For this tasting, I’m only looking at wines that are actually labelled as Beaujolais-Lantignié, as opposed to wine that comes from Lantignié but wears a Beaujolais Villages label.
As is usual, the wines are tasted blind, and in no particular order on my side. Only when all the wines have been tasted, do I receive the list of producers.
Unveiled – my favourite four wines of the tasting – almost – I pictured the wrong cuvée from Dubost!
I used the word in at least one tasting-note, but it also reflected my feelings of what I tasted versus my expectations for a Beaujolais-Villages wine. Ambition: I found much ambition in these wines and most definitely a higher general standard of wine than the relatively incognito label of Beaujolais-Villages would suggest.
I can only say ‘mea-culpa‘ – blind, you have found my style preference. Why is it so obvious? Well, Frédéric is working together with Cosima, whose first vintage was only 2018 – so that accounts for 3 of the 4 wines I chose as outstanding!
Ostensibly, this was planned to be a tasting of 2018 reds, though a few whites and some other vintages were also sent for tasting – I include them for completeness. Any additional notes for the wines that I thought relevant come from their supplied technical datasheets. The alcoholic degrees ranged from 12-14.5° and the prices from €8.50-25.00 (consumer price at the estate)
Vintage 2019 – red
2019 Domaine Les Capréoles (Cédric Lecareux), Beaujolais Lantignié l’Amourgandise Terroir de Lantignié
Medium, medium-plus colour. A broad nose of complexity and freshness with cushioned red fruit in support. I like the shape in the mouth and there’s a certain density. Energy and intensity in the finish. Young, obviously, but really very tasty wine. Lovely…
Vintage 2018 – reds
2018 Frédéric Berne, Beaujolais-Lantignié Granit Rose
A heavier bottle and, no surprise, a darker coloured wine to match. The nose is cushioned with soft fruit aroma. A little more direct, a depth to the texure too. Fresh, lip-smacking flavour in the finish – a little more impression of the tannin here. Holds a good finish. Very different to the 2019 but equally tasty.
2018 Château des Vergers (Cosima Bassouls), Beaujolais-Lantignié Le Fût
The full trilogy – a heavy bottle, wax-topped and dark coloured. Deep, dark fruit, a faint spice character and a slowly evolving floral aspect too – the more it opens the more I feel a little barrel in the background. Hmm, this is excellent; energetic, depth of flavour – plenty of structure but nothing that hurts. A wine that you should bury in your cellar for 4-5 years before returning, the finishing bitters will be less overt by then. There is much ambition here.
2018 Domaine Dominique Piron (Julien Revillon), Beaujolais-Lantignié Fructus Agapé
Medium-plus colour. A more overt floral freshness to this wine. Mouth-filling, energetic and open – complex, accessible, with a fresh wave of saline finishing flavour. This is the wine of the first three for drinking and enjoying today – it’s excellent.
2019 Domaine Les Capréoles (Cédric Lecareux), Terroir de Lantignié Alio Pacto
Deep coloured – the ripe fruit is deep and perhaps more pruney to start but there’s a very attractive floral note that begins to lift from the glass. A wine with direction and freshness but concentration too – probably plenty of barrels were used here but they have been very well managed, there’s no overt barrel flavour. The finish is long and again with a strong floral complexion. Another ‘ambitious’ wine that I would leave in the cellar for at least three years.
2018 Château de Basty (Quentin Perroud), Beaujolais-Lantignié
Medium-plus colour. A concentrated and faintly spiced fruit on this nose – no obvious barrel intervention here. A bead of gas – obviously energetic with the aid of the gas. Wide and sustained in the finish. This is lovely.
2018 Jean-Paul Dubost, Beaujolais-Lantignié Charmieux
Medium-plus colour. High-toned, classic carbonic nose. Like the nose – this is a cliché-Beaujolais flavour – completely classic – though because of that, how might I know that it comes from Lantgnié. A very nice, slightly saline finish. Very tasty wine, all the same.
Medium-plus colour. Here the nose shows a little less sulfur in the making but also with a lovely width of floral perfume – a great invitation. Supple, deeply flavoured – an open yet concentrated wine. A wine with something extra – particularly in the finish! Bravo.
2018 Fabien Forest, Beaujolais-Lantignié Volcanic
Heavy bottle – no wax but deeply coloured. Dark fruit but still with an attractive florality. Some CO2. Mouth-filling and with a good freshness and a little extra tannin that clings to the teeth and gums in the finish. Keep it in your cellar for 2-3 years.
2018 Frédéric Berne, Beaujolais-Lantignié Les Bruyères
Again the full trilogy!
Here’s a nose that’s just a little more subdued than its predecessors. Plenty of velvet tannin though hardly a suggestion of astringency. A wine of line, not so much of width but the narrow finish is still very long. A wine of sophistication but not showing as open as most others – low-level TCA?
2018 Jean-Paul Dubost, Beaujolais-Lantignié Tracot
Medium-plus colour. A nose of width and depth – less obviously open in the higher tones. Very fine tannin and a freshness of acidity though the fruit is a little ripe in style. The flavours open out impressively in the finish – the best part of this wine – it’s super-tasty here.
Once more the trilogy! But what a great nose – so perfumed – that’s already great! Fresh, full of energy but also showing such depth of concentrated flavour without any fat. Just a suggestion of barrel but what a great wine!
2018 Domaine de Colette (Jacky Gauthier), Beaujolais-Lantignié
Black wax but not so deep colour! Ouf! A mix of dust, pyrazine and mushrooms to start, slowly rounding and sweetening in the glass. Fresh and certainly rather complex, but today, at least, this isn’t showing very well.
2018 l’Epicurieux (Charlotte & Sébastien Congretel), Beaujolais-Lantignié Gamayléon
Medium-plus colour. A nose that majors on the depth of its aromatics – it’s very inviting. A little too much gas to start but then a lovely width of low-sulfur flavour spreads out over the palate. Ingraining, persistent and tasty finishing. Different but excellent.
Deep colour. A nose that’s round and nicely fresh – depth to the aroma but hardly overt. Open, nice energy, less directly concentrated than many but deliciously flavoured if slightly towards the carbonic cliché – but there is extra here – I find it completely delicious and with quite some finishing presence too. Bravo!
2018 Château des Vergers (Cosima Bassouls), Beaujolais-Lantignié La Première
Deep colour and a heavy bottle. My first impression is that the nose is a little forced – perhaps slightly over-ripe fruit. The style of fruit is present in the flavours too. Overall the shape and concentration are excellent – the finish too – but I’m not a big fan of the first half of this wine.
An extra-special trilogy – this time the wax is gold!
Deep colour. An engaging freshness to this nose with a floral component that grows and grows – that’s nicely perfumed wine. Fresh, direct, ultra-fine tannin – practically no grain or astringency. Intense finishing. This is a wine for keeping – but a great wine I think!
One red from 2017:
2017 Alexandre Burgaud, Beaujolais-Lantignié Pur Cent
Floral, complex, already with an impression of age-related complexity. Fresh, plenty of acid-led energy, almost a little marsala in the flavours. Not as concentrated a length as the 2018s but it holds a subtly mouth-watering quality in the finish. Interesting!
The whites, all from 2018…
2018 Château des Vergers (Cosima Bassouls), Beaujolais-Lantignié Blanc Le Blanc
Pale coloured. Almost a saline grain to this aroma, some depth of lime-style fruit. Concentrated but at the same time fresh and minerally incisive. Narrow into the finish. But slowly mouth-watering. An impression of tannic texture in this finish.
2018 Château de Bast (Quentin Perroud), Beaujolais-Lantignié Blanc
Technical cork here, the other two whites are cork.
A little more colour to this wine. A more compact nose but with a depth of riper fruit showing. A little gas. Mouth-filling, ripe fruits, more exotic than citrus. Intense in the finish. More flavour but not more enjoyable than the previous wine.
2018 Château des Vergers (Cosima Bassouls), Beaujolais-Lantignié Blanc Le Fût
A heavy bottle – white wax-topped.
Medium colour – similar to that last wine. There are some higher tones here – pushed forward by an oaky component. The nose suggests that I expect fat and oaky but what I get is directly mineral (inconsiderate – no?) though there is indeed plenty of oak. This might be nice in a few years – but it’s not my style of wine today.
