Tasted in Romanèche-Thorins with Adrien Duboeuf, 15 February 2019.

Vins Georges Duboeuf
208 rue de Lancié
71570 Romanèche-Thorins
Tel: +33 3 85 35 34 20
www.duboeuf.com

Adrien on 2018:
“2018 was a marvelous year. Really it was such an enormous quantity. I’ve been here only 6.5 years but this was by far the largest volume I’ve seen. We were particularly happy to see some of the volumes in the areas hailed in the last two years – it was definitely needed for our growers. Only the whites are currently a little fuller than we’d like but the reds are a pleasure to see.”

Adrien on 2017:
“About 20% less volume is my first impression. It’s a more heterogeneous vintage – mainly because of the areas hit by hail, but there’s the part of the skill required of a négociant to buy the best wines – in some places we saved the vintage by destemming! 2017 was a year of contrasts – some violent weather, quite chaotic but finally a year with some very nice things. There was frost on the south, hail in the north, high temperatures and a very strong sun. It’s a difficult vintage to understand as some areas had modest maturity, some others too much – the date of harvest was really important. In the end we had correct acidity and lots of sugar. Wines in the end that will remind of 2009 and 2011 – it was a small volume harvest, in that respect similar to 2012.”

The wines…

As always at this address, the wines were served a little too warm – apparently they have no separate storage near the tasting room to improve matters – which ultimately means that the wines show as less crisp and with less focused energy. That’s a shame, because very often when I taste them blind, in better circumstances, I find them striking. I did not inspect the corks, but quite a few of these wines had very tight aromas, often with a biscuit-style impression of reduction – occasional wines were completely open – so it was certainly the wines and not me!

Usually everything is bottled by the middle of the year, finishing with Moulin à Vent, but for the very first Beaujolais, for instance, bottling starts at the end of January. Adrien, with a few exceptions, chose to show all the Georges Dubeouf ‘flower’ range of wines – Selection Georges Duboeuf – i.e. those that they market with (see below, courtesy Duboeuf) floral-designed labels:

2017 Beaujolais
A modestly tight nose. Supple, round, red-fruited, a little depth of biscuit flavour – perhaps that’s a reduction – but the effect is not overly pleasant. Not for me.

2017 Beaujolais Villages
‘This is our reference cuvée for the company Exported to over 100 countries. The product of 400 vignerons and 13 coops.’
Also a tight nose but with a little more width. Supple, deep, good texture – still a little astringency to resolve but very attractive red fruit. Lovely, yet modest in the context of the best the vintage has to offer.

2017 Régnié
A deeper, darker fruit, almost a fizz to the nose. Bigger in the mouth – more structured too. Plenty of flavour dimension and lots of complexity – this is a wine for saving for a few months more, but it’s complex, energetic and quite perfumed too. Very good.

2017 Brouilly
Also a tight nose – almost a biscuit reduction. A touch more astringent, but wide, energetic and with lots of fresh energy. There is depth to this wine. Delicious part-floral, redder fruit than the Régnié too.

2017 Château de Nervers, Brouilly Pisse Vieille
Also a little biscuit reduction and tightness. Rounder, perhaps more depth and salinity here – but a rounder presentation – deliciously sweet finishing.

2017 Côte de Brouilly
Hmm, a tight nose, but no obvious reduction here, practically a silky style to the nose. Fuller. More depth and complexity – layered, delicious flavour – this is excellent – with some late arriving structure that’s says ‘wait a while’ – but so long…

2017 Chiroubles
A nice high tone with a little floral accent. Lots of volume and plenty of structure – a slight grain of tannin but not too much astringence. Long and interesting – tasty wine.

2017 Morgon
Hmm – a more open nose than most – a very attractive floral note is to be found here. Round, supple, concentrated but there is fine muscle too – a really excellent wine.

2017 Morgon Domaine JE Descombes
A relationship here for 40 years-plus.
Also a little perfumed – less focused than the last but fine all the same. More volume in the mouth and more, slightly saline tannin – really complex but for keeping – excellent.

2017 Fleurie
Back a little to the biscuit reduction – a tight nose. Supple, nice texture, depth of concentration – there are layers of very nice fruit here – considering the vintage in Fleurie, this is a lovely wine – very tasty.

2017 Fleurie Domaine des 4 Vents
In the eye of the storm in 2017, but that’s still a beautiful nose – fruit and flowers. Less colour than many wines. Supple, but more direct than the ‘flower cuvée’ very perfumed and a bit more structured. Ideally, I’d take the nose of this and the palate of the last..

2017 St.Amour
Ooh that’s open, perfumed, with fine floral fruit – yes! Plenty of volume, framed by some modest tannin. Layered with a nice clarity of fruit. This is excellent and has a great finish.

2017 St.Amour Domaine du Paradis
Ooh – a tighter but deeper nose, with a very fine clarity – yes! More concentrated, a deeper register of fruit – more structured too – you should wait longer for this, but there’s also a bit more wine here too. Excellent wine with lovely depth.

2017 Juliénas
Tight, deep, a little stewed fruit note. Supple and concentrated in the mouth – lots of depth here and a much nicer flavour on display than the nose suggests. This is delicious and complex. Yes – excellent.

2017 Chénas
A little high-toned salinity but quite a tight nose again. Lots of volume, depth of both concentration and texture too – there’s plenty of tannin but ripe and hardly astringent. A little floral complexity in the finish too – ooh a great finish. Excellent wine.

2017 Moulin à Vent
A nice width of aroma, faintly floral and almost a Vosne-style complexity. Nice dimension, fresh and open, layered a lovely tasty complexity in the finish. This starts modestly and finishes excellently – it misses a bit of concentration for ‘great’ but only that – truly excellent.

2017 Domaine des Rosiers, Moulin à Vent
A little lactic impression to the fruit on the nose, meaning a less interesting nose. Supple, dark-fruited, luxury texture – maybe some oak here – the middle and finish are great but I don’t think much of the nose – a very creamy style of wine here – real depth of flavour. If the nose improved I’d be happy to say ‘great!’

2015 Fleurie Cuvée Prestige
Working with a smaller group of producers, looking for maturity, longer extractions – cuvaisons up to 20 days, barrel elevaged – 16-18 months with new oak. Not made every year 2005, 2009, a little 2011 and now 2015…
Wide, complex, a little too much barrel aroma still today, but working the glass reduces the vanilla and accentuates the floral aspects – it’s certainly complex. Supple – nice volume – a beautiful shape in the mouth – complex, a little barrel, already a little Marsala style of oxidation that brings a more than interesting complexity. This is super long – this is beginning to move in my direction – already excellent, it could be great in a couple more years!