Tasted in Lantignié with Pierre-Alexandre Gauthier, 23 February 2022.
Domaine de Colette
4245 Route St Joseph
69430 Lantignié
Tel: +33 4 74 69 25 73
www.domainedecolette.com
More reports with Domaine de Colette
Pierre-Alexandre on 2021:
“21 is about half a harvest – we had a bit of everything to contend with – but the wines are super.”
Pierre-Alexandre on 2020:
“I think it’s a good vintage and typical of Beaujolais – there’s a nice fruit. The harvest volume was roughly normal so I’ve no complaints there. There’s a single cuvée of Moulin à Vent that’s in barrel that hasn’t been bottled yet – but it’s a small one and it’s not planned to be commercialised for 3 years. The Lantignié is all sold out but the rest – is in bottle. I think the wines are ample but already quite open and drinkable”
Talking about the work of the domaine: “We’ve 13 of our 18 hecatres being worked organically the others have never, and may never be, mechanised for working the soil as the old vines are so densely planted and have such large cornes – but we keep trying to find better solutions with those…”
The wines…
I noted some wines with pyrazines last year and the same this year – but there are clearly great wines to be discovered here too!
It’s a mix of 17s and 18s that are the currently commercial vintages but all of these 19s were bottled last year:
2020 Beaujolais Villages Coteaux du Colette
This the historic cuvée of the domaine, an assembly of parcels around the lieu-dit of Colette, mainly granite but 30% on blue-stone too.
Deep, vibrant – plenty of energy. There’s a hint of pyrazine energy in what is otherwise a pure and concentrated wine with plenty of energy. This has a fine and vibrant finish – it’s really lovely…
2020 Regnié Vieilles-Vignes
3.5 ha in total the majority of which is over 60 years-old. A large part in La Ronze and the rest on the hill behind the domaine – a new parcel/cuvée coming in 2020.
Also a faint touch of pyrazine but at this level it’s a nice extra freshness and complexity. Vibrant and wide over the palate – the faintest of tannin at the base and a sweeping intensity of flavour. Dark, graphite minerality in the finishing notes with an almost aniseed extra complexity. Very good.
Plenty of colour – two parcels about 400m apart but the same soil – nearly 1ha vinified as a single cuvée. Had since 2010 a mix of ages but really have no idea of the actual ages – 1950s to 1980 probably – usually the first harvested vines
More direct and pure – that’s beautifully floral and attractive. Supple, silky – mobile – cliché beautiful Fleurie – bravo – what a wine!
2020 Morgon Tradition
A single parcel of around 1 ha with vines of 80-100 years, mainly in Les Charmes, facing south.
A fresher width of aroma but much less expressive than the Fleurie. More direct, a little more overtly structural too – juicy finishing but a wine that’s guarded in all flavour directions after the Fleurie. Very good though – except the power of the finish – here it’s excellent. This is still awaiting commercialisation – ‘it’s not quite ready,‘ say PA
2020 Moulin à Vent Le Mont
Au Mont on the cadastre. An enclave in the Rochegrès of Chateau de Jacques, not much suffering from dryness here but a potential alcohol that can be higher than the other domaine’s wines
Broad, more openly complex – very inviting. Supple, melting over the palate, growing in intensity – here’s an impressive wine that will get better and better – broad waves of delicious and complex flavour over the palate and a finish that’s super. Really excellent…
And the three ‘Cuvée Parcelaires’:
2020 Régnie Côteaux Vallière
4 ha, 2.5 of which are worked only by a horse – Irokois – their new employee! Not made every year but we’ve been making this cuvée for 20 years – ‘it’s a wine that’s marked by its terroir more than most.’
That’s a really impressive nose it has everything – including an accent of pyrazine – but it’s really gorgeous! Mouth-filling, a wine of presence, so much to find – I’d be waiting 1-2 years for it to open out more and relax – but here is a shimmering complexity of beautiful flavours – I’d just be waiting for the structure. Without the pyrazine, unequivocally a great Regnié!
2020 Morgon Les Charmes
All the domaine’s Morgon is from Charmes – more than 3 hectares – but this is the part higher on the hill.
Like the previous Morgon, this nose is less expressive/more compact. Direct but supple, melting with fine flavour. That’s a more composed, contemplative even, but deliciously flavoured and exquisitely long wine. There’s much to be patient with here – I’m sure it will be excellent. ‘Yes – open 2 hours before,‘ says PA
The only clos of Regnié(?) A little more than 1 hectare – first time isolated. All destemmed the press juice saw elevage in cement and the first-run juice in 300-litre barrels the two being re-assembled later.
Also not a large-scaled nose but such a hauntingly beautiful one. Supple, ultra-silky – mineral style – bubbling with flavour over the palate. A wine that’s more structured and showing its minerality today, than one of easy to assimilate fruit but a wine of quality and presence. Keep it a couple of years before returning. Bravo wine!