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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 89.3 pts. and median of 90 pts. in 170 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by JonathanP on 1/28/2023 & rated 90 points: Probably as good as the ‘12 Lapierre will get. Juicy cherry, herbaceousness, earth, and a hint of leather. If I was picky, the acidity stuck out a little, but overall, this had decent flesh to cover those edges and it was drinking pretty well at 11 years of age. Drink now. (888 views) | | | Tasted by Enfant sauvage on 6/28/2021: This was okay, but, in my view, still the weakest vintage of the early 2010s for Lapierre. Some interesting cab franc-esque notes - green, tobacco, earth, etc. in there with some slightly subpar fruit (subpar for Lapierre, that is). As with the other Lapierres of this era that I opened recently, needed air. Not great on opening, I'd recommend a short decant. (1865 views) | | | Tasted by Rich S on 12/19/2020 & rated 92 points: Popped and poured. Light garnet color. Lots of aromas on the nose with mixed red berry fruits, including some dried cherry and cranberry, a little earthy tobacco, herbal cherry cough drop. Really nice. Similar flavors on the palate with a lightness to it but still complex flavors with a little strawberry and forest floor coming through. Agree with the Burgundian comment. This could have easily passed for quality pinot noir. Medium+ acid, medium tannin. This bottle showed extremely well and could go further but likely at the expense of the fruit. (2174 views) | | | Tasted by cweiss on 11/12/2020: Still good, but clearly missing that bright strawberry fruit of 3 years ago, further diminished in the past year. (2233 views) | | | Tasted by beatles on 4/10/2020 & rated 91 points: This one from my own cellar and much better, thank you very much. Round and balanced, in complete harmony, very Burgundian with strawberry and sous bois. Tasted vis-avis the 2014, and while equally fine, this is better right now IMHO. Peaking now, I think.
#Kandestederne (3110 views) | | | Tasted by cweiss on 4/2/2020: The first sip presents bright strawberry fruit, followed by mineral and some funk. As the meal goes on the strawberry takes a back seat. Nice wine, and enjoyed, but in this vintage I preferred it a couple of years ago. (2169 views) | | | Tasted by brianakrin on 3/31/2020 & rated 92 points: Fresh, good fruit, sweet with good supporting acid. light secondary flavors.
Drinking well , lovely sipper , Drink up but no real hurry. (1540 views) | | | Tasted by vagrantone on 3/14/2020 & rated 86 points: i have to disagree with previous notes.
This wine is years past its peak and practically outside its drinking window.
it lacks the juice quality, the brightness and even the hue that make young wines from Marcel Lapierre so compelling.
What this does show are the limitations of "natural winemaking". Even from an outstanding producer, the wines has very limited aging potential.
Ultimately, this is disappointing as - at least in my book- this is how most wines are evaluated.
I will continue to drink wines from Marcel Lapierre but earlier and with lower expectations. (1408 views) | | | Tasted by beatles on 12/29/2019 & rated 89 points: Seems mature now. The fresh fuit is slowly giving room for secondary notes, some sous bois here mixes with the strawberry, well balanced
Still quite light and a wee bit short. Would not keep this much longer (if this cellar is to be trusted).
#Nansensgade30 (2037 views) | | | Tasted by Sig. Cappano on 9/26/2019 & rated 91 points: Ruby red, already showing some orange glow. Beautiful nose with ripe cherry, raspberry, leather, clove, and both herbal and animal touches. Good acidity and very smooth tannins. An elegant and tasty wine. (1319 views) | | | Tasted by drwine2001 on 9/11/2019: Soft, light, faded fruit with moderate brett. (1704 views) | | | Tasted by JonathanP on 5/19/2019 & rated 90 points: Has settled down over the last 5 years and sings from the get-go, after a couple of good swirls. Still fresh and crunchy with plenty of red fruit, some citrusrind, earthiness, as well as herbs and spices. Tertiary flavours coming through now. This is in prime time. (1542 views) | | | Tasted by pjhr on 4/18/2019 & rated 92 points: Juicy red cherry, currant, and mineral notes on the nose and palate with tasty acidity and tannins on the moderate finish. (1456 views) | | | Tasted by Tony Molester on 12/24/2018: From magnum. Perfect cork, no sign of seepage.
Fresh strawberry on nose,
Balanced acidity on palate, very quaffable. Paired well with lentil and rice dish.
Simply delicious.
Drink or hold.
12.5%abv (1594 views) | | | Tasted by Snowryeder on 11/19/2018 & rated 92 points: Drinking very well now, much better than 2 years ago. (1597 views) | | | Tasted by diggydan on 10/28/2018 & rated 92 points: Really nice wine. Secondary bojo flavors, good fruit, and an elegant, lean structure. Classic. (1610 views) | | | Tasted by Kurtjo on 9/24/2018 & rated 90 points: Wow, her er det skjedd mye på 4 år. Nydelig spicy jordbær på nesen.
Cherry, jordbær og løv. Mørk og lang ettersmak. (1574 views) | | | Tasted by Andyofoto on 9/1/2018: The sulfured version. Fantastic showing. Sweet black tea, cherry juice, stemmy grip. Still young with plenty of life. Good intensity still. A little nervy. Great. (1547 views) | | | Tasted by pjhr on 6/11/2018 & rated 92 points: Continues to drink beautifully! (1752 views) | | | Tasted by konquest on 12/16/2017 & rated 90 points: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcx-THmAftp/?taken-by=chez_julien
Pas une ride, mes autres vont attendre bien patiemment. (2240 views) | | | Tasted by cweiss on 9/25/2017: A little funk, grown up fruit, moderate body, good balance. What's not to like. Drink or hold. (2643 views) | | | Tasted by jlhkiss on 8/5/2017 & rated 91 points: Much more accessible than prior tastings but still needed about 30-min to open up off the pop and pour. Served slightly chilled on a warm night. Strawberry, rhubarb, cloves, and funk on the nose and through the palate with sprinkles of cinnamon, black cherries, and Manhattan bitters. The finish is evolving but still austere. Drink through 2025. Technical score: 92. Enjoyment score: 90. (2828 views) | | | Tasted by Saxman1984 on 8/3/2017: This wine is in a good spot right now. There are lovely notes of strawberry and red current in the nose. There is a little funk in the nose, but in a good way. Very enjoyable. (2830 views) | | | Tasted by wayfarer on 6/23/2017 & rated 91 points: Concur with praise in recent reviews. Drinking just great, with fine balance of fruit, mineral, tannin, acidity. Rich with mixed red fruit, tones of strawberry, cherry, earth, a bit of herb/smokiness lurking there. Delicious. Hit the spot just chilled a bit with grilled strip steak, pasta salad, fresh garden greens, on a warm summer evening. (2725 views) | | | Tasted by pjhr on 6/20/2017 & rated 93 points: Delicious juicy red cherry, currant, and mineral notes on the nose and palate with tasty acidity and resolving tannins on the finish. Drinking beautifully! (2571 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Marcel Lapierre Producer website
U.S. Importer (Addt'l Info)
Marcel Lapierre, Beaujolais Producer, Is Dead at 60
By ERIC ASIMOV
Published: October 11, 2010
Marcel Lapierre, a Beaujolais grower and producer who played a leading role in rejuvenating the diminished reputation of the region’s wines, died Sunday in Lyon, France. He was 60.
The cause of death was melanoma, said Kermit Lynch, the American importer of his wines. Mr. Lapierre was a rigorous, relentlessly experimental winemaker. He and a group of three other producers were instrumental in demonstrating to the world that Beaujolais had far more to offer than its often insipid mass-market nouveau wines.
Rather than these fruity, happy-go-lucky concoctions, Mr. Lapierre and his colleagues, Jean Foillard, Guy Breton and Jean-Paul Thévenet, produced wines of depth, nuance and purity that nonetheless retained the joyous nature of Beaujolais.
Mr. Lynch remembered the first time he tasted a Lapierre Morgon, from the 1989 vintage. “That bottle was so convincing to me,” he said on Monday. “He and his gang were so different from everything going on.”
Mr. Lynch long ago called Mr. Lapierre and his like-minded colleagues the Gang of Four. The name stuck, even as the loose group of friends came to include many more than four.
Mr. Lapierre was born April 17, 1950, into a country exhausted by two world wars. When salesmen appeared, offering new, labor-saving technologies, chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, many vignerons did not require much convincing to cast aside the labor-intensive traditions of generations. The result was a sort of banalization of Beaujolais.
The problems for the region were eventually made worse by the growing popularity of Beaujolais nouveau. When Mr. Lapierre took over his family’s domain in Villié Morgon in 1973, the quaint harvest custom of making a new wine for immediate consumption was about to explode into a worldwide phenomenon. By the end of the 1970s, with the aid of aggressive promotion, cities from London to New York to Tokyo would be counting the minutes until the third Thursday of each November, the official release date, when wine shops could unveil the stored cache and proclaim, “Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé.”
The popularity of nouveau tilted the priorities of the region. As more and more Beaujolais production went into nouveau, growers no longer made a pretense of striving for quality. When the market for nouveau diminished, growers in the lesser regions of Beaujolais were stuck with an oversupply of poor wine, and the public was stuck with an image of vapid wine meant to be drunk immediately.
In the 1970s, Mr. Lapierre made his wines in the conventional manner of the times. But by 1981 he had come under the influence of Jules Chauvet, a Beaujolais wine dealer and scientist who advocated avoiding the use of chemicals as far as possible. Mr. Lapierre adopted organic viticulture, decided he would no longer add yeast to induce fermentation, and reduced or eliminated the amount of sulfur dioxide he would add to the wine.
Sulfur dioxide has been used as a preservative in wine for centuries, but can alter the experience of a wine, the way viewing a work of art through glass differs from a direct view. Used in excess, it can mask a range of sins, and many leading winemakers today try to use as little as possible. But to use no sulfur is risky and requires absolute rigor in shipping and storing the wines.
“It affects the very shape of the wine,” said Mr. Lynch, who does not buy wine without sulfur from any producer other than Mr. Lapierre. “The wine with no SO2 is very voluptuous and rounded. With SO2 it’s very squared-off to me.”
In recent years Mr. Lapierre’s son, Mathieu, had taken over winemaking duties for his father. Mr. Lapierre is also survived by his wife, Marie, and two daughters, Camille and Anne.
Why had he changed his methods in 1981?
“Because the wines I made didn’t satisfy me, and the wines from elsewhere that I liked weren’t made in the modern style,” he told the quarterly The Art of Eating in 2004.
“I’m just making the wine of my father and grandfather,” he said, “but I’m trying to make it a little better.”
GamayPlant RobezFrance Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia)
Wine Scholar Guild vintage ratings
2018 vintage: "marked by a wet spring, a superb summer and a good harvest"
2019 vintage reports
2021: "From a general standpoint, whether for white, rosé or red wines, 2021 is a year marked by quality in the Rhône Valley Vineyards. Structured, elegant, fresh and fruity will be the main keywords for this new vintage."
2022 harvest: idealwine.info | wine-searcher.comBurgundy Les vins de Bourgogne (Bureau interprofessionnel des vins de Bourgogne) (and in English)
Burgundy - The province of eastern France, famous for its red wines produced from Pinot Noir and its whites produced from Chardonnay. (Small of amounts of Gamay and Aligoté are still grown, although these have to be labeled differently.) The most famous part of the region is known as the Cote d'Or (the Golden Slope). It is divided into the Cote de Beaune, south of the town of Beaune (famous principally for its whites), and the Cote de Nuits, North of Beaune (home of the most famous reds). In addition, the Cote Chalonnaise and the Maconnais are important wine growing regions, although historically a clear level (or more) below the Cote d'Or. Also included by some are the regions of Chablis and Auxerrois, farther north.
Burgundy Report | Les Grands Jours de Bourgogne - na stejné téma od Heleny Baker
# 2013 Vintage Notes:
* "2013 is a vintage that 20 years ago would have been a disaster." - Will Lyons
* "low yields and highly variable reds, much better whites." - Bill Nanson
* "Virtually all wines were chaptalised, with a bit of sugar added before fermentation to increase the final alcohol level." - Jancis Robinson
# 2014 Vintage Notes:
"We have not had such splendid harvest weather for many years. This will ensure high quality (fragrant, classy and succulent are words already being used) across the board, up and down the hierarchy and well as consistently from south to north geographically apart from those vineyards ravaged by the hail at the end of June." - Clive Coates
# 2015 Vintage Notes:
"Low yields and warm weather allowed for ample ripeness, small berries and an early harvest. Quality is looking extremely fine, with some people whispering comparisons with the outstanding 2005 vintage. Acid levels in individual wines may be crucial." - Jancis Robinson
# 2017 Vintage Notes:
"Chablis suffered greatly from frost in 2017, resulting in very reduced volumes. As ever, the irony seems to be that what remains is very good quality, as it is in the Côte d’Or. Cooler nights across the region have resulted in higher-than-usual acidity, with good conditions throughout the harvest season allowing for ripe, healthy fruit." - Jancis Robinson
# 2018 Vintage Notes:
"The most successful region for red Burgundy in 2018 was the Côte de Beaune. The weather was ideal in this area, with just enough sunlight and rain to produce perfectly balanced wines naturally." - Vinfolio
Beaujolais Vins du Beaujolais (L’Union des Vignerons du Beaujolais)
The vineyards on weinlagen-info
Wine Scholar Guild Vintage Chart & Ratings
# 2009 Vintage Notes:
"There will be a lot of absolutely delicious Beaujolais to try in 2009, as it is indeed a very good, atypically ripe and opulent vintage for Beaujolais. As others here have mentioned, the Louis-Dressner and Kermit Lynch portfolios cover many of the very best estates (with an honorable mention for importer Weygandt-Metzler), and just choosing from their strip labels is a very good jumping off point. As a quick primer, the three best Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages producers that I regularly cross paths with are the aformentioned Jean-Paul Brun and his Domaine Terres Dorées, Pierre Chermette of Domaine du Vissoux and Domaine Dupeuble from the Kermit Lynch's portfolio. I also find the Beaujolais-Villages from Joseph Drouhin consistently excellent and very classic in style and like all of this firm's Beaujolais, a completely underrated source for very top drawer Crus and B-Villages.
Amongst the Cru Beaujolais, it is important to keep in mind(again as folks have mentioned already) that certain villages tend to produce much more structured wines, and this will be very evident in a powerful vintage like 2009. In general terms, the wines from Moulin-a-Vent, Morgon and Cote de Brouilly are going to demand a bit of bottle age to really start to drink well in 2009, and these may not be the best growers to focus on when tasting through the vintage to draw your own conclusions. But in these appellations, if you keep in mind that what you are tasting is likely going to need five years of bottle age to really blossom from these crus, you cannot go wrong with Kermit Lynch's "Gang of Five" producers- Thevenet, Lapierre, Foillard, Breton are four of the five- as well as Georges Descombes and Louis et Claude Desvignes from Louis-Dressner. I also like very much the Morgons made by Louis Jadot and Joseph Drouhin for the big houses, and Jean-Paul Brun also makes a very good example of Morgon.
In Moulin-a-Vent, Louis Jadot's Chateau des Jacques makes a very good range- though always structured when young- and Bernard Diochon is excellent year in and year out. Pierre Chermette also makes superb Moulin-a-Vent and the Drouhin version is consistently exceptional. In Cote de Brouilly, the two most exciting producers are Nicole Chanrion and Chateau Thivin (both represented by Kermit Lynch). The Chanrion is usually very accessible out of the blocks for this very stony terroir (it is an extinct volcano), while the Chateau Thivin bottlings demand time and are usually tight and structured when young. Better to try the delicious straight Brouilly from Chateau Thivin if you want to drink one of their wines out of the blocks, as that never demands patience and is lovely.
In the less structured Cru villages, wines I particularly like are the aformentioned Clos de la Roilette in Fleurie (they are the Chateau Yquem of the village- though their vines are right on the Moulin-a-Vent border and the wine used to be sold as Moulin-a-Vent before the AOC went into effect, so they are a bit more structured than most Fleuries), Cedric Chignard, Jean-Paul Brun and Pierre Chermette are all very, very good sources. Domaine Diochon in Moulin-a-Vent also makes a good Fleurie, as does Joseph Drouhin. In general these will be more floral, open and sappy bottles of Beaujolais out of the blocks and they will be delicious from the get-go.
In St. Amour, Domaine des Billards makes absolutely brilliant wines and is one of my favorite producers in all of Beaujolais. In Julienas, Michel Tete is the star producer, but I also like the Drouhin bottling from here very well indeed. There are many more outstanding bottlings to be found scattered thorughout the crus and I am sure that I am forgetting several worthy estates, but this at least will give you a good "to do" list to get started with the vintage. The only '09s I have tasted thus far are the Joseph Drouhin wines, which I tasted through in Beaune in March, and they are deep, sappy and beautifully soil-driven. If all the other top estates have made wines in this style, then this is indeed going to be a very special vintage for the region. But with the wines from Morgon and Moulin-a-Vent, you may do better trying a few bottles from either the 2006 or 2007 vintage if you can find them well-stored, as these are less structured vintages and both are beginning to really drink well from these villages." - John Gilman
# 2014 Vintage Notes:
"The 2014 vintage in Beaujolais is absolutely terrific and probably, along with 2011, the best vintage in the region since 2005. The region has had a bit of a rollercoaster ride in the last few years, with an absolutely phenomenal vintage in 2011 (particularly for those of us who like to age our Beaujolais for several years prior to serving), one of the most difficult growing seasons in recent memory in 2012, a good, solid classic vintage in 2013, and now, again, another truly outstanding vintage in 2014." - John Gilman
"2014 [...] vintage is a return to the mineral-cracked freshness and explosive low-alcohol red fruit the cru level wines of this region are famous for but have lacked since 2010/2011 (without the potentially hard/green/diffuse/underripe character found in many 2012/2013's)." - Jon Rimmerman
"the 2014s exhibit lively berry and floral character punctuated by zesty minerality. The wines are concentrated yet not heavy, and show good structure without coming off as outsized. Many producers I visited in June described the wines as a hybrid of the 2010s and 2011s, combining the structure of the earlier vintage and the fruit intensity of the latter. As such, the 2014s, as a group, are hugely appealing right now but I have no doubt that they will reward another three to five years of aging. Many of the brawniest 2014s have the material to see them through a decade or more of life but by that point they’ll have little resemblance to most peoples’ notion of Beaujolais, so I’d advise drinking almost all of the ‘14s before they hit their tenth birthday." - Josh Raynolds
# 2015 Vintage Notes:
"Vinification will not be straightforward and the 2015 vintage will be a reflection of the quality of the winemaker." - Jean Loron
"the wines have the potential to age and evolve beautifully" - Michael Apstein
# 2016 Vintage Notes:
"a harvest of soft, amply fruity wines, though without the depth and density of the outstanding 2015 harvest." - Wine Scholar Guild
# 2017 Vintage Notes:
"Trade body InterBeaujolais has said the 2018 harvest in the region will “go down in history as a legendary vintage” alongside the likes of 2017, 2015 and 2009." - Rupert Millar
#2018 Vintage Notes:
"The heatwave of July and August led growers to anticipate rich, high-alcohol wines akin to the excellent, but atypical, 2015s. However, probably due to the reserves of groundwater accumulated prior to June 20th, the 2018s are, as a rule, fresher, with slightly higher acidity and considerably lower alcohol than their counterparts from 2015. There is, nonetheless, an appealing fleshiness or rondeur to many 2018s, which suggests they won’t keep for as long as the more mineral 2017s – which are really hitting their stride now – but makes them highly seductive from the word go.
Another interesting theme, which we encountered in wines from various domaines across different crus, is a Cabernet Franc-like leafy character towards the back of the palate, which contributes an extra degree of freshness and buvabilité." Will Heslop Morgon The vineyards on weinlagen-info
With 1100 ha of vines, Morgon is the second largest Cru after Brouilly, producing wines that are only marginally less powerful than those of Moulin-à-Vent. Certainly Morgon’s are the firmest in the region, with a bouquet of great purity and compact Gamay fruit. Morgon needs more time than other Crus before it can be broached - normally 2-3 years for its most serious exponents – and develop its rich, savoury flavours which lead to a Pinot Noir-like maturity. The ‘Classico’ heart of the Morgon region is the Mont du Py, just south of the commune of Villié-Morgon. The finest wines almost exclusively come from its Côte de Py slope, whose aspect and rich schistous soil contribute to greater ripeness, and yield wines that are denser than anywhere else in the appellation. As you would expect from a region of this size the character and quality of Morgon can vary considerably, but the best are as good, and as sturdy and long-lived, as any other Beaujolais you will find. Recommended Producers: François Calot, Maurice Gaget, Louis-Claude Desvignes.
See also Morgon Details |
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