Cru Beaujolais Tasting at the Wine Watch wine cave

“You can’t buy happiness but you can buy wine, and that’s kind of the same thing.” – Anonymous

Summertime means its time for lighter reds and wines that you can serve slightly chilled like Beaujolais.  This region is one of the best value regions in all of France and just a few kilometers away from some of the most expensive dirt in the world, Burgundy's Cotes D'Or. The crus of Beaujolais are almost as age worthy and at a fraction of the cost. Although most people who drink Beaujolais drink them young and like I suggested in the summertime in South Florida slightly chilled. 

We most remember this wine for the Nouveau version of Beaujolais that was released in November around Thanksgiving.  We don't recommend anything in the world of wines that you have to consume in 6 months.  So we are bringing Cru Beaujolais to our "Wine Drinking People" in the summertime to reaquaint you with the best that Beaujolais has to offer.

We found a lot of lost treasures after the move from the old location to the new digs this is your chance to taste some wines and check out all the hidden gems that we have uncovered in the new Wine Watch location at 837 NE 3rd Avenue right across the street from the old digs at 901 Progresso Drive.

This is a walk around tasting and will take place in the new Wine Store the price is $45 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Cru Beaujolais Tasting at New Wine Watch
Friday, June 22, 2018
7:30 PM

2014 Charly Thevenet Regnie Grain & Granite
Price: $30.00       Sale $26.40

Growing up the son of famous “Gang of Four” Morgon producer Jean-Paul Thévenet, Charly Thévenet was exposed quite early on to traditional, more natural viticulture—a philosophy that his father and friends helped to resurrect in Beaujolais in the early eighties. Though only in his twenties, Charly has already started a dynamic career. A few years ago, with extensive experience working for his father and in Marcel Lapierre’s winery already under his belt, he purchased a parcel of eighty-year-old vines in Régnié, west-southwest of his hometown of Villié-Morgon. Régnié is a terroir enjoying something of its own renaissance in the hands of talented growers like Charly and his dad’s pal, Guy Breton. In fact, Regnié has joined the short list of Grand Crus in the Beaujolais. Situated on a plateau of seabed stone in the foothills of the Côte du Py, it gives a fresh wine with solid acidity. 

As the next generation of the natural wine movement, Charly seems to have inherited his father’s savoir faire. He uses biodynamic farming techniques in the vineyard, never adding synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides to the vines. He harvests late, with an aggressive sorting of the grapes, adds minimal doses of sulfur dioxide, ages the wine in four-year-old Burgundian barriques, and bottles his wines unfiltered. Add a dose of that Thévenet talent, and you have a recipe for excellent wine! The 2007 vintage marked his first release and his first collaboration with KLWM. 

2016 Jean Paul Thevenet  Morgon
Price: $37.25       Sale $32.78

Jean-Paul Thévenet is the third generation to produce wine at his family estate in Morgon, but as a young man he took the domaine in an unexpected direction. In the early 1980s Beaujolais was flooded with mass-produced, over-commercialized wine, pushing winemaker and viticultural prophet Jules Chauvet to invoke a return to more traditional practices. Jean-Paul and three other local vignerons, Marcel Lapierre, Guy Breton, and Jean Foillard, soon took up the torch of this “natural wine” movement. Kermit dubbed this clan the Gang of Four, and the name has stuck ever since. These rebels called for a return to the old practices of viticulture and vinification: starting with old vines, never using synthetic herbicides or pesticides, harvesting late, rigorously sorting to remove all but the healthiest grapes, adding minimal doses of sulfur dioxide or none at all, and refusing both chaptalization and filtration. These techniques allow the character of Morgon to express itself naturally, without any cosmetic surgery: rustic and spicy yet also refreshing and loaded with the minerality of the granitic vineyards.

Known as “Paul-Po” among friends, Jean-Paul is reserved yet fun-loving. He farms his small five-hectare domaine with his son, Charly, who also makes his own wine from the neighboring Grand Cru Régnié. Charly is a staunch advocate of natural wine just like his father, and since 2008 the two have taken the domaine to the next level by adopting organic and biodynamic viticultural practices. While the rest of the Gang works the Parisian market, hand-selling their wines, Jean-Paul maintains a low profile. Producing only 2,000 cases per year, he simply focuses on creating the best wines possible, and we are always eager to buy as many cases as he can spare!

2016 Quentin Harel Beaujolais Village “Terres”
Price: $20.75       Sale $18.26

ith low alcohol, delicious high-toned Gamay fruit, and lovely floral aromatics, Quentin’s Beaujolais-Villages is a winner. One of the region’s rising stars, he has already proven himself in his short career, and we are thrilled to offer his just-arrived 2016 vintage.—Anthony Lynch

2015 Drouhin Hospice Belleville Fleurie
Price: $30.00       Sale $26.40

Having a pretty ruby, violet colour, the wine begins by expressing pretty floral notes of violet, rose, iris, with a typical peppery note which then evolves into red fruits. The flesh is smooth and silky with soft Tannins, like a caress, the finale is long fresh and persistant.

2016 Pavillon Chavannes Cotes du Brouilly
Price: $23.00       Sale $20.24

This is a very old school Beaujolais in the best sense: beautiful garnet color, beguiling aromatics, and a burst of refreshment in the mouth—and that burst is a savory, mineral, toothsome thing because of the domain’s high elevations and because of Mont Brouilly’s blue granite. Some crus emphasize soil notes, others give fruit, but only good Côte de Brouilly gives stone in the flavor.

2015 Chateau du Basty Regnie
Price: $18.75       Sale $16.50

A historical property, Chateau du Basty has been part of our family since 1482. Over the centuries, the Varenard family was succeeded by the Varenard de Billys, then the Ronys and finally by the Perroud family.  This domain, with its multisecular past is on a remarkable site, offering wines produced with passion and discipline, using all the precious experience of 15 generations and showing the timelessness of the production of a land.  The vineyard is divided between AOC Beaujolais Lantignie Red, Rosé, White, AOC Morgon, and AOC Régnié. The whole domain is cultivated with “culture raisonnée”, which respects the environment. The earth is there, living, silent and faithful.

2016 Marcel Lapierre “Raisins Gaulois”      
Price: $18.75       Sale $16.50

A simple Vin de France with lovely, fresh, grapey Gamay fruit. This joyous, refreshing, and lively wine is made by the son of Marcel Lapierre.

2015 Jean Foillard Fleurie
Price: $55.25    Your Price: $48.62               Quantity in Stock: 24

Deep and smoky, silky smooth—you’ll know how it feels to have your palate embraced by a taste of Fleurie. The lacy black undergarments on the label reveal this wine’s true purpose: to seduce. ORGANIC GAMAY  Kermitlynch.com

2016 Jean Foillard Morgon Cuvee Corcelette
Price: $45.00    Your Price: $39.60               Quantity in Stock: 24

Jean and three other local vignerons, Marcel Lapierre, Jean-Paul Thévenet, and Guy Breton, soon joined in on the movement. This Gang of Four, as Kermit christened them, called for a return to the old practices of viticulture and vinification: starting with old vines, never using synthetic herbicides or pesticides, harvesting late, rigorously sorting to remove all but the healthiest grapes, adding minimal doses of sulfur dioxide or none at all, and refusing both chaptalization and filtration. The end result allows Morgon to express itself naturally, as it should be without the bubblegum and banana aromas of so many other Beaujolais available today. Its rustic structure, spicy notes, and mineral-laden backbone are what real Morgon is all about.

This estate comprises nearly fourteen hectares. Foillard’s Morgons are deep, structured, and complex, with a velvety lushness that makes them irresistible when young despite their aging potential. Jean raises his wines in older barrels sourced from top estates in Burgundy, a logical decision for someone crafting Gamay in a Burgundian style. Would that all Burgundies were as consistent as Foillard’s Morgon! It is the passion and dedication of vignerons like this that have brought pride back to the crus of the Beaujolais.

Vineyards are farmed organically • Highly selective hand harvesting • Traditional, whole cluster fermentation lasts from 3-4 weeks  • Morgon Côte du Py, Morgon “3.14”, Fleurie aged for 6-9 months in used oak barrels • Morgon “Cuvée Corcelette” aged for 6-9 months in used oak barrels and one 30-hectoliter foudre • Barrels are minimum 2 years old • Unfiltered and with no added SO2 during vinification

2016 Jean Foillard Morgon Cote du Py 3L
Price: $234.00    Your Price: $205.92          Quantity in Stock: 1

2016 Jean Foillard Morgon Cote du Py Magnum
Price: $95.25    Your Price: $83.82               Quantity in Stock: 3

2016 Jean Foillard Morgon Cote du Py
Price: $45.00    Your Price: $39.60               Quantity in Stock: 24

Jean and three other local vignerons, Marcel Lapierre, Jean-Paul Thévenet, and Guy Breton, soon joined in on the movement. This Gang of Four, as Kermit christened them, called for a return to the old practices of viticulture and vinification: starting with old vines, never using synthetic herbicides or pesticides, harvesting late, rigorously sorting to remove all but the healthiest grapes, adding minimal doses of sulfur dioxide or none at all, and refusing both chaptalization and filtration. The end result allows Morgon to express itself naturally, as it should be without the bubblegum and banana aromas of so many other Beaujolais available today. Its rustic structure, spicy notes, and mineral-laden backbone are what real Morgon is all about.

This estate comprises nearly fourteen hectares. Foillard’s Morgons are deep, structured, and complex, with a velvety lushness that makes them irresistible when young despite their aging potential. Jean raises his wines in older barrels sourced from top estates in Burgundy, a logical decision for someone crafting Gamay in a Burgundian style. Would that all Burgundies were as consistent as Foillard’s Morgon! It is the passion and dedication of vignerons like this that have brought pride back to the crus of the Beaujolais.

Vineyards are farmed organically • Highly selective hand harvesting • Traditional, whole cluster fermentation lasts from 3-4 weeks • Morgon Côte du Py, Morgon “3.14”, Fleurie aged for 6-9 months in used oak barrels • Morgon “Cuvée Corcelette” aged for 6-9 months in used oak barrels and one 30-hectoliter foudre • Barrels are minimum 2 years old • Unfiltered and with no added SO2 during vinification

2016 Guy Breton Regnie
Price: $33.00    Your Price: $29.04               Quantity in Stock: 24

First produced in 2008, the Régnié is sourced from the hills between the Côte de Brouilly and the Côte du Py of Morgon, around the village of Régnié-Durette. • Guy’s grandfather handed down the two parcels that go into this wine: one with 100-year-old and the other with 35-year-old vines. The shallow soil of sand and decomposing stones gives the vines easy access to the bedrock, creating firm wines with more grip and acidity than in Morgon.

2016 Guy Breton Beaujolais-Villages "Cuvee" Marylou
Price: $26.25    Your Price: $23.10               Quantity in Stock: 24

Guy’s Beaujolais Villages “Marylou” is sourced from the Saint Joseph and Grand Cras subzones of the appellation, about 500 meters from his Morgon vines.  The wine is named after Marylou, Guy Breton’s daughter.

2015 Chateau De Poncie Fleurie Le Pre Roi Beaujolais

Price: $21.75    Your Price: $18.49

(92 Points) With the same winemaking team as Bouchard Père et Fils in Burgundy, this wine is rich and generous. It has great red fruits and hints of the toast from the wood aging of part of the wine. It is a generous wine that will age well over the next year, so drink from late 2017. Wine Enthusiast

As good as the Macon Gets:  Domaine Valanges Hors Class Saint Veran

2015 Domaine Des Valanges Hors Classe Saint Veran
Price: $30.50    Your Price: $26.84              Quantity in Stock: 126 (and that’s all till the 2016 vintage!)
This cuvee is made from the oldest vineyards planted in 1944. There is another level of richness with this wine a very concentrated bouquet of aromas. a good amount of fresh tree fruit here with hints of oyster shell, oak spice, vanilla, lemon citrus, a lovely creamy texture on the tongue with a long layered finish. White Burgundy at its finest in the Macon and one of the best wines for the money from Burgundy every year!  Most Excellent

(93 Points) The 2015 Saint-Véran En Crèches Hors Classe, which comes from vines planted back in 1944 in Les Crèches and Les Terres Noires, has another impressive bouquet that is intense, rich but not overpowering, with scents of apple blossom, granite and oyster shells that exude outstanding delineation. The palate is very complex with light honeyed notes, very spicy for a Saint-Véran with veins of ginger and lemongrass. It fans out wonderfully toward the finish while retaining brilliant delineation and focus. This is nothing short of a brilliant Saint-Véran and it comes highly recommended.  The Wine Advocate, Issue Date 31st Aug 2017

2014 Domaine des Valanges Hors Classe Saint Veran MAGNUM
Price: $65.00    Your Price: $57.20               Quantity in Stock: 28

(92+ Points) "Healthy pale color. Deep but reticent aromas of fresh apricot, gunflint and minerals. Fat, full and broad but leavened by strong stony minerality; at once powerful and sharply delineated. Very dry and classic, with a brisk lemony character carrying the firm, vibrant finish. Decant this before pulling the cork or lay it down for four or five years."–Jul-16

2015 Domaine des Valanges Pouilly-Fuisse
Price: $32.75    Your Price: $28.82              Quantity in Stock: 14

2014 Domaine des Valanges Pouilly-Fuisse MAGNUM
Price: $67.50    Your Price: $59.40              Quantity in Stock: 10

This is the top village in the Macon but there are a lot of wines with the Pouilly Fuisse moniker that don't live up to their reputation.  This wine has that textbook brioche like quality to the rich ripe tree fruits, lemon and apple with a long mineral laced finish that leaves the tongue, smooth creamy texture with a long finish. 

2014 Domaine Des Valanges Saint Veran MAGNUM
Price: $46.50    Your Price: $40.92               Quantity in Stock: 26

2015 Domaine Des Valanges Saint Veran
Price: $20.25    Your Price: $17.82               Quantity in Stock: 3
2016 Domaine Des Valanges Saint Veran
Price: $20.75    Your Price: $18.26               Quantity in Stock: 12

Saint-Véran is located in southern Burgundy, in the subregion of the Maconnais. The area borders the more famous appellation of Pouilly-Fuissé,though both enjoy similar chalk and clay soils. The grape here is Chardonnay.  This wine is refined and elegant with bright clean green apple and citrus aromas and flavours.

2014 Domaine des Valanges Saint Veran Les Cras MAGNUM
Price: $57.00    Your Price: $50.16               Quantity in Stock: 25

2016 Domaine des Valanges Saint Veran Les Cras
Price: $24.75    Your Price: $21.78               Quantity in Stock: 12

This cuvée is a blend of wine made from thirty years old vines on various slopes in the commune of Davaye in the following climats (vineyards sites): Les Valanges, Les Carettes, Les Terres-Noires and Les Creches. The Vineyards plots face south by south-east and north-east. The terroir is clay limestone with a high percentage of fairly lean limestone soil. The vines grow on the middle of the Solutre and Vergisson Slopes.

Menu
Eggplant Caponata on crostini
French Country Pate with traditional accoutrements
Seared Duck breast served on Polenta cake and drizzled with cherry Beaujolais
Lamb Tagine tartlet with dates prunes and apricots
Epoisses and Cherry tarts

This tasting will feature some of the top names in Beaujolais from the last two outstanding vintages 2015 and 2016.  The fee for this walk around tasting is $45 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.