2019 Mâconnais
We can look at the vintage from two main perspectives: Of course, there is the weather which defines the yields, but clearly, in the end, it will be the wines who speak. The weather – ‘A far from typical year‘ Multiple factors contributed to a very low volume harvest… Read More
2020 Beaujolais Nouveau
Or primeurs as the French, so often, refer to them. 162 wines, tasted blind in deepest Beaujolais, 04 November 2020:
2020 is the next in a series of warm vintages in the Beaujolais; it was frost-free in the Springtime and there was practically no hail in the Summer either. If there was to be one problem it was the dryness - some areas were described by locals as 'being on the limit.'
Yet when it came to the harvest they had good, clean, grapes - even those with quite high degrees of potential alcohol. The final figures are not yet available for the yields in 2020 but the current expectation is for volumes that are below the average due to the aforementioned dryness. If that turns out to be the case, I won't be at all surprised.
2020 and the most recent vintages:
I've done this tasting since the 2017 vintage, and whilst the recent quality from Grower Nouveau is on a much, higher level than I can ever recollect - and with much more consistency too - it seems to me that yields go a long way to defining what you will find in a bottle of Nouveau.
I'm certain that it's not particularly from the perspective of absolute quality that yields show themselves but rather from the perspective of the consistency of the observed quality where they play their role. Some people will always go to the maximum allowed - 65 hl/ha - whilst others are quite happy with 45 - or less:
Vintage 2017 - a warm, clean, early vintage – one hailstorm excepted – but low yielding. The best wines were excellent and the quality was consistent
Vintage 2018 - a warm clean and again an early vintage but with many higher-yielding places where the producers allowed. I observed significant quality differences in the samples - I largely attributed this to big swings in yields.
Vintage 2019 - another warm vintage with harvesting a little later but because of both frost and hail, yields were cut. The best wines were of high quality and the consistency was intermediate to 2017 and 2018.
Vintage 2020 - a warm clean vintage with consistently below-average yields. The best wines, once again, show high quality and a consistency that's at least as good as seen in the 2017s. The wines are relatively powerful and well constructed, the 'villages' wines generally need a little patience but are consistently excellent! NB Given the early harvest in 2020, these wines have seen nearly an extra month of ageing - that's 33% more! - than would be the case for a, more traditional, late-September harvest. In 2020 you can almost blind-buy Beaujolais-Villages-Nouveau as they are overwhelmingly excellent, less-so Beaujolais Nouveau but still with some confidence. Of course, if you don't want to gamble, try the list further below.
And the market?
Of course, it’s a nightmare time to have an en-primeur campaign in 'mid-lockdown' but judging by the number of trucks on French roads, logistics still seem to be effective. It's (still) a very important slice of the region's sales for these primeurs - Japan representing the largest export market after the US, Canada, Switzerland and then the UK. About 46% of the production was exported from France in 2019, when Nouveau accounted for nearly 30% of all the sales from Beaujolais - about 21 million bottles - and that now includes 2 million bottles of rosé too!
So how are the wines? One week before the big day, here is my list of 21 goto wines from 162 tasted 04 November 2020:
2020 Beaujolais Nouveau:
2020 Fellot Emmanuel, Vieilles-Vignes
2020 Château de L’Eclair
2020 Coquard Christophe
2020 Famille Chasselay, La Marduette
2020 Jean Loron, Tradition Vieilles Vignes
2020 Domaine Girin
2020 Trenel
2020 Chandesais, Petit Marcel
2020 Domaine Perroud Robert, Vieilles-Vignes
2020 Les Vins Aujoux
2020 Beaujolais Villages Nouveau:
2020 Domaine Nesme Mickael
2020 Famille Chevrier
2020 Colonge André et Fils, N°1 Gasby Gamay
2020 Fessy Henry, Tradition
2020 Domaine Lagneau
2020 Domaine des Fournelles - Dumontet Guillaume
2020 Lacondemine Jérôme, Coeur de Raisin
2020 Domaine Monternot Les Jumeaux
2020 Dubost Jean Paul, Beaujolais Lantignié
2020 Cave du Château des Loges, Les Trois Madones
2020 Boudeau Nicolas
Click below to see the full notes for all 162 wines:
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this week’s, pre-lockdown, 2019 inquisition…
A memento of some lovely visits and wines, pre-lockdown. My thanks for all the patience of these producers… (Report coming soon) Alphabetically (not pictorially): Bachelet-Monnot Chevrot Sylvain Dussort Albert Grivault Patrick Javillier Comtes Lafon Dominique Lafon Olivier Leflaive… Read More
Profile: Philippe Bouzereau
Tasted in Meursault with Philippe Bouzereau, 7 July 2020. Domaine Philippe Bouzereau 7 Place de la République 21190 Meursault Tel: +33 3 80 21 20 32 www… not currently You will know that there are a number of Bouzereaus in Meursault and all are cousins. All… Read More
20-August-20 – harvesting day 1 (at my home domaine)
Echézeaux – 20 Aug 2020 Yesterday saw the early harvesters – or more their early parcels – at work across Burgundy; Chablis, Mâconnais and Beaujolais, not just the producers in the Côte de Beaune. The Côte de Nuits still seems to have much time available; today… Read More
the côte de beaune harvest is underway…
Storm-clouds in Beaune yesterday evening. All was very quiet in the vines on Sunday – there was 2-3mm of rain in the morning followed by the return of the sun in the afternoon. The evening forecast suggested storms and it was dry but indeed rather dark when… Read More
this week’s sequence of bottles…
2006 JF Mugnier, Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos de la Maréchale Of-course, the biggest disappointment is being able to say nothing at all about the wine – the cork was very smelly from TCA – the wine equally so… 2007 Prince Florent de Merode, Corton Clos du Roi… Read More
de Bel Air – 2018
Tasted in Lantignié with Jean-Marc & Annick Lafont, 05 February 2020. Domaine de Bel Air 69430 Lantignié Tel: +33 4 74 04 82 08 www.dombelair.com More reports for Domaine de Bel Air Jean-Marc, last year, on 2019: “19 was a good… Read More
a great friday wine
1999 Nicolas Potel, Volnay 1er Clos des Chênes It was good on the Thursday too 😉 Even from a baby, this was ‘grand vin.’ On release, it was an absolute quality match for d’Angerville’s 1999 Clos des Ducs and Dom Lafon’s 1999 Santenots de Milieu. Only… Read More