2019 Beaujolais Nouveau
160 wines blind-tasted in Beaujolais, 05 November 2019.
Of course, 2019 was another in the series, the trilogy, of warm years - but one with instances of frost. More drastic than the frost was a late-arriving hailstorm that on the 20th of August swept through the south of Beaujolais, cutting yields - in some cases drastically. The average losses were minus 30% - but it was Beaujolais-Villages where the most was lost, hence, the volume of ‘Nouveau de Garde’ has been significantly reduced this year.
I've previously laughed out load about the concept of Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau - Nouveau that you can cellar - so I will not bore you about that, not this time!
This year I embarked on a 160 wine gamayathon; I was certainly tired at the end, fortunately not emotional though! This year we even had 8 Nouveau of a different colour - rosé... That's up from the 3 from last year that I didn't taste(!) At this rate of growth we will have 20 in 2020!
What to expect and what's really worth buying
So three quite hot years, generally that's beneficial to the quality, but with three different results:
2017 - low yielding and probably because of that a really high quality in both the Nouveau and the Villages Nouveau
2018 - less low yielding, and that was the crux. Basic Nouveau was much more variable but the Villages Nouveau was more consistent
2019 - because of frost and hail, yields were cut, and for the consumer that has once more brought consistency and quality to the basic Nouveau category due to lower yields. I think only twice did I instantly say 'No!' and run from a particular wine. As for the Villages Nouveau - here was overwhelmingly more concentration and particularly intensity - the intensity of acidity - probably okay if you wish to cellar your Nouveau for 6-12 months, but I was looking for the balance for drinking now, and from this tasting that was relatively rare. As for the rosé wines - super, all of them - really a great source of easy, delicious drinking for the next weeks - or even longer - why not? Read More
mark’s vosne harvest – day 8
Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee - Vendange Day Eight, Thurs 24th Sept 2019
The last official working day of the 2019 vendange for the picking team and one with a difference, in location, for the majority of the day at least. I was, at last, to also find out today why we hadn’t, to my slight frustration cum disappointment, picked any of the domaine’s Vosne premier crus, nor Savigny or Pommard vines – but that came much later in the day so hang on a little !
The first absolute confirmation I think now I had that today was indeed to be our collective last day came from fellow snorer room mate, and other sub team leader/chauffeur/porteur, Jean-Claude1, who mentioned it as we roused ourselves. In the same conversation the other member of our room triumvirate, Jean-Claude2, mentioned he’d be ‘shooting off’ later ( I understood at the end of the working day) & was gone after lunch, without staying for the Paulee (first tangible mention I’d heard of that also) as he was meeting his daughter somewhere else in France that evening. Read More
mark’s vosne harvest – day 6 & 7
Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Days Six, Tues 24th Sept 2019 & Seven Weds 25th Sept 2019 Apologies for the delay for this piece following on from Day Five – all down to me, nowt (Northern Egland dialect word = ‘nothing’) to do with our illustrious web… Read More
mark’s vosne harvest – day 2
Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Day Two 20th Sept 2019 After an ‘interesting’ first day, in more ways than one, Day Two opened with the ‘senior’ (in terms of number of vendanges) Jean-Claude room mate asking me if I’d slept well. I hadn’t actually, finding the bed… Read More
the return of the mark – the vosne harvest part 1
Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Intro 18th Sept 2019 Bonjour tout le monde 😊 – and Bill 😉. Apologies again this year for the late harvest reporting – tech issues once more beyond my control (wi-fi key related, not my fault m’lud!), only resolved too… Read More
2017 – Femmes et Vins
A gathering of a large number of the Femmes et Vins group of producers for their popular Exception’Elles tasting. This time in the Château de Montchat (right) in Lyon. Each of the producers was showing 4 wines, some even finishing with a contribution that was ‘a little’ older! 22 producers… Read More
Collotte – 2017
Tasted with Isabelle Collotte in Marsannay-la-Côte, 24 April 2019. Earl Collotte 44 Rue de Mazy 21160 Marsannay-la-Côte Tel: +33 9 63 50 33 42 Isabelle on 2018: “2018 was good for us – very hot and dry in the summer. The vinifications started well, and we… Read More
2017 Irancy
Time to take a better look at how Irancy fared in 2017. Assembled were samples, tasted blind, in Chablis, 18 March 2017 – the organising of the sampling was kindly done by the BIVB Chablis. In 2017 we are back close to a full yield;… Read More
A Bourgogne Côte d’Or?
I’ve discussed it before, but this is a new label that you might come across for the first time with the 2017 vintage. People have been proposing this label for almost 20 years but now it’s done – and it’s for both the reds and… Read More