Domaine Jules Desjourneys Fleurie La Chapelle des Bois 2010
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Parker
Robert
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I hesitated before offering another long note as purple as the wine it purports to describe, but from bottle, Desjourneys’s 2010 Fleurie La Chapelle des Bois Tres Vieilles Vignes has indeed well-exceeded even my exalted Issue 196 expectations, so I feel bound not just to offer an update, but one that reflects my awe. Almond extract, rowan, freesia, and dark berries and stone fruits shadowed by their distilled counterparts combine for a penetratingly high-toned and hauntingly complex aroma. The texture here has turned positively silky and this essence from centenarian vines finishes not just with the “pristine purity of fruit ... complex depth of flavor (and) vibratory intensity” on which I commented before it was bottled, but with a soaring sense of buoyancy and a kaleidoscopic interaction of floral, fruit, and mineral nuances. Although the track record for Duperray’s wines is short, I feel confident that one like this will remain awesome at least through 2020.
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Parker
Robert
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Parker
Robert
Delightfully playful, but also capable of impressive gravitas, Gamay is responsible for juicy, berry-packed wines. From Beaujolais, Gamay generally has three classes: Beaujolais Nouveau, a decidedly young, fruit-driven wine, Beaujolais Villages and Cru Beaujolais. The Villages and Crus are highly ranked grape growing communes whose wines are capable of improving with age whereas Nouveau, released two months after harvest, is intended for immediate consumption. Somm Secret—The ten different Crus have their own distinct personalities—Fleurie is delicate and floral, Côte de Brouilly is concentrated and elegant and Morgon is structured and age-worthy.
The bucolic region often identified as the southern part of Burgundy, Beaujolais actually doesn’t have a whole lot in common with the rest of the region in terms of climate, soil types and grape varieties. Beaujolais achieves its own identity with variations on style of one grape, Gamay.
Gamay was actually grown throughout all of Burgundy until 1395 when the Duke of Burgundy banished it south, making room for Pinot Noir to inhabit all of the “superior” hillsides of Burgundy proper. This was good news for Gamay as it produces a much better wine in the granitic soils of Beaujolais, compared with the limestone escarpments of the Côte d’Or.
Four styles of Beaujolais wines exist. The simplest, and one that has regrettably given the region a subpar reputation, is Beaujolais Nouveau. This is the Beaujolais wine that is made using carbonic maceration (a quick fermentation that results in sweet aromas) and is released on the third Thursday of November in the same year as harvest. It's meant to drink young and is flirty, fruity and fun. The rest of Beaujolais is where the serious wines are found. Aside from the wines simply labelled, Beaujolais, there are the Beaujolais-Villages wines, which must come from the hilly northern part of the region, and offer reasonable values with some gems among them. The superior sections are the cru vineyards coming from ten distinct communes: St-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Regnié, Brouilly, and Côte de Brouilly. Any cru Beajolais will have its commune name prominent on the label.