Tasted in Villié-Morgon with Philippe Viet, 24 June 2021.
Domaine Philippe Viet
1514 route du Cru
69910 Villié-Morgon
Tel: +33 6 14 94 72 29
www.domainephilippeviet.fr
Philippe’s mum is English and he worked in the UK for a few years, eventually tiring of that life. He had loved wine for many years but at a chance meeting met Eric Janin he told Eric that he was thinking of changing everything, so in 2015 he came to work the harvest chez Janin.
Philippe had considered becoming a wine agent or a caviste but after experiencing the grapes in his hands, “It just clicked. I also worked in Chinon and Australia and did a year at the Viti in Beaune. I began here with 2 hectares, relatively at altitude around St.Joseph, and then in 2020, I managed to acquire 0.6 hectares of Fleurie-Poncié plus another hectare of Beaujolais in Corcelles. A little Morgon Corcelettes has come this year too – so 4.8 is the total today, all worked alone and organic – this my third year of the conversion so I can label AB from next year for my first vines…” Philippe has been hit by the frost in the Regnié sector this year but much less so in the other places.
Philippe has only just started selling his 2019s but is close to sold out – he exports plenty but describes his French market as ‘very important too.‘ His labels are fresh and artistic – done by a painter from the south of Beaujolais who ‘transmits her impressions of the wines to paper…’
The wines…
An engaging winemaker – with engaging wines too.
Philippe likes to check the sulfur levels in his wines every six weeks but when they remain okay there’s no added sulfur until the bottling. “I consider myself natural but not fundamentalist. I like to make a light filtration before bottling because I don’t like to have too much bacteria floating around in the bottles. In 2021 I will probably use a ‘pied-de-cuve’ but I’m planning to do more with ‘wild’ yeast:”
2020 Beaujolais Harlequin
Comes from Corcelles, harvested at the end of August with 12° of maturity. Nearly 7 months of ageing before bottling in April – a neutral tank for elevage – whole bunches, all carbonic maceration with just one pump-over per day.
Fresh red fruit jumps from the glass with a faint herb complexity too. Nice drive and direction – that’s very perfumed in the mouth – more floral than fruit. I like that a lot – cliché Beaujolais but delicious Beaujolais too! A nice length, slightly crunchy fruit and delicious too.
2019 Regnié Haute Ronze
A single 1 ha plot next to Raphael Chopin – 18 September harvest – ‘It’s usually days later harvesting here than in Morgon’ – semi-carbonic fermentation with maceration in concrete tanks – whole bunch.
Nice depth of colour. A freshness and depth of fruit too – that’s very attractive. Zip, width – there’s intensity here too. Very complex, faintly herbed a suggestion of tannin frames the flavours but never dominates – practically no grain to this tannin. This is a wine that deserves a year or three of patience but it is very good and very long too – slightly saline right at the end of the palate.
2019 Regnié Haute Ronze Mosaïque
A mix of parcels with various altitudes – one of which is from 90-year-old vines which did indeed have a higher maturity than the others – a longer maceration and 10 months in amphora – sandstone – plus some tank too.
A little more compact in the higher tones but the depth of aroma here has very impressive width – a little cherry stone impression to this nose. A more composed entry, but still there’s plenty of energy here. The structure of the wine is present and this tannin holds onto your gums a little more – but behind there’s a very fine and airy quality to the fruit. Also to wait for – with some impatience – the finishing flavours are really top and slowly mouth-watering too.
2020 Beaujolais Villages
Bottled last week, vines at 500m, a shorter maceration period that was done in 2019 ‘to bring the fruit even more forward.’
Plenty of colour. Airy, fresh, a slight pyrazine/floral to the nose of this – perfumed. Yes, I find the pyrazine the flavour too but at a level that just an attractive extra complexity – there’s energy and concentration in these flavours – a small impression of the tannin on my gums too but there is virtually no grain, just the faintest dryness that they bring. A forward, attractive and punchy wine. Very good!