Duboeuf Julienas La Trinquee 2008
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Robert
Parker
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Juliénas, "imperial wine," was named after the great Julius Caesar. With its one-of-a-kind taste, it is also known as an "editorial wine," preferred by many French writers and a number of newsmen in Paris. Some of its greatest fans are from the satirical newspaper, Le Canard Enchaîné, who apparently created the amusing saying, "taking the waters at the spa in Juliénas." No doubt they dipped more than their ink pens into the red liquid.
In offering Juliénas frequent, humorous publicity, these journalists brought about its popularity. Joyful humor pairs well with Juliénas. The dynamic growers association conceived of a grand Tasting Cellar, complete with bacchanalian frescoes full of rustic merrymaking. Not just anywhere, however — in the old nineteenth-century style church built across the main street of Juliénas. Villagers, along with invited guests from show business and the press, gather at the Cellier de la Vieille Eglise for the big annual festival the second weekend in November. The first wines of the new harvest are rolled out for tasting and the colorful wine brotherhood inducts honored ambassadors of Juliénas into its ranks. The main celebrity attending is awarded exactly 104 bottles of their wine, just the right number to enjoy every Saturday and Sunday for an entire year. These people sure know how to have a good time! Deeply colored, solid and robust, Juliénas is a wine with excellent ageing potential and deserves to be given a noble repose in the cellar, to allow it to reach its maximum fullness.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Julienas La Trinquee represents a cuvee from several growers farming what the Duboeufs consider the best sector of Julienas. Tart, bright red fruits are tinged with pepper, making for a striking contrast with this year’s flower label Julienas. This shows admirable penetration in an exhilaratingly refreshing, long finish rendered more interesting by suggestions of herb and stone. (The structured 2008 Julienas Chateau des Capitains was still in tank when I tasted it, rather perturbed by its CO2 – which will of course dissipate – but also by its wood component.) There is only a tiny lot of flower labeled Saint Amour this year, still in tank when I tasted it, juicily ripe, if a bit simple.
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2006-
Wine &
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For over 40 years Georges Duboeuf has been the Beaujolais region's most renowned négociant and is today regarded in the wine world as the "King of Beaujolais." Born in 1933 in Pouilly-Fuissé, the son of a winegrower, Georges began selling his family's wines from the back of his bicycle to now-legendary local chefs such as Paul Bocuse and Paul Blanc. In 1964, Georges realized his dream and founded his own company: Les Vins Georges Duboeuf.
Over the years, Georges has developed long-standing relationships with the region's top growers and winemakers. Georges is involved in every aspect of his enterprise and is known for his passion and his legendary palate. In 2003, the Duboeuf family opened a new, modern winery in Romanéche-Thorins. The following year, the Duboeuf and Deutsch families jointly purchased Chateau des Capitans in Juliénas. With annual sales of 30 million bottles, Georges Duboeuf is one of the world's best-known French brands.
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.