Tasted in Point du Jour, Fleurie with Cédric Chignard, 15 February 2024.

Domaine Chignard
Le Point du Jour
69820 Fleurie
Tel: +33 4 74 04 11 87
www.domaine-chignard.fr
More reports with Domaine Chignard

Cédric on 2023:
“2023 was a vintage where I made some choices and they were not to the quantity – so we don’t have big yields, hardly 30 hl/ha but still we have a bit more than in 2022. We have not productive terroirs with old vines and all the work is organic – but the fermentatoions went fine so there was nothing to worry about in the cuverie.”

Cédric on 2022:
“A vintage that was not a lot harder or easier than in 2023! And it also went well in the cuverie. We had a new plough to control the weeds – and we were learning how to use that – but the ground is quickly too wet or too dry! Volumes? Ah! Our vines are old and the dryness of the summer really reduced our yields – versus the authorised yields we made less than half but we never get close to those authorised yields anyway – but still, it was a low volume. Bottlings were done at the start of June – and we have green bottles! It was what was available in the ‘bottle crisis’ – ver 1970s 😊 But our Beaujolais Villages is not yet in bottle. I think it’s a vinage that’s pleasant and interesting and I’m happy to have retained the freshness in the wines.”

The wines…

Always lovely wines here – but it’s the first time I tasted their amphora elevage cuvée – ‘Cochonnier’ – and what a great wine it is!

2022 Beaujolais-Julié La Petit Impernanent
‘High altitude, brings elegance and freshness, and the blue stones here bring some minerality’
Airy top notes with a little floral accent. Supple, and nicely textured too but there’s some structure behind too. Juicy and so very tasty – yum! Long-lasting and subtly saline at the end

2022 Juliénas Beauvernay
A deeper nose with slightly darker fruit, also a faintly floral accent. Direct wine with athletic muscle – and fine intensity – the finish is more perfumed but equally direct as the Julié.

2022 Fleurie Les Moriers
Largest cuvée of the domaine – 7 hectares worth – old photos (1920s) show the Clos de Morriers cru ‘belonging’ to MaV
What depth of colour! Tighter in the top notes but what depth and width this nose has – vibrantly flavoured – despite the evident concentration. Intense and concentrated in the finish – I’d be waiting 3-4 years for this to open and embrace the drinker. It will be super, I’m sure.

And a couple for the road?
There turned out to be more than a couple!

2022 Fleurie Le Cochonnier
A small parcel with jar elevage
Very aromatic, nicely floral – not yet bottled. Incisive, fresh but concentrated wine. I love the shape and precision of this. Mouth-watering, complex finishing – a little licorice – I love it – this is more than excellent wine!

2019 Juliénas Beauvernay
Already some aromatic development and growing beautifully floral too. Broad, the fluidity of the vintage is clear – intense, direct and long finishing – still quite young here but such a great finish.

2019 Fleurie Les Moriers
Also some aromatic development, here the nose is a little rounder. Juicy energy – open, mouth-watering flavour coming from all sides – a small tannin shows itself, faintly dry – finishing wide and mouth-watering but floral too.