Tasted in La Chapelle de Guinchay with Pierre-Yves Perrachon, 22 February 2024.
Château Bonnet – EARL Vins Pierre-Yves Perrachon
71570 La Chapelle de Guinchay
Tel: +33 3 85 36 70 41
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chateau-bonnet.fr
More reports with Domaine Château Bonnet
Pierre-Yves on 2023 & 2022:
“In 2023 we had a good volume – 39-40 hl/ha. We are more and more, not just us, organic today and 40 is more the norm than 50 for these producers.
In 2022 – we had +/-2 hl/ha about the same harvest volume and across the year it was a bit warmer and drier than in 2023. The work in the cuverie was not hindered though – it went well. We are certainly better prepared for warmer harvests today than we were in 2003 when it all started.”
The wines…
I always appreciate the wines from here – and here’s another fine vintage…
2022 Chénas ‘Collection Chat 3/3’
The more supple wine that can be drunk earlier
Not so wide but here is a perfumed and inviting nose. Supple and concentrated – a certain roundness but with such excellent drinkability – it’s almost juicy finishing but with concentration too – a great combination. Completely delicious wine.
2022 Chénas Le Clos
More elevage and a little more extraction during fermentation. All the vines around the château – effectively a monopole. Harvested a bit later than the last wine and they use a grill during fermentation for about a dozen days with a daily remontage.
Hmm – that’s got real depth and an exciting complexity of dark fruit – Yes! Large scale but with energy. The flavours are framed by some grainless tannin and an intensity that grows whilst retaining its width of flavour. Delicious finishing again – this I’d wait 2-3 years before drinking – a fine more graphite mineral impression to finish. Clearly excellent wine!
2022 St.Amour Côte de Besset
The most on altitude – 2.65 ha in Bousset lieu-dit top left.
A wider nose, darkly attractive fruit complexity, higher perfumed tones too – that’s a really lovely nose. Wide across the palate – open, mouth-watering. Finishing direct and intense – I’d wait a bit longer for this wine than the last – I prefer the flavour of the last and the aromatics of this. I think it will still be excellent – but keep your patience.
We have too many small parcels in Julienas so this is an assembly of those – principally near the village, old vines in Ruet and Boucherat of about 70 years old and some younger ones ‘for balance.’
Ooh – that’s a lovely nose – depth but really fine pure fruit too. Broad and energetic, mouth-watering indeed juicy. It’s the clarity of flavour that sets this apart – it’s potentially a great wine – bravo!
2022 Moulin à Vent Le Petit Brennay
The last wine bottled – near the cemetery.
Here’s a nose of extra depth and perhaps extra concentration of darker, complex fruit. A cooler flavour profile – sweeping, direct but still of width – all framed by a small, grainless tannin that is subtly drying today. The finish deliciously eases over the palate. I’d say that the nose and finish are already very accessible but the first and middle flavours will benefit from a couple of years’s patience. A super wine though.
2022 Moulin à Vent Les Rouchaux ‘Vin de Garde’
This the cuvée with the Chien de garde – guard-dog – on the label. There’s some barrel elevage – was mainly 228-l barrels but are slowly choosing larger formats – some 300 and 500-l barrels in use now.
A good width of slightly spiced, aromatic complexity here. Large scale in the mouth – the granular complexity of the aromas are more overt here in the flavours. That’s a relatively direct, slowly mouth-watering finish – only here is the actual flavour of the barrels more visible – but still on quite a low level – I don’t think that you’ll see it anymore if you wait 3 years. Hyper complex and very, very tasty too – already! They are just finishing the sales of the 2020s here right now – which fits well…
Le White:
2022 Beaujolais Villages Blanc Chat Au’Bonnet
A nose that’s vibrant and deep – some zesty citrus impression and a little mineral rigour. In the mouth it is lovely – direct, pure, almost incisive and with a citrus-style intensity – slightly cushioned. That’s a more delicious wine than the nose suggested to me – really delicious – open, even a little fluid. Super wine, I think that’s a great success in 2022!!