Beaujolais’ boys and girls come to Beaune….
In the ‘square’ of Romain Escoffier’s Table du Square in Beaune (right), and with an occasional interloper, the brave young producers of Beaujolais set up stall in the heart of the Côte d’Or during the week of Burgundy’s Grands Jours de Bourgogne. This tasting was not in the official programme… Read More
staying healthy – but now it also gets complicated…
Much is down to chance, but you can also try to be sensible. Last week in Burgundy, the Grands Jours de Bourgogne was sensibly cancelled. 600-1,200 people per venue, pressing to get near to their favourite vigneron(ne)s, pouring, slurping, making the wine as intimate as possible with all… Read More
Malandes – 2018
Tasted in Chablis with Guénolé Breteaudeau & Richard Rottiers, 17 January 2020. Domaine des Malandes 11 route d’Auxerre 89800 Chablis Tel. +33 3 86 42 41 37 www.domainedesmalandes.com More reports for Domaine Des Malandes The team on… Read More
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
Mainly Beaujolais – new names & many magnums
Bien Boire en Beaujolais 2019 afforded me to the opportunity of finding a few (relatively) new names – here are 10 of them. Where possible I mainly tasted their 2017s. The domaines were not all from Beaujolais – truth be told, there’s some very nice Mâconnais domaines too! Plus I… Read More
Malandes – 2017
Tasted in Chablis with Richard Rottiers and Amandine Marchive, 16 January 2019. Guénolé Breteaudeau was on an excursion with some organic viticulteurs… Domaine des Malandes 11 route d’Auxerre 89800 Chablis Tel. +33 3 86 42 41 37 www.domainedesmalandes.com The team on 2018:… Read More
Brouilly & Côte de Brouilly – 2017 (2016, 2015…)
Tasted in the offices of InterBeaujolais in Villefranche, 19 and 20 July 2018. What was already apparent last November when tasting 142 2017 Nouveaus, was confirmed by this early tasting of 2017s from Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly: Clearly 2017 is a ripe and concentrated vintage in… Read More
AF Gros – 2016
Tasted in Beaune with Matthias and François Parent, 18 May, 2018. Domaine AF Gros 16 Rue Pierre Joigneaux 21200 Beaune Tel: +33 3 80 24 61 26 www.af-gros.com The news at this domaine is that they have, together with Richard Rottiers, snapped up some prime… Read More
Malandes – 2016
Tasted in Chablis with Richard Rottiers, Amandine Marchive and Guénolé Breteaudeau, 04 January 2018. Domaine des Malandes 11 route d’Auxerre 89800 Chablis Tel. +33 3 86 42 41 37 www.domainedesmalandes.com Lyne Marchive has decided to take her retirement, spending plenty of time now… Read More