Château des Bachelards – 2019

21.4.2022billn

Alexandra de Vazeilles 2022 Château des BachelardsTasted in Fleurie with Alexandra de Vazeilles, 10 February 2022.

Château des Bachelards
69820 Fleurie
+33 9 81 49 47 00
www.bachelards.com
More reports with Château des Bachelards

As each year, Alexandra de Vazeilles prefers to show her finished wines, hence, we look at her 2019s.

Alexandra on 2019:
2018 was very rich because the nights were also hot – not just the days. 2019 saw much fresher nights which I find more Côte de Nuits than Côte de Rhône. The winter was cold with snow and frost, our aim being to finish the pruning in March. We did lose a little due to some frost but the weather very quickly became warm and dry. Generally, the hydric stress came early in Fleurie but the effect seems much less here due to the biodynamics and working the soils to aid pushing the roots deeper. Flowering had some poorer weather so was variable but this did produce plenty of millerandes and the unfrosted vines never showed traces of maladies – and this was a vintage where we used very few treatments. July and August were hot but fortunately with cool nights which brought the aromatic complexity to the wines and I’m sure it’s the balance of the plants that brings the freshness to the wines. The small rains of August helped too. We started harvesting in St.Amour 12-13 September – our last vines were done 19 September. Fermentations were very easy with the wines being bottled in September. Supple wines, with finesse and freshness.

The wines…

Quite simply the greatest tasting of my last 12-months; like at DRC I kept asking myself if the next wine can really be better – but it was! If I had been wearing a hat, I’d have taken it off to these wines – and their producer!

2019 Petite Fleur IGP
Usually a blend of the Fleurie and Lancié vines – Syrah/Gamay
Not a large nose but one of purity and with a blend of redder fruit and some fine herb. Mouth-filling, cool fruit – much fluidity – the flavour melting beautifully over the palate and bringing an extra insistence to the finishing flavour. Texturally, very fine wine. I feel a little finishing warmth – but this is a super elegant package.

2020! Fleurie Pâquerette
Cement elevage and only sulfured at the bottling so DIAM sealed. A small cuvée so not exported
Much extra colour. Fruity, attractive – there’s an impression of silkiness to this nose. More mouth-filling, mouth-watering, almost juicy. Silky again – a fine combination of generosity, texture and mouth-watering flavour. Delicious!

2019 St.Amour
Here is black granite, limestone and schist. The granite here is similar to that in Moulin à Vent. ‘I think this wine is really benefitting from getting the life back into the soils. I bought 0.26 ha of new vines in 2018, the life is slowly returning to those soils!
This nose is ample and with fine floral blooms. Extra silk, a fluidity of elegant flavour – texturally superb. Growing more mouth-watering. Micro-grained tannin supports the flavour. Time will bring extra dimensions but this is typically a great wine chez Bachelards – and it certainly is in 2019 too!
2019 Moulin à Vent
A narrower nose but a much deeper one – there’s a trace of creamy oak in there too – but just a trace. More volume – more mouth-filling volume. The elegant fluidity of the St.Amour is also amply evident here. The texture more velour than silk – but fresh and gorgeous – also, like the last, only hinting today of its complexity. But as a base – what a great wine.
2019 Fleurie
Here the nose is rounder very complexly floral – not just one flower here – not a large nose but an engrossing one. Mouth-filling. The presence of these wines seems to be the house style this year – the fluidity of the wines – but they are all different – as they should (have to!) be. Faintly grained texture frames the flavours again – micro-grained without dryness – imparting a velour effect to this texture. Great wine again and clearly still Fleurie. Bravo!
2019 Fleurie Le Clos
There’s a little extra to this nose – some of it is oak, but judicious extra oak – it’s merely some seasoning. What is extra here? The faint accent of barrel, the little extra depth of flavour but same is the airy quality, the delivery and fluidity of this flavour. Great – just wait a while to see how the oak fades and what extras it brings.

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