TNs: a day with Marcel Lapierre

WINE TALK
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A few brief comments on the wines we tasted yesterday with Marcel Lapierre.

We’ve enjoyed several fantastic tastings here in France so far. Yesterday we had an early afternoon tasting at Domaine Marcel Lapierre in Villie-Morgon.

We drink more Lapierre than any other Beaujolais producer by far, but seeing the domaine, the land, the vines, and the people completely changed our understanding of the wine. The first surprise was the landscape. In our minds, Beaujolais was a sub-region of Burgundy, but we were completely off-base. The landscape and architecture in Villie-Morgon felt far more Mediterranean in influence, and not at all like the Cote d’Or. Our appointment was with Mathieu Lapierre, who speaks English, but this was a bottling day and Mathieu and the Lapierres’ English-speaking employee Nikolai (neither of whom are in the bottling pic, btw) were both very busy.

Monsieur Lapierre warned us that he did not speak English, and took us on the tour himself. Well, his English was just fine, and the tour was sensational. In addition to walking us through his own operation, he took us up to the top of the hill in Morgon that overlooks the entire region and showed us each village and explained their characteristics. At the end of the tour, Monsieur Lapierre took us back to his home, set up the table on his patio, and he, Mathieu, and Nikolai all joined us for a round of tasting. The setting was absolutely perfect and we had a great time.

Some very cursory notes on the vintages… we revisited each wine more than once, and Monsieur Lapierre took my glass and rinsed out the previous pour with a little of the next one each time. I didn’t write down everything we tried, and I didn’t take detailed notes on anything because I was having way too much fun drinking and chatting [wink.gif]

2009 - due to excess moisture this year, there’s fungus growing on some of the grapes. Monsieur Lapierre does not think it will be a big problem because as the grapes ripen, they’re less susceptible to infection.

2008 - we tasted the Morgon both with and without sulfites. Kermit Lynch imports Morgon without sulfites to CA, but with Sulfites to some other places where the wines are more susceptible to bacterial growth from excess heat. The '08 was just bottled in May, and although the Lapierres and Nikolai could taste the difference between the bottle with sulfites and without, we could not. The '08 reminded me of Lapierre’s '06, which had a very bright red fruit profile. Maybe the differences would be more apparent to us down the line, but right now, both bottles were so fresh and primary that we could find nothing “muted” in either glass.

We also tried Lapierre’s second label rosé, the 2008 Chateau Cambon Rosé, a saignee of Gamay. Unfortunately, Kermit Lynch does not import this and it’s available only in NY from Polaner. His Chateau Cambon rouge goes only to Chicago. A shame, because these wines were delightful. The rosé really had the hallmark Lapierre style-- very fresh and balanced, with pure red fruit (strawberry in this case).

2007 Morgon - we’ve enjoyed this vintage many times at home. This is less fruity and more earthy than the '06 or '08. Nikolai commented that he likes it because it “smells like the cellar”.

2007 Vin de Pays des Gaules - another one we’ve enjoyed very much at home. Lighter and less concentrated than the Morgon, but absolutely delicious. Monsieur Lapierre broke into excellent English to declare “mm, barbecue wine!”

2007 Cuvée Marcel Lapierre MMVII the “opposite of Vin de Pays des Gaules”, this special cuvée is made from Lapierre’s oldest vines and only in very good years. Very concentrated, yet still elegant.

2006 - still youthful, still dominated by red fruit, but a lot more floral than I remembered.

2005 - a “wow” Beaujolais. Absolutely beautiful, yet we all agreed it smelled more like very good Pinot Noir than very good Gamay. Earth, cherry, but with a juiciness on the palate that reminds you it’s Beaujolais. Must find more of this in the states.

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Great notes Ms. McCall. Thanks for the awesome recap. If you ever make your way to NY, you could possibly track down some of the Cambon Rosé.

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Thanks for the great write-up.

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Awesome report, thanks so much! I love Lapierre’s 06s, though I find Foillard’s Morgon 2007 Clos de Py more precise and more inviting than Lapierre’s. Still, I love them both.

God, I miss France.

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Nice Melissa.
The 05 is a fantastic bottle of wine as you note.

Thanks for the notes.

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Terrific post, thanks for sharing the pictures and notes.

I’m curious, how did Lapierre open the bottles with wax caps?

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Great notes, The Beaujolais is a special place.

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He drilled right through them with a waiter’s corkscrew. We actually asked him why he uses wax. At some point around 1980, he wanted to change the bottle’s appearance so he redesigned the logo and added a wax capsule. He basically just preferred the look of it to foil.

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We mentioned that very bottle as an example of another Morgon we’d enjoyed recently, and Lapierre explained to us that Foillard had been a a student of his. Like you, I love them both, but I think I’m in the minority around here-- I prefer the '07 Lapierre to the '07 Foillard. Different strokes.

I will be very sorry when we have to leave France, but you can bet your jamon-covered booty that I’ll be back within a year.

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Strangely, I open my Foillards by drilling right through the wax capsule with the corkscrew, works everytime, with just a few scraps of wax in my wine. Glad to hear you’re having fun, and glad that you saw the stained glass at the Cathedral in Reims, they are really lovely.

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Hey Michel, what’s a good translation for “buvabilite?”

Merci…

BTW, I’m such a total goober… I got Marcel Lapierre’s autograph! blush [dance-clap.gif]

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This is all very good, but what does it have to do with Dr. Jay Miller?

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Jealous!

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Drinkability?

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Great report and consider me another of the insanely jealous mob. When in France I rarely get out of Paris but that may have to change.

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I can’t tell if it means that it’s drinkable in the sense that it’s evolved to the point of readiness, or that it’s gulpable. The Lapierres used this term to describe some of their wines, but I think the subtlety of what they meant was lost on me.

We planned our trip with Paris at the end of it so we wouldn’t be tempted to blow off everything else and stay there. [basic-smile.gif]

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Nice post and nice visit! As much as I liked Paris, it was a real treat getting out into the various wine regions and tasting at places I knew only from a stray bottle or two stateside…

Bruce

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Thought it was “granny-ability” in Yiddish.

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Great commentary and notes thank you. I love the wines from Lapierre - and from Foillard as well.

Peter

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Thanks Peter. Bruce, I’m an unabashed rube here, stopping to take pictures of pretty much anything I’ve ever seen on a wine label. As much as the wines, I’m completely gaga for the cheeses.