Tasted in Montmelas-Saint-Sorlin with David Large, 11 February 2020.
Domaine David Large
Le Clerjon
69640 Montmelas-Saint-Sorlin
Tel: +33 4 74 67 30 95
www.davidlarge.fr
More reports for Domaine David Large
David on 2019:
“The big change here was moving to smaller bins for the fruit in 2019 – extra precision I think – I also had another 2 ha of vines in BJV. I’ve even planted a little Gruner Veltliner which will be a VdF… Weather-wise, I had some hail and frost so it was a year that was less generous than 2018, but not too bad. Fortunately there was no hail or frost where I buy my grapes. The fermentations were longer than in 2018 – the only wine that was shorter was the MaV and that was the longest in 2018!”
David, last year, on 2018:
“2018 had a complicated start to the year – there were days I take the truck to Moulin à Vent, treat the vines, head home, then it rained heavily, so back in the afternoon to treat again – it was character forming! My vines were hit by the hail in Beaujolais near Denicé – some big impacts to the wood of the vines too – I made a couple of treatments and left it to dry. In the end it was a better harvest volume than in 2017, indeed better than I expected – 35 hl/ha – I’m happy with that. The parcel in Moulin à Vent has a very light soil over black rock, it’s quite high in altitude – it wasn’t hit by the hail, but only 25 hl/ha was produced.”
The wines…
David doing it his own way – with some fine results…
2019 The Toxic Gamay’nger
VDF (The toxic avenger) – but with an AB label. ‘I liked the name – it’s a cinematic reference, but if I had left ‘Beaujolais’ on the label I might have been accused of being provocative for putting the two together, so I chose not to! For me it breaks all the clichés. Even a couple of (foreign) restaurants with Michelin stars have put it on their lists!’ Bottled less than 1 week. Pure carbonic in a round tank with about 9 days of maceration, two rackings.
A nice freshness. There’s gas here but not too bad. Wide, pretty red fruit a modest touch of tannin – but no grain. Wide and tasty finishing, just a little finishing bitterness that will fade over the following months. Tasty wine.
2018 Beaujolais Gamayhameha
Vines in the area of Pierre Dorée. Concrete for both vinification and elevage
A fresher and deeper nose. Wide, more concentration – a base of tannin. A little darker fruit but also more energy in this fruit – more ready/in-place than the 19 for sure.
Climat – Côte de Brouilly! In conversion to AB here. Not yet bottled, whole clusters, elevage in oval tanks.
A super fruit here – the nose open and extravagantly fresh-fruited. Bright, juicy fruit, cranberry/raspberry – very fresh and so juicy – it wouldn’t make you think of 2018. Bravo!
Vines high on the hill. A bigger ‘egg’ of 15 hl after a cement fermentation.
That’s got a lovely freshness too – darker fruit in this case. Also energetic indeed aromatic wine, a little more structure is visible. Also juicy, a little less energetic than the CdB but with an extra saline edge to the finish. I’d take this over ‘power MaV’ any day… Bravo!
2018 Beaujolais Villages Grand Terriers
Old gamay, volcanic rock, some sand, like the Nelson with small black grapes. David’s grandfather and father always vinified these apart, steep here. Very little sulfur.
The nose starts lightly reduced and a little round, but the reduction doesn’t last for too long. It’s there in the mouth a little too – here, whilst still fresh and energetic, there’s a more composed delivery of flavour, yet for the shape, the structure is less sophisticated. Relatively intense and particularly fine finishing – there’s lots of complexity. Finishes well – excellent.
A white:
2018 Beaujolais Villages Blanc ‘Dos Argenté’
‘The ‘silverback.’ I don’t have a tank adapted for white – I chose to protect it by bottling it! So it’s special and it’s ‘troubled’ (cloudy)! I first started with the name of a racehorse for this cuvée – but then it was hailed so there were very few bottles. Then the horse died so they asked for all the bottles for a wake for the horse! I decided to change the name after that – the gorilla is still well!’ Only 2 grams of added sulfur one when racked the other gram at bottling.
Very fragrant – perfumed wine. Bright, licorice flavour running through the wine – but in a good way. That’s special and more than interesting. Excellent!