Tasted with Xavier de Boissieu of Château de Lavernette in Hurigny, 04 November 2022.
Château de Lavernette
71570 Leynes
Tel: +33 3 85 35 63 21
www.lavernette.com
More reports with Château Lavernette
Xavier on 2022 and 2021:
“This year – it’s okay. In 2021 we had a lot of frost in the Beaujolais blanc which impacted our year – also a little in 2022 – and that’s an important crop for us – 3 hectares worth. We had not much juice in the reds either in 22 due to the heat and dryness. 2021 was less than half a harvest – notably the frost at the start of the year which also didn’t help from the perspective of mildew later in the year – given that it rained practically every third day – we couldn’t complain about lack of water!”
The wines…
It’s always a mix of vintages presented by the team from here as they make long elevage. In this case from 2018-2021. As usual, a range of excellent!
“I don’t like too much development but these are wines that keep very well and you can think that the starting point for drinking can be 10 years old. Actually, I’m often most impressed by the Beaujolais Blanc in this respect!”
2020 Beaujolais-Leynes Le Clos
Hmm – now here’s a very lovely perfume – some dark fruit and spice too. Mouth-filling, supple, modestly tannic – but no dryness – generous, finish that’s mouth-watering and with a slight graphite minerality. Very tasty wine.
2018 Beaujolais Leynes Le Clos Jadis
2 years in barrel then kept back in bottle for a year. From 2 parcels of old vines – one 80 and the other 65, all destemmed. Some new oak in the elevage for this
A hint less colour than the 2020. Narrower but deeper aromas – here with some modest extra complexity – I don’t note the barrels. Broad, fresh, really mouth-watering – the barrel more obvious here in the middle and finishing flavours. Very long too.
2019 St.Amour Le Chatelet
Near Billards and Julienas. Certified BD in 2018. 2 years of barrel elevage and a small part done in 400-litre jars. Whole cluster, a mix of carbonic/semi-carbonic – not looking to extract colour or tannin.
Broad, a little more power to these aromatics. Hmm, complex, broad, cooler fruit – insistent in the finish, slowly mouth-watering. Complex and engrossing wine.
Les whites:
2021 Bourgogne Blanc
No new barrels for this. ‘Quite a granitic terroir but still plenty of clay – not light solis here.’
Fresh, more incisive, pretty citrus complexity here. Fine in the mouth – open, mouth-watering – another wine that sustains a fine finishing freshness and begy you to take another sip.
2020 Pouilly-Fuissé Jean-Jacques de Bossière
Plain west-facing on ‘nice red clays’ – ‘sandwiches of repeating different soil types – roughly 2 years of barrel elevage.
A more composed nose, deep but less forward. Supple, concentrated yet still has a fluidity of flavour delivery. Moreishly saline and with a faint citrus bitters texture – almost a finishing tannin. That’s an excellent wine – for keeping!
Bubbles: Granit Brut Naturel
All gamay bubbles with 3 years elevage – so this wine based on the 2017 vintage.
A few extra top notes vs the Tripoz wine. More incisive and insistent attack too; the bubbles less soft but here is a fresher more pure dimension of flavour. Super-tasty!