consume • contemplate • by thor iverson
Thévenet 2001 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes” (Beaujolais) – Corked. (12/10)
Thévenet 2001 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes” (Beaujolais) – Very light and soft, a slow-flowing river of memories. Minerals and earth are to the fore, with wood ear mushrooms lingering. Gentle and entirely lovely. (1/11)
Coudert-Appert “Domaine de la Chapelle des Bois” 2009 Chiroubles (Beaujolais) – Big, brawny, and very 2009-ish (to the extent that generalization means anything), but retaining a red-berry sharpness that redeems it. At the moment, it’s pretty disjointed despite being packed and stuffed with flavor. Will time help? It couldn’t hurt. (12/10)
Villa Ponciago 2009 Fleurie “la Réserve” (Beaujolais) – I don’t even know where to start with the name, so let’s do the wine instead. Where the hell is all this mint (peppermint, mostly) coming from? And why is it in my Fleurie? There’s a little sweet violet fruit lurking way in the background, looking like it was jacked in the playground by mint bullies and left to cower behind the jungle gym until just before the next bell rings, after which it will sprint to class and hope to avoid further violence. There’s plenty of tannin, and were this wine at all pleasant, I’d say it’s a candidate for aging. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but I sure don’t care for how it tastes now. (11/10)
Bouland 2009 Chiroubles (Beaujolais) – Really, really, really good. In fact, you math geeks put a bar over that “really.” It does, however, bear marks of its birth year; the fruit tastes perfectly in-form, all rolling cherries with a hefty contribution of violet-tinged fruit, but it’s big. No, “big” isn’t quite the right word. Lush? Expansive? Microbursting? Fractal? Oh, I don’t know. It’s a serious mouthful of simultaneously serious and unserious wine, though, with the texture of rough suede and powerful vibrancy. I’ll take a foudre of this, please. (11/10)
Coudert “Clos de la Roilette” 2005 Fleurie (Beaujolais) – The precise nature of the maturation here is a little difficult to describe. Perhaps a fist, just starting to unclench and letting a little light shine through the interstitials, is the best analogy. It’s not exactly generous, but it’s generously fruited, and the softness that the wine had always brought to an otherwise fairly structured package has not changed; all the development has been wrought within the wine’s structure. There is so far from any hurry to get to this wine. (9/10)
Cheveau 2007 Beaujolais-Villages “Or Rouge” (Beaujolais) – Cherries and apples, with the succulent tang that characterizes the more straightforward genre of Beaujolais, the most ardent fans of which are much more enraptured by the complexities of the crus these days. But there’s a lot of value in these deft, well-turned short stories…chief among them the incredible cut and barb they provide in counterpoint to food. (9/10)
Roussel & Barrouillet “Clos Roche Blanche” 2007 Touraine “Cuvée Gamay” (Loire) – I like these young about 50% of the time, thinking the other half insufficient, and am repeatedly proven wrong by even a little bit of maturation (which is all I’ll allow under this closure), so my generalized displeasure with this bottle should be taken to mean absolutely nothing. It’s the tangy red fruit and earth that make the wine, and the grating, flaky, stale peppercorns and overaged herbs that ruin it. And the next bottle will be spectacular. I’m blaming taster variation rather than any of the usual suspects. (8/10)
Coudert “Clos de la Roilette” 2009 Fleurie (Beaujolais) – I really don’t like this, and the reason isn’t immediately identifiable, other than the fact it doesn’t taste like much aside from a very basic notion of Beaujolais. Undoubtedly not right in some fashion, and another bottle is required. (8/10)
Chermette 2009 Beaujolais Rosé “Les Griottes” (Beaujolais) – Yearning. Not quite acquiring whatever it’s in the mood for, though. Simple cherry analog, tarragon analog, dust analog…nothing really seems entirely present here. There’s no obvious sign of damage, and yet I wonder. (8/10)
Lapierre 2007 Morgon (Beaujolais) – Always light, getting lighter. It’s not quite scrawny yet, though the bones are just beginning to protrude. I’m not sure this has a future that’s better than its present or its past, but I’ve been wrong about this wine before. (8/10)