Tasted with Anne-Sophie Dubois on this windy day in Fleurie, 05 February 2021.

Domaine Anne-Sophie Dubois
Les Labourons
69820 Fleurie
Tel: +33 4 74 69 84 45
anne-sophiedubois.blogspot
More reports for Domaine Anne-Sophie Dubois

Anne-Sophie on 2020:
“My earliest harvest – 02 September! it was 05 September in 2018. We had concentration but at altitude here we didn’t have much slowing of maturites but the dryness was a problem. The first years I was here I worried about too much rain and botrytis in August – quite the reverse now!”

Anne-Sophie on 2019:
“Another dry year. The soils are granitic and poor here so there was always a little stress – I was in conversion towards organic in 2018 and it’s quite a balance on the hills here – to have enough ground-cover to avoid erosion but at the same time not take too much away from the vines. Fortunately, we had no problems here with the frost – we were too high! Yields were average – 33-35 hl/ha – that’s okay – less than 30 isn’t okay! Probably we were saved by the rain we had in the first half of August. The wines show a fresher side. I certainly think we’ll be drinking them before the 2018s – I like this freshness very much.”

The wines…

A strong range of wines from Anne-Sophie – as usual, delicious bottles…

2019 Fleurie Cuvée Cocottes
First made in 2015 – for an easier entry wine – a more fruity wine. Always made with the whole-clusters, this was bottled in April.
Round, slightly cushioned darker red fruits – opening a little wider with air. Fresh – nice attack, but with depth of flavour too – and there’s nothing hard here. Long, slightly mineral… Very nice wine.

2019 Fleurie l’Alchimiste
Normally longer elevage – but changed here ‘I think my old elevage marked the wine a little from the barrels – so I’ve reduced the time in barrel a little.’
Deeper, dark fruit again, slightly floral. More compact but more mobile-flavoured. Beautifully textured, long and mouth-watering – a gorgeous finish – really excellent.

2019 Fleurie Les Labourons
A wider nose – more herbed. Mouth-filling, silky, a suggestion of more structure but also a little more complexity that plays very nicely over the palate. Lovely finishing, mouth-watering elegantly finishing – a delicious wine.