Beaujolais is truly on the big rise up!

[greatbxfreak]

Just forget Beaujolais Noveau, as Beaujolais wine area has much more to offer than short-lived mode flip wines, which are dirty stains on the quality of Beaujolais. Several producers in Beaujolais produce wines that challenge wines from the big brother, Burgundy.

I was encouraged in August last year by some members of BWE to try wines from Thivin, then try later wines from Jean Foillard and Coudert's Clos de Roilette. Wines from them were real eye-openers.

Then I searched the net for other producers and found Marcel Lapierre, Jean-Marc Burgaud, Mee Godard, Desvignes and Guy Breton. Purchased their wines. Last July, I did a Morgon and Fleurie tasting of the single vineyard wines + plus luxury cuvees, 13 wines in all, including Thivin's Cuvee Zaccharie from Cotes de Brouilly. Mostly 2019 vintage and some 2018. Almost all were a wonderful experience.

Jean-Marc Burgaud - has a diploma in oenology and wine growing and began making wines in 1989. Today there is 19 ha of vines, and Morgon counts for 13 ha. He practices full carbonic fermentation and whole cluster vinification, including stems. No sulphur is added during the vinification, but some before the bottling. His luxury cuvees Javernieres and James are an incredible value for money. Dark fruit, powerful, concentrated, vibrant, and sophisticated with perfect acidity and complexity.30 Euros per/bottle!! 96p both.

Guy Breton - Morgon P’tit Max 2019. Made from 1 hectare of 100+-year-old vines in the lieu-dit of Les Charmes in Cote de Puy. The wine is aged for ten months in used barrels from no other than Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, and then bottled unfined and unfiltered. Elegant and delicate, yet concentrated, cherries and violets. Impressive. 93-94p.

Alain Coudert - Produces powerful Fleuries from the Clos de La Roilette vineyard bordering the Moulin-a-Vent district. Because of this location, his Fleuries tend to be more powerful than other producers' wines from this commune. He makes three cuvees, standard Fleurie, Fleurie Vendange Tardive and Fleurie Griffe de Marquis. I tasted the latter in two vintages: Eighty years old vines, one year of ageing in Burgundy oak barrels. Both 2018 and 2019 were sensual, mineral, and extremely seductive. Milk chocolate and mashed wild cherries. Delicacies! Stunning value for the money! 95p both.

Jean Foillard - a cult producer in Beaujolais, making wines with great elegance, finesse and richness. His Fleuries are so delicious and seductive. Wow. 2018 - 92+p, 2019 - 93+p. Morgon Corcelette 2018 was mineral and long on the palate. 94p. 2019 here was more refined with more body, better mid-palate and longer finish. 94+p.

Mee Godard - is originally from Korea. Settled in Beaujolais in 2013. A very talented winemaker who produces deep, concentrated and intense wines for long-term keeping. 2019 Morgon Passerelle 577 is the blend of best cuvees selected from Cote du Puy. Powerful stuff, yellow plums (mirabelles) and morello cherries on the nose, crushed rocks, spicy, strong structure and backbone, long finish. 95p.

Marcel Lapierre - Morgon Cuvee MMXIX. It is made from a small selection of parcels at Cote du Puy, with no use of sulphur during vinification. Fabulously refined on the nose and palate. Cherries wrapped in milk chocolate, minerality and bright acidity, complex, flowing midpalate, great structure and long velvety finish. This is a stunningly beautiful wine which will benefit from further cellaring. 96+p.

Thivin - a cult producer in Cote de Brouilly. Cote de Brouilly Zaccharie 2019, the flagship of the property. It is made from the best plots from vineyards of La Chapelle and Godefroy, 50 years old vines, manual harvest, vinified partly with whole bunches, nine months in French oak. It tasted like well-crafted Burgundy wine of excellent quality, f.i. Chambiolle Musigny or Nuits St. Georges. Coffee beans and expresso, cherries, utterly expressive and complex, vibrant, luscious and creamy. Awesome stuff! 96-97p.

[JimHow]

Wow this is very helpful GPF to someone like me who has started to take an interest in some of these wines from the discussions here on BWE.
I'll be looking for these wines!

[JimS]

Thank you for this excellent writeup and notes - I personally could not agree more. I’ve long given up on the Burgundy game once prices went stratospheric and have been just quietly drinking these lovely wines for a song. Such character! Blinded, I’d wager that many of the wines you listed could hang with bottles 10x the price or more in some cases from Burgundian peers - they are a ridiculous value. Jim, reading so many of your tasting notes and teasing out your preferences, I’d bet you would love many of these wines listed. Lapierre Morgon is a personal favorite of mine, particularly the sans soufre version.

[un bureaucrate]

Coincidentally enough (yes, really! Poured into a Riedel Burg Grand Cru glass right before checking back on this website), I’m sipping ’20 Lapierre Morgon right now; per the back-bottle information, this one does contain sulfites. Had it before, I’m sure I will drink more again on another occasion. Thus far, the ’20 much aligns with greatbxfreak’s note concerning the ’19, with the exception of the finish, as there’s somewhat shorter persistence here; and less chocolate, more prominent minerality, in general.

It’s funny that one of my great discoveries thanks to reading BWE over the last several years has been the fantastic Cru Beaujolais wines. I’ve yet to try Thivin’s Zaccharie, but love their regular Cote de Brouilly. The wines of Moulin a Vent I’ve tried from various estates/producers are another favorite.

Editing to add — a hearty thank you for posting your notes, greatbxfreak. I plan to try several bottles you described, hopefully soon.

[greatbxfreak]

un bureaucrate,

You will be thrilled when tasting Thivin's Godefroy and Les Griottes de Bruilhe, Foillard's Morgon Cote de Puy and Mee Godard's Morgon Cote de Puy!!

JImS,
.
Some say that Morgon comes closest to Burgundy of Beaujolais Crus. Lapierre is a great discovery!

[ericindc]

I've never been a huge fan of Boeajolais as well, but Marcus S brought a Foillard Morgan 3.14 (Pi) to a tasting a few years back. I've never had such an elegant beaujolais. The price of that unicorny wine has been through the roof. Any recs on another wine that's similar?

[AKR]

one cool thing about Foillard's wines is that they are very low (or possibly no) sulfite, so they are some of the very few rouge's that one of my siblings can consume without having a reaction. Mostly they are stuck to white/sparkling because of that latter in life allergy.

Bojo is handy in our area because they are light and fresh, and when its triple digits heat, they don't wear one down after a glass or three.

At least on the West Coast USA, there is a fairly powerful filtering mechanism: importers/distributors. The bad/mediocre ones aren't going to be shipped 6000 miles given how costly that it is on non speculator grade wines. So there's a good chance that what's available will be good here. I'm partial to Garagiste's selections, as well as what K&L direct imports, along with some of wine.com's ones. Not widely available out west, but Billard's Saint Amour is all over the Northeast and is worth checking out. It can age too.

[AlexR]

Izak, if you had asked me a while ago, I never would have believed you would be a fan of Beaujolais!

I love the stuff - when it's good.

My plan is to go to southern Burgundy next spring and visit vineyards in the Beaujolais, Mâconnais, and Chalonnais and come back with a trunkful of wine.

I love Burgundy from the Côte d'Or, but have become priced out of the market.

AR

[greatbxfreak]

Alex,

Why shouldn't I be a fan of Beaujolais?

It's very healthy to pause Bordeaux after 37 years of constant drinking its wines for a while and restart ones tasting buds with something very different. Especially forgetting the tannin of Bordeaux wines is a very good and healthy thing!!

I'm forever grateful to these kind Beaujolais freaks here in BWE for making me aware of these wonderful wines from extremely talented and focused winemakers.

I love the well-hidden tannin and natural acidity, which make the Beaujolais wines incredibly balanced and almost seamless.

[greatbxfreak]

ericindc,

Lapierre Morgon Cuvee MMXIX.

[barsacpinci]

I guess my age shows but I always think of Beaujolais as a quaffing wine for summer nights and parties. I did try those Clos de La Roilette wines and just did not care for them at all. I felt they were terribly over extracted and hard to drink. But I was at that same tasting Eric spoke of with the Morgan 3.14 and I loved that wine. Go figure! I will have to experiment some more with your suggestions.

[greatbxfreak]

Two more pictures.

[AlexR]

... and the *huge* advantage of Beaujolais (other than the price tag) is that you don't have to wait 20 years to drink it!!!

AR

[Nicklasss]

Thanks Izak for that great report, that i loved at first reading.

I have been a defender of Beaujolais since the beginning of BWE, but agree that since a few years, the wines are better than ever at numerous producers.

I never tried Mee Godard wines, but one is available here, so should try it in the coming days.

Now, popularity is rising, so will we see prices increase in the coming years? Hope not.

[JimHow]

Jim, I really liked that Thivin I purchased at a great price from Zachy's last year.

When you guys see any of this stuff out there let me know!

[JoelD]

Great write up, Izak. Thanks for mixing it up. I certainly agree with a lot of your tastes. For my palate, the Coudert top wines are the best. And I may slightly prefer the Tardive over the Griff. Hard to argue with that Thivin Zacharrie though. Great wine too.

What are everyone's thoughts on aging these top Beaujolais vs drinking them younger? So far for my palate, I almost always prefer them on the younger side. Which is the opposite of most wines for me.

[Chateau Vin]

As usual, great informative writeup and notes, gbf...The downside is, the prices might go up especially for my favorites Lapierre and Breton...

Just a quick question. Did you have Domaine Lapierre Morgon or Domaine Lapierre Marcel Lapierre? I thought only Morgon has both Sulphite and Non-sulphite versions. The rest of the cuvees are only Sulphite versions...

[Claret]

On a different level, I know. But Jadot Beaujolais Village always delivers for an easy to find supermarket value.

I do have a bottle of 09 Lapierre Morgon in the queue.

[Nicklasss]

What are everyone's thoughts on aging these top Beaujolais vs drinking them younger? So far for my palate, I almost always prefer them on the younger side. Which is the opposite of most wines for me.

Better age to drink these (according to Hachette):

Morgon and Moulin-à-Vent : 5 to 10 years (it is well known that Morgon will "Morgonage" after 5 yo, adding complexity, staying fruity but adding Côte de Nuit stuff).

Chénas: 4 to 8 years.

Juliénas, Saint-Amour, Côte-de-Brouilly, Chiroubles, Fleurie, Régnié : 3 to 6 years.

Brouilly, Beaujolais-Village: first 3 years.

Personally, i think a bit of age improve all Beaujolais, adding complexity and softer complex fruit.

For comparison, Hachette recommend to drink most Margaux, Saint-Estèphe and Saint-Julien between 10 and 20 yo, and Pauillac between 10-25 yo.

[greatbxfreak]

Chateau Vin,

It was Morgon Marcel Lapierre Cuvee XXXIX not his standard Morgon!

He doesn't use sulphur during vinification. It was already mentioned in my post.

[JoelD]

I don't see that wine on CellarTracker or on Wine-Searcher anywhere. Do you have a picture of the label by chance?

[Chateau Vin]

Chateau Vin,

It was Morgon Marcel Lapierre Cuvee XXXIX not his standard Morgon!

He doesn't use sulphur during vinification. It was already mentioned in my post.

Standard Morgon is the only one that has both Sulphur and Non sulphur versions. The rest of the cuvees, including Lapierre Cuvee, Camille have a bit of sulphur added during vinification. IIRC, OrlandoBobby also mentioned this. The non-sulphur version of Morgon has ‘N’ printed on the back label. I tried both, but atleast for me, I couldn’t discern the difference between the two. Maybe you veterans are better equipped to find those nuances...

https://www.marcel-lapierre.com/wp-cont ... L-2020.pdf

https://www.marcel-lapierre.com/wp-cont ... n-2020.pdf

[greatbxfreak]

Chateau Vin,

You are not correct about Cuvee MM.....

https://www.marcel-lapierre.com/wp-cont ... L-2020.pdf

VINIFICATION : Macération semi-carbolique beaujolaise
traditionnelle sans SO2 ni levurage, de 15 à 36 jours.
ELEVAGE : En pièce de 228 litres, environ 9 mois.
MISE EN BOUTEILLE : Non filtrée mais légèrement sulfitée

It says no sulphur during vinification and a little bit before bottling.

[Chateau Vin]

Chateau Vin,

You are not correct about Cuvee MM.....

https://www.marcel-lapierre.com/wp-cont ... L-2020.pdf

VINIFICATION : Macération semi-carbolique beaujolaise
traditionnelle sans SO2 ni levurage, de 15 à 36 jours.
ELEVAGE : En pièce de 228 litres, environ 9 mois.
MISE EN BOUTEILLE : Non filtrée mais légèrement sulfitée

It says no sulphur during vinification and a little bit before bottling.

With all due respect, it's not a contest about who is correct and who is not. At the end of the day, only standard Morgon has no sulphur unlike other cuvees, and people drink bottled wine, not during vinification. And even though I cannot discern a wine that has sulphur vis a vis non-sulphur one, I am happy that I enjoyed both of them.

[greatbxfreak]

Chateau Vin,

It seems that you don't believe what Lapierre's website says.

I believe in facts.

Btw, I'm not sensitive to sulphur. After all, I had worked with chemical control of different medicinal products in a state laboratory for 39 years.

[DavidG]

I can testify that the 2020 Thivin Zaccharie continues to uphold the excellent reputation of the cuvée. Delicious as a pop and pour. Likely has stuffing to improve but it’s doing what a good Beaujolais should do, and then some, right now. Bigger and meatier than your average Brouilly.