opened up a little just as we drained the bottle. Hold it for at least a decade. If you don’t, give it some air. This wine will really reward patience.
2001 Domaine Pierre Guillemot Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Jarrons- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru (7/10/2009)
The final wine of the evening. Cherry, spice. Silky. Rounder and more approachable that the '06 Serpentieres we had before it, but still very young. If the sticker’s to be believed, we paid $21.99 for this bottle a few years ago. Outstanding QPR, and the wine still has a long life ahead of it.
The Foillards aren’t cheap but it sounds like it brought the joy. For me, I just found many beaujolais becoming bigger and darker. Kind of sounds like that is what they were going for.
Great notes…I’m surprised the 2006 Les Clous is approachable! Most vintages seem to take years to come around. I’ll have to open and decant one soon.
I started buying Guillemot with vintage 2001 - what a great vintage to start with. I have one 2001 Serpentieres left. And the Les Goulardes blanc is a fascinating wine - thanks for posting on it.
Guillemot is a very under rated producer. The wines age very well (had some 91 and 93s last year at dinner with the family, still fresh and lively) and cost almost nothing in comparison to some Cotes Nuits wines.
Foillard is a producer that makes natural wine so they taketh what the vintage giveth. If the vintage is going to make big wines, big wines will be made by Foillard, but if small and detailed is what the vintage dicates then Foillard will be that. 2005 and 2001 are good examples of this. And the idea that more Beaujolais are becoming bigger and darker I find hard to believe based on my experience especially given the lighter styled vintages of 2007 and 2008. What producers do you drink usually?
Lyle and Jason, the Foillard was not ripe in the big, blowsy sense. It had a nice lightness on the palate and the acid you’d expect. It simply had a darker color and fruit profile than I got from the only other '07 Morgon I’ve had-- the Lapierre.
Paul, the Les Clous was very accessible, but I have no idea how long it was open. Marshall’s a distributor and Thursday is his sales day, so I don’t know if he’d popped it to pour a sample an hour before, if he double decanted it hours early, or if he’d done something in between. Hopefully he’ll pop in with more specifics.
Lyle, thanks for bringing up the '01 Foillard. Detailed is exactly the right word to use. It was still delicious a couple years ago when I last had it.
Melissa, very nice notes. And what a great line up.
In a thread about burgundy books a few weeks ago, someone recommended the out of print ‘Great Wines of Burgundy’ by Duijker. (Great rec by the way - thanks.)
I tracked down a copy and was thrilled to see it had a lenghty section on Beaujolais. In it he notes that some of the sturdier villages like Morgon regularly hit alcohol of 13.5 and were frequently heavy (however he meant that.) This is from '77 - long before any perceived effects of global warming on vineyards or ‘Parkerization’ effect driving vintners to make bigger wines.
I’ve tasted the 06 Foillard but not the 07. I thought 06 was flat out fantastic. I don’t know that I’d describe it as a big wine, but it had plenty of structure and concentration and red fruit - despite all that it still gave an impression of lightness in the mouth.
If the 07 is truly better (I’ve gotten that sense from a few tasting notes) it might become my new favorite over Lapierre.
I find Foillard to be fantastic but very different than Lapierre. The 2005, 2001, 1999 and 1998 are favorites but the wines are obvious in size and structure but still have that Beaujolais lightness of touch. Lapierre is cut from a different cloth. More elegant and subtle and never a super structure like Foillard. Both great as is Breton and Descombes and Thevenet too.
Thanks for the thoughts and perspectives. I actually don’t remember the last time I bought I Beaujolais. What I did buy was generally what was at Winex. I never really followed beaujolais I would just grab bottles here and there so there is not much stock in my comments. Quite possibly it was a vintage thing since I think I stopped paying attention after 03. My non-scientific opinion was I was paying more $$ and getting fairly ripe wines. From what I was tasting, I would find more enjoyment in a similarly priced Pinot from Oregon or Burgundy.
Blah blah blah … I commented on Melissa’s note because it intrigued me and got me thinking as to why I stopped paying attention all together. Sounds like I should pick up some 07s next time I am at winex.
My guess is Winex carried the Gang of Four (Breton, Lapierre, Thevenet and Foillard)
I find 3 of those 4 to be big. Lapierre being the exception. Morgon has some of the best terroir in Beaujolais and by that the best exposures, thus the ripest wines.
Those also happen to be the most expensive although you can find Lapierre on the cheap now and then.
Check out Descombes as he is killer and in a lovely, pure and dark-fruited style.
Also Diochon for Moulin-a-Vent, which can also be a big Beaujolais esp in vintages like 2003 and 2005. I also used to like Domaine du Granit.
Cote de Brouilly is also a Cru that can deliver big brawny Gamay flavor for short change. Jean-Paul Brun and Domaine Chanrion come to mind.
I know they always have Duboeuf and Jadot. I’ll look for Descombes and Diochon. They are sold out of Chanrion. They have a batch of Vissoux but I don’t recall having the wines. Do you have thoughts on them?
Had the '07 Foillard tonight and have had it a number of times. Love the stuff. Do you really prefer the '07 Lapierre to it? I found the '07 Lapierre a little disappointing. The strange thing is, I was on a work with with Mathieu Lapierre last spring and while we were showing the '06, he was raving about his '07, so I’m kindah scratching my head a bit.
Brad, what was disappointing about the '07 Lapierre? Sure, I could open the one bottle I have. But I’m still trying to get to the last bottle of '02, which might be getting a bit long in the tooth (or maybe not).
I’ve had the '07 several times now because it was a mainstay on a few restaurant lists this spring, and yes, I prefer it to the Foillard. The Lapierre had a redder fruit profile, which I prefer in Beaujolais, and some really great earthy funk. It will benefit from time. I stashed a few away. I just drank my last '02 Lapierre a few months ago, and it was fantastic. I loved the Foillard… I just love the Lapierre more.
I found it extraordinarily light. Perhaps my expectations had been raised a little too high as a result of Mathieu raving about it, but I didn’t find much to the wine and preferred pretty much every vintage from '99 on to it, perhaps with the exception of the '04.
The '07 was the first vintage I’ve ever had of the VDP de Gaules, but I loved it. It’s grapey compared to the Morgon, but for $12, it’s a mighty fun bottle of Beaujolais.
