Tasted in Charnay-lès-Mâcon with Benoit Bertrandy, 21 February 2022.
Maison Trenel
Chemin de Buèry
71850 Charnay-lès-Mâcon
+33 3 85 34 48 20
www.trenel.fr
More reports with Maison Trenel
Yet another new face chez Maison Trenel. Barbara Cueille has left to join her family domaine in Champagne – so no surprise there – indeed good luck to her!
Benoit on the last vintages:
“In 2021 for the whites we see 60-70% less – volumes are low. Beaujolais villages wasn’t bad in 2020 but this area also saw a lot of frost in 2021. Whilst 2020 wasn’t a vintage with a large yield it really wasn’t too bad – and we have some wines with good tension and a direct style. ”
The wines…
Whilst there are still some wines here that are worth a special search, I have the impression that there are fewer. Hopefully, a little more stability in personnel will bring that back in order…
2020 Côteaux Bourguignons
All gamay.
A nicely open and fresh darker fruit – very inviting. Silky – hmm this has a very classy texture. The flavour is missing a little clarity today but doesn’t lack any energy. That’s still an excellent CB!
2020 Beaujolais Cuvée Rochebonne
From Pierres d’Orée, 70-100-year-old vines with goblet training.
Extra fresh and attractive – a slight herb in the complexity but this has a really an exciting introduction. Wide, a little green herb again but actually quite attractive – fine structure again. Very good!
2020 Beaujolais Villages
From Perreon, sandy and granitic – 45-50-year-old vines.
A nice airy freshness – this is cleaner with no greens – more florals. Direct, more structured. Faintly framed with a grainless tannin. A super finish here – this is more than very good!
2020 Fleurie
Principally from 2 parcels in this vintage – Les Moriers and Chapelle du Bois
Hmm – also an accent of green to this wine – but at the same time airy and pure. Also faintly pyrazine in the flavour – but with nice energy and texture again. Mouth-watering with lots of tasty complexity.
2020 Côte de Brouilly
Hmm – that’s a nice nose – rounder but still with freshness – no greens here. Driving, fine energy – that’s a very good wine – lovely mouth-watering finish. A good structure to this wine – keep in 12 months before attacking.
2020 St.Amour
Part Capitans the other Paradis. Vines about 60-year-old, whole cluster, elevage in cement. This bottled in May.
Modest colour – a less fully open nose too but a little graphite minerality is in view here. Fresh – quite mouth-filling too. Like the nose, there’s some minerality in this width of flavour – delicious finishing.
2019 Morgon Côte du Py
Plain-south facing, all destemmed with a longer maceration. Concrete plus 25% barrel elevage. This the last year of conversion to organic for this parcel.
Fuller and very perfumed – that’s very lovely. Vibrant, concentrated wine – really wide over the palate. Some finishing bitters – keep this a year or more in your cellar – it’s excellent wine!
2020 Fleurie La Rattière
These parcel selections in bottle about 4 months – vines bought in 2018 – half a hectare.
A very round nose – concentrated, slightly spiced, darker fruit. Fresh and very direct – a fluid style to this – extra mineral and properly intense. Really excellent!
Domaine vines – 1 ha… Half-destemmed, again with some barrel elevage after cement fermentations.
Here’s a little more visibly open complexity – properly Fleurie in inviting style. Ooh – that’s really super and invigorating – properly structured and concentrated but also delicious complex and rewarding – bravo!
2020 Juliénas Les Capitains
A more subdued nose – half 400-litre elevage – slowly growing in rounder red-fruited style, slowly a little floral too – this also 50% destemmed. Modestly mouth-filling but with a really beautiful texture. This is a fine and sophisticated wine – elegant despite the concentration – it’s more than very good!
Les blancs…
Never made with bought yeasts, very little barrel for elevage too. All is ‘classic’ cork here:
Bottled one week, all tank elevage – from Pierres d’Orées.
Very bright with fine energy – almost a Montagny style sherbet to this nose. Supple, mineral but beautifully packaged – that’s a great entry wine with a little salinity.
2020 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Vines predominantly in the Chalonnaise
A little deeper and more concentrated – less ‘alive.’ Direct, mineral, less sucrosity but a nice shape – It would be easier to taste this before the last but I think this very good, and it has some attractive finishing bitters too!
2020 Mâcon Villages
Vines in Igé, Viré and Charnay – stainless steel fermentations then 20% in barrel.
A waxy, open style to this nose. Nicely direct, a little more structural, spicily mouth-watering. That’s a moreish wine of very good quality.
2020 Viré-Clessé
Old vines, 80, in Viré. Fermentations in tank, then 30% of elevage in older barrels.
Here a more attractive freshness. Some extra gas here – quite a lot versus the others. But a juicy, grapefruit-accented agrume fruit – very different. Slowly rounding in the mouth. But a juicy tasty wine here.
2020 Saint-Véran
Chasselas, Leynes and Davayé – 3 terroirs – 20-60-year-old vines. Tank fermentations then 40% barrels.
More floral but also more oaked. Vibrantly mineral, a little less gas. Fine clarity but quite a lot of middle and finishing barrel – I wouldn’t open one for 18 months to give that chance to fade – but I think, again, excellent…
2020 Pouilly-Fuissé
More floral and fine clarity but again the oak is quite visible here. Wide, intense, beautiful shape and clarity – that’s a really excellent generic PF – but, again, leave this in the cellar 18 months. Just short of a hint of energy for ‘great.’
2020 Pouilly-Vinzelles Les Quarts
Average 80-year-old vines – 400-litre-barrels for fermentation and elevage. Trenel claim to be the only Négoce with Les Quarts
A nicely mobile and fluid nose – despite another healthy dose of barrel aroma. Beautifully mineral and finely textured – that’s clean as a very clean thing – super complexity of faint bitters too – and the barrel flavour is certainly less than the aromas. I’d still keep in the cellar 18 months but I love the shape and texture of this wine – it has nicer energy than the last too.
2020 St.Véran En Terre Noire
From Davayé at the bottom of the Rock of Vergisson, 12 months elevage, barrels of 1-year-old, 400-litres.
A very different nose – the fruit a little more golden, but still nicely vibrant – and here the oak is hardly visible. Concentrated but also incisive – really a wine that impresses – but with this concentration, it is more a wine for food despite some decent balancing energy. Super finishing too. A wine that impresses on many levels.
‘Plain south-facing with exotic fruit usually.’
A small but still very fine nose – a pure fruit, less ‘golden’ than the Terre Noir. Wider, supple – there’s a depth of concentration but with an energy that engulfs the concentration – leaving this mouth-watering, nearly juicy. That’s really a delicious wine – I would say bravo!