Monternot – Les Jumeaux – 2019
Tasted in Blacé with twins Bernard and Jacky Monternot, 16 February 2021. Domaine Monternot – Les Jumeaux Les Places 69460 Blacé Tel: +33 4 74 67 56 48 www.domainemonternot.com More reports for Domaine Monternot Bernard and Jacky… Read More
Monternot – Les Jumeaux – 2018
Tasted in Blacé with twins Bernard and Jacky Monternot, 11 February 2020. Domaine Monternot – Les Jumeaux Les Places 69460 Blacé Tel: +33 4 74 67 56 48 www.domainemonternot.com More reports for Domaine Monternot On 2019: “In… Read More
Monternot – Les Jumeaux – 2017
Tasted in Blacé with twins Bernard and Jacky (right) Monternot, 12 February 2019. Domaine Monternot – Les Jumeaux Les Places 69460 Blacé Tel: +33 4 74 67 56 48 www.domainemonternot.com On 2018: “Perfect, marvelous! We’d like that for the next 20… Read More
Monternot – Les Jumeaux – 2016
Tasted in Blacé with twins Bernard and Jacky (right) Monternot, 06 February 2018. Domaine Monternot – Les Jumeaux Les Places 69460 Blacé Tel: +33 4 74 67 56 48 www.domainemonternot.com On 2017: “In 2017 we actually had the opportunity to get bored –… Read More
Monternot – Les Jumeaux – 2015
Tasted in Blacé with twins Bernard and Jacky (right) Monternot, 07 February 2017. Domaine Monternot – Les Jumeaux Les Places 69460 Blacé Tel: +33 4 74 67 56 48 www.domainemonternot.com “We are the eternal apprentices – every year is different and we are always… Read More
Monternot – Les Jumeaux
Tasted in Blacé with brothers (indeed twins!) Jacky and Bernard Monternot, 20 April 2016. Domaine Monternot – Les Jumeaux Les Places 69460 Blacé Tel: +33 4 74 67 56 48 www.domainemonternot.com This domaine has been serviced by four generations of the same family –… Read More
Monternot’s 2016 Fruit & Terroir…


The twins weren’t available for a visit to taste 2020s earlier this year. It’s close to retirement time for them – hopefully, they have a good succession plan underway as they always produce highly interesting and well-priced wines: 2016 Monternot Les Jumeaux, Beaujolais Villages Fruit & Terroir… Read More
2022 Beaujolais Nouveau – as good as it gets!


The 2022 vintage:The 2021-2022 winter was long and, compared to most of the recent years, relatively cold. Frosts were commonplace until the beginning of April so probably because of that, budburst - in the second half of April - was relatively late. At this time, the domaines were already noting a lack of rain in the vineyards.
May was a warm and dry one: 50% less rainfall than normal plus more sunshine than usual - it was the warmest May on record since 1959.
The vines grew quickly and flowering took place in ideal, if early, conditions. Despite the dryness of May, there was sufficient rain in June to avoid issues with the vines even if the quantity of rainfall remained much below the average. It was in July that (not just!) the Beaujolais saw successive waves of hot weather - again lacking rain - it was the driest July for 33 years with 8mm of rain instead of an average of 68mm! This meant that the sanitary conditions of the vines couldn't have been better.
The harvest was very early - from the middle of August! The hot weather had reduced the amount of malic acid in the grapes but concentrated the amount of tartaric acid. Despite a little more rain in the area of Beaujolais Villages, the wines were concentrated and volumes were modest, so unlike in 2020, it was rarely possible for domaines to 'take advantage' of the volumes on offer - so there is a consistency in the concentration and ripeness in these 2022s.
Many thanks to the team at Château du Moulin à Vent for some of their vintage insight.
The best wines:
I just hope that you have some chance to find such domaine wines. Last year my local (Swiss) coop had only one, which was bottled just for them - no producer info - and that was probably just as well because it was rubbish!
Whilst there were few 'great wines' in the equivalent tasting of 2021s, last year, those that were, clearly stood out from the crowd. In 2022 it was more difficult because the average quality was very consistent and as high as I have seen it - in this respect it reminds me very much of the 2019 vintage. From 100 wines there was one that was corked - the second bottle was fine - and only one wine where I directly said 'NO!' - I wouldn't put this one in my mouth a second time!
Any complaints?
Actually, yes! Why so many heavy, statement, bottles? - 'Prestigious cuvées?' This is Beaujolais Nouveau for God's sake. WTF!?
4 Great wines:
Dominique Piron: Beaujolais AND Beaujolais Villages
Domaine de Colette, Natur’Elle de Colette, Villages
Domaine des Nugues Villages
12 Excellent Wines - Beaujolais:
Jean Yves Sonnery
Anthony Charvet, Beaujo Beau
JM Aujoux, La vie est belle
Frédéric Berne
Domaine Perthuizet, Gégé
Trenel
Château de L’Eclair
Domaine des Prévellières
Julien Bertrand
Brossette Paul André et Fils
Agamy, Domaine du Solémy
8 Excellent Wines - Beaujolais Villages:
Château de Vaux De Vermont Yannick
Vignobles Jambon, Pure
Domaine Péchard Tano
David Berougon
Jean-Paul Dubost, Beaujolais Lantignié
Domaine du Clos du Fief
Château de Pougelon
Jean Yves Sonnery, Cuvée Elégance
Click on 'Read More...' below to see the full notes for 100 wines in the order that they were (blind) tasted:
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2020 Beaujolais Nouveau


Or primeurs as the French, so often, refer to them. 162 wines, tasted blind in deepest Beaujolais, 04 November 2020:
2020 is the next in a series of warm vintages in the Beaujolais; it was frost-free in the Springtime and there was practically no hail in the Summer either. If there was to be one problem it was the dryness - some areas were described by locals as 'being on the limit.'
Yet when it came to the harvest they had good, clean, grapes - even those with quite high degrees of potential alcohol. The final figures are not yet available for the yields in 2020 but the current expectation is for volumes that are below the average due to the aforementioned dryness. If that turns out to be the case, I won't be at all surprised.
2020 and the most recent vintages:
I've done this tasting since the 2017 vintage, and whilst the recent quality from Grower Nouveau is on a much, higher level than I can ever recollect - and with much more consistency too - it seems to me that yields go a long way to defining what you will find in a bottle of Nouveau.
I'm certain that it's not particularly from the perspective of absolute quality that yields show themselves but rather from the perspective of the consistency of the observed quality where they play their role. Some people will always go to the maximum allowed - 65 hl/ha - whilst others are quite happy with 45 - or less:
Vintage 2017 - a warm, clean, early vintage – one hailstorm excepted – but low yielding. The best wines were excellent and the quality was consistent
Vintage 2018 - a warm clean and again an early vintage but with many higher-yielding places where the producers allowed. I observed significant quality differences in the samples - I largely attributed this to big swings in yields.
Vintage 2019 - another warm vintage with harvesting a little later but because of both frost and hail, yields were cut. The best wines were of high quality and the consistency was intermediate to 2017 and 2018.
Vintage 2020 - a warm clean vintage with consistently below-average yields. The best wines, once again, show high quality and a consistency that's at least as good as seen in the 2017s. The wines are relatively powerful and well constructed, the 'villages' wines generally need a little patience but are consistently excellent! NB Given the early harvest in 2020, these wines have seen nearly an extra month of ageing - that's 33% more! - than would be the case for a, more traditional, late-September harvest. In 2020 you can almost blind-buy Beaujolais-Villages-Nouveau as they are overwhelmingly excellent, less-so Beaujolais Nouveau but still with some confidence. Of course, if you don't want to gamble, try the list further below.
And the market?
Of course, it’s a nightmare time to have an en-primeur campaign in 'mid-lockdown' but judging by the number of trucks on French roads, logistics still seem to be effective. It's (still) a very important slice of the region's sales for these primeurs - Japan representing the largest export market after the US, Canada, Switzerland and then the UK. About 46% of the production was exported from France in 2019, when Nouveau accounted for nearly 30% of all the sales from Beaujolais - about 21 million bottles - and that now includes 2 million bottles of rosé too!
So how are the wines? One week before the big day, here is my list of 21 goto wines from 162 tasted 04 November 2020:
2020 Beaujolais Nouveau:
2020 Fellot Emmanuel, Vieilles-Vignes
2020 Château de L’Eclair
2020 Coquard Christophe
2020 Famille Chasselay, La Marduette
2020 Jean Loron, Tradition Vieilles Vignes
2020 Domaine Girin
2020 Trenel
2020 Chandesais, Petit Marcel
2020 Domaine Perroud Robert, Vieilles-Vignes
2020 Les Vins Aujoux
2020 Beaujolais Villages Nouveau:
2020 Domaine Nesme Mickael
2020 Famille Chevrier
2020 Colonge André et Fils, N°1 Gasby Gamay
2020 Fessy Henry, Tradition
2020 Domaine Lagneau
2020 Domaine des Fournelles - Dumontet Guillaume
2020 Lacondemine Jérôme, Coeur de Raisin
2020 Domaine Monternot Les Jumeaux
2020 Dubost Jean Paul, Beaujolais Lantignié
2020 Cave du Château des Loges, Les Trois Madones
2020 Boudeau Nicolas
Click below to see the full notes for all 162 wines:
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