The latest issue of Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate recently crossed my desk. In it there is some great press for our California and Washington State producers (more on both soon), as well as for some of the exceptional Beaujolais we have in-stock. Like pink wines (which I extolled of here), Beaujolais are fun - seriously fun - wines that beg to be served at your Thanksgiving Day table. Heck...they deserve a place at the table every day of the year!
Here are the reviews...
DOMAINE MARCEL LAPIERRE
“RAISINS GAULOIS” Cuvee XI – Item #51264
“From vines in a less-than-top location behind his winery, Lapierre bottles a “vin de France” known as 2010 Raisins Gaulois that epitomizes several of this estate’s cardinal virtues and is in effect its Beaujolais nouveau. (“But if I labeled it that way,” insists Mathieu Lapierre, “nobody would buy it.”) Light and refreshing but at the same time subtly soothing in mid-palate impression; bursting with strawberry and blackberry whose tart berry skins – along with a nip of CO2 – enhance a sense of finishing invigoration, this is eminently quaffable stuff (much more so than had been the corresponding 2009) to enjoy over the next few months while waiting for the arrival of a 2011. A suggestion of nuttiness reflects the wine’s low sulfur. 88 Points.”
2010 MORGON – Item #73164 (12x750ml), Item #73162 (6x1.5L)
“Fresh raspberry and strawberry touched with brown spices and provocatively wreathed in musky peony-like floral perfume are underlain with rich nut oils. In a manner familiar from many of the best Lapierre vintages, this manages to be seductively soothing and subtly creamy yet animating and refreshing. There is a mouthwatering mineral savor to the long finish that I can only liken to lobster shell reduction. Mathieu Lapierre believes that the prolonged, relatively cool carbonic maceration he favors promotes natural antioxidants so that a wine like this has impressive stability from the open bottle despite its absence of sulfur. If you have a cold cellar, try to save a portion of this for 4-6 years. 92 Points.”DOMAINE DUPEUBLE
2010 BEAUJOLAIS – Item #77064 (12x750ml), Item #77062 (6x750ml)
“Dupeuble’s 2010 Beaujolais – representing the huge cuvee offered stateside, reflecting numerous but virtually exclusively granitic parcels and vines from 60-80 years’ age – is loaded with fresh red raspberry and sour cherry. A snappy suggestion of apple as well as this wine’s juxtaposition of subtle creaminess with refreshment put one a bit in mind of a white wine. Energy and purity of fruit go a long way toward profound satisfaction even if the wine itself is not terribly complex. Enjoy it over the next 18-24 months. 88 Points.”
DOMAINE CEDRIC VINCENT
2010 BEAUJOLAIS – Item #69394
“Cedric Vincent – for more on whom, consult issue 190 – has rendered a 2010 Beaujolais Vieilles Vignes that gushes with tart red raspberry and sour cherry, a combination of crunchy, tart seedy notes; piquant cherry pit; and salt and chalk serving for lots of back-end invigoration. This might not be especially complex, and it might be a bit lean, but I guarantee it will deliver infectious refreshment and prove admirably adaptable at table over the next 18-24 months. 87 Points.”
DOMAINE CHARLY THEVENET
2009 REGNIE “GRAIN et GRANIT” – Item #51214
“Diverse, bittersweet floral perfumes mingle with dark berries, prune, and walnut oil make for a striking nose, then inform a palpably extract-rich palate to which cherry pit and dark chocolate add further bittersweet allure. Yet for all of its low-toned, torrefactive richness and caressing texture, this positively bursts with bright, primary finishing juiciness and mouthwatering salinity. There’s almost something disconcertingly bipolar about this contrast, but I think it represents a phase through which the wine is passing, and there can be little doubt that this impressive Regnie will be worth following for at least several more years. 90 Points.”
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