Tasted in Le Breuil with Ghislaine Dupeuble, pictured with brother, Stéphane Dupeuble, 20 February 2020.
Beaujolais Dupeuble Père et Fils
Château des Pertonnières
69620 Le Breuil
Tel : +33 4 74 71 68 40
www.beaujolaisdupeuble.fr
In the whole of France, there are few domaines with a history as long as this producer. In 2012 they celebrated their 500th anniversary – yes they have been based here in the Pierres Dorées since 1512!
The domaine of today covers ~45 hectares of vines, some newly planted but all Beaujolais, no Beaujolais Villages or crus. You may note that one of the white Beaujolais carries the cuvée name of Asmacker – this was the original name of the family here at Château Pertonnières. Ghislaine’s grandmother was an Asmacker but she married a Dupeuble and so the family name at the château changed at this time. Ghislaine laughs “Yes, until we made this label, the name had been lost!”
Principally the wines are exported, about 80%, mainly to the US, Canada, DE, UK – ‘even a little in China.’ You may also find the wines under the label of Dupeuble Père et Fils or Château Pertonnières – it depends on the market – but the wines are the same.
Ghislaine on 2019:
“In 2019 there’s a lovely quality but I’m better not talking about the quantity! Chardonnay is always precocious and so we lost a lot to frost…”
Ghislaine on 2018:
“2018 is magnificent. We have the structure, we have the fruit and we have the finesse too – not quite like 2015 but not far away. There was also volume – we aim for 40-45 hl/ha and usually never achieve it, but we did in 2018.”
The wines…
Workmanlike whites and rosé, but what a simply great range of reds in 2018 – bravo! When you look at the pricing you will be even more amazed – in some parts of the Côte d’Or they spend more on the packaging than these wines cost!
Currently commercialising 2016 so none of the reds have labels, for now, but they are bottled:
2018 Beaujolais Rosé
A width of mineral aroma faintly edged with some red floral fruit. Hmm, that’s much more accommodating than the nose suggested. A nice finishing freshness and salinity – long finishing.
2018 Beaujolais Blanc Le Prébende
Hmm – that’s got a good width of aroma, nicely inviting. Good shape in the mouth too, easy over the palate, wide and mouth-watering – growing. Really rather tasty wine with no overt rigour – an excellent BJB.
2018 Beaujolais Blanc Asmacker
Named to remember Ghislaine’s grandmother.
Like the rosé this has a little more rigour to the mineral nose but also with a little citrus to balance. Fuller, rounder, slowly melting flavour – this is a little more concentrated, a little less accessible and open than the last but nothing hard, still very nice, with an impressive finish …
Les Rouges:
50-100-year-old vines on a granitic soil.
Plenty of colour. Nicely vibrant. An almost inky nose with a little graphite minerality. Juicy, wide, a drag to the texture from the tannin but no grain – juicy black cherry, almost a little smoky finishing – that’s really great BJ!
40-80-year-old vines on clay and silica. Elevage in stainless on lees, bottled in April.
Plenty of colour again. More freshness, more floral perfume. Wider a little more dynamic and complex. Melting, mouth-watering flavour. More deliciously floral – that’s a beauty and great BJ again – not much more than €7 ex cellars here!
On clay and limestone – ‘it could be for white but it’s planted with red.’ Finish the fermentation for this in older barrels – 6-10 years-old. Currently commercialising the 2015 of this.
Lots of colour – almost saturated. A big, round, open, oaked nose – that’s why they wait 3 years to commercialise. Supple, great texture, micro-grained tannin. Concentrated finishing, long, impressive wine – lots of oak today though so wait! This is almost certainly great Beaujolais wine but the oak detracts today.
Different shape of bottle, wax-topped. A parcel on schist, 80-year-old vines. Use a grill in the fermentation tank – elevage in cement for 15-18 months. ‘It’s the parcel and the vinification that makes the difference we don’t have a lower rendement – it’s still about 40 hl/ha.’ Currently commercializing 14 and 11 – 22.50 for this bottle – only 3k bottles, the 2011 was the first commercial vintage to celebrate the 500 year anniversary in 2012 – the 2012 was hailed.
Deep, deep colour. Profound – not fully open for sure – inky, releasing only a modest top note, but one that slowly augments with violet flowers – it’s taking its time. Really a concentration here – but not heavy. A micro-grain of tannin once more. Weight but still open not overly dense despite its concentration. Very wide finishing, slowly ingraining, slowly salivating. Ouf! Great but you’re going to have to wait. This will reward you for 20 years at least – and for the price of some Bourgogne Rouge!