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 years. The mix of weather, working in the vines and the quality of the grapes touched on perfection. A good harvest volume and nothing to throw away, the grapes were fine. Honestly we had everything – maybe we are on the good side of climate change!”
On 2017:
“In 2017 we actually had the opportunity to get bored – at least compared to 2016! There wasn’t the same volume of grapes as in 2018, but there’s a resemblance in the wines.
“It seems that we are accumulating good vintages – 2016 is elegant, 2017 is more in the direction of 2015 or 2009. We didn’t make our yield in red but weren’t too far away so we are happy with the volume. But for whites it was a half harvest. Really it was the dryness that was to blame but we didn’t lose out on acidity. Overall they are wines of character, to keep. 2012 was the last real harvest where we had some significant losses – it was half a harvest – there wasn’t enough of the vieilles-vignes to make a separate cuvée in that year.”
The wines…
Delicious wines in 2017 – the basic Beaujolais Villages is an absolute stand-out!
There are three different soils at the domaine; one that’s more sandy – where the white and rosé come from – another that’s also sandy with some clay and more stones for the VV, and the third on a more rose-granite for the Fruit et Terroir cuvée.
2017 Beaujolais Villages Rosé
Skin contact for a little colour – grapes pressed but only a couple of hours of contact.
Hmm – not the biggest nose – it’s a small glass – more mineral than fruit. Nicely mouth-filling, a hint of softness but then a fresh drive of flavour that takes you into the finish – the fruit really appears for the first time in the finish – and it’s super here, edges with a little moreish salinity. Very tasty.
Average 40-70 year-old vines.
Deep and very dark fruited, floral – it’s a super invitation. Big in the mouth, silky, layered, slightly saline – great freshness and fine energy – Great BJV! Impressively persistent too.
2016 Beaujolais Villages Vieilles-Vignes
Approaching 100 year-old vines – the 17 won’t be bottled for over a month.
Deeper-still, almost blue fruit with the black. Round, supple, concentrated wine – without the same flow and energy of the last, but more layered and contemplative. Tannin, licorice, flowers – massively impressive finishing complexity – a certain elegance despite the concentration. Excellent!
A little extra floral impression over the dark fruit – extra freshness versus the 2016. Ooh – wide, fresh, mineral, really super concentration – not yet pleasure but that will come. Framed with a faintly astringent tannin but no overt grain. This will be great but wait a year, possibly 2 or 3 – but undoubtedly great wine.
2017 Bourgogne Blanc
All from around the domaine. I asked ‘why Bourgogne and not Beaujolais? “2 reasons, 1st so we don’t lose the right to use the label in the region, the ODG from ‘Burgundy’ might say it’s not needed ‘in the south’, but 2nd we also have many cavistes who request the Bourgogne label. In our conscience we’d rather label as Beaujolais though!”
A bowl of fruit salad, sweet but inviting. Mouth-fillingly round. Supple, quite enough freshness, a touch of phenolic texture, wide finishing with a certain floral component too – a good finish with a modestly mouth-watering mineral component. This is rather good!