Tasted in Lantignié with Pierre-Alexandre Gauthier, 01 March 2023.
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 2022 & 2021:
“Yes, very happy – we had some volume too, we lost only some of our volumes in our lower vines in Fleurie – but the rest of our vines are quite high – by comparison 21 was a bit of a catastrophe for volume but the quality is there – it wasn’t the maladies, it was the frost – we lost 50% and all of our Fleurie in that episode. ”
The wines…
Always wines of energy but a number have the gentian pyrazines of the vintage too.
There were only six wines to taste in 21 – but half of those are also sold out…:
2021 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.
Plenty of colour. Bright and fresh – lots of direct red fruit – and of clarity. Supple, depth of flavour – bright, cliché Beaujolais flavours with a mouth-watering finish. That’s really an excellent wine – in any vintage.
2021 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 2021.
Some extra colour. A more modest volume of aroma but some pretty floral tones. In the mouth broader, perhaps a hint of the 2021 greens in this width – more saline finishing too. But long and satisfying – a super wine for those insensitive to pyrazines…
2021 Morgon Tradition
A single parcel of around 1 ha with vines of 80-100 years, mainly in Les Charmes, facing south.
Extra depth and more open than the Régnié. A subtle reduction in the flavours but this is fresh, mobile and very energetic – holding a larger-scale finish. No greens – that’s very good!
2021 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
Starting with a small reduction – but in the mouth, this is the most textural and sensual wine so far. Broad and intensely flavoured – a little tannin framing these flavours too. This is a lovely wine – but one for keeping a couple of years.
2021 Régnie Côteaux Vallière
4 ha, 2.5 of which are worked only by a horse – Irokois – their new employee – it’s Pierre-Aexandre that does the ploughing himself.
High-toned and perfumed but this is the wine with the most pyrazine notes – it’s not a wine that’s been commercialised yet. Big in the mouth – absolutely full of complexity – I love the shape of this but you have to be pyrazine intolerant…
2021 Morgon Les Charmes
All the domaine’s Morgon is from Charmes – more than 3 hectares – but this is the part higher on the hill.
A breadth of aroma – clean and fine – that’s a lovely invitation. Supple, silky – but with concentration too. Extra volume and flavour as you head through the middle into the finish. A gorgeous finish – this I love – simply excellent wine – potentially even better than that.
And Le White:
2021 Beaujolais Villages Blanc
DIAM-style for this, natural cork for all the reds…
Just doing the pruning right now. Fresh, modestly exotic – there’s a fine and energetic invitation here. Direct, mineral, lots of flavour clarity – virtually no rigour – a slight young austerity but that’s additive to the performance – a slightly strict style – moreishly intense finishing – this is excellent BJVB, slightly chalky finishing!