2009 Fleurie Vielles Vignes
Tasted Friday, June 14, 2013 by octopussy with 1,269 views
Introduction
This was part two of a comprehensive 2009 Fleurie tasting. The first part was held about 18 months ago (I couldn't attend) and comprised mostly "regular" bottlings of 2009 Fleurie. For this tasting, our host had assembled the old vines cuvées of many of the most well known producers in Fleurie. All bottles were purchased directly at the domaines and cellared since then. Our host was sad to tell us that Yvon Métras didn't want to sell him even a single bottle of the Fleurie "Ultime" back then and he couldn't find it anywhere else. We also had to skip Jules Desjourneys as the 2009s will only be bottled later this year. All wines were served blind and only uncovered at the end of the tasting. No wines were decanted in advance, yet all were opened about four hours before the tasting. The drinking temperature was around 15°C. We drank all wines from Riedel Sommeliers Series Montrachet glasses.
The estimated vine age of the single cuvées was as follows:
Domaine Metrat - Fleurie "La Roilette" VV: 60+ years
Domaine du Clos des Garants - Fleurie VV: 90 years
Julie Balagny - Fleurie "en Remont" VV: 30-90 years
Jean Foillard - Fleurie: 55 years on average
Domaine de la Grand Cour - Fleurie "Champagne" VV: 70 years
Clos de la Roilette - Fleurie "Griffe du Marquis" VV: 80 years
Lucien Lardy - Fleurie "Le Vivier" VV: 100 years
Clos de MEZ - Fleurie "La Dot": 40 years
J.M. Després - Fleurie "1889": 120 years
Clos de la Roilette: Fleurie Cuvée Tardive: no info
Domaine du Point du Jour - Fleurie "Sélection VV": no info
Domaine Chignard - Fleurie "Cuvée Spéciale": 60+ years
Domaine Passot-Collonge - Fleurie VV: 56-75 years
J.M. Després - Fleurie "Cuvée Prestige": no info
Flight 1 - Fleurie 2009 Vielles Vignes (13 Notes)
Closing
I was not surprised, but nonetheless impressed by the overall quality of the wines. Especially at the beginning, but also in between, some wines seemed really shut down. Yet, all were already accessible enough to make a statement. We felt for almost all wines that they will likely improve with more bottle age. My personal favorite of the night was the Fleurie "Champagne" by Jean-Louis Dutraive. I had the 2011 of the wine a few months ago and was already deeply impressed by that wine. The 2009 was quite similar in style (very light, fragile and delicate) and equally good. This is a must-buy for me if I can find it. I also liked Jean Foillard's Fleurie, the "en Remont" by Julie Balagny and the Fleurie Vielles Vignes by Passot-Collonges a lot. Funnily enough, the two wines from the oldest vines (Lucien Lardy "Le Vivier" VV and Jean-Marc Després "1889") were the most disappointing, yet for different reasons. The 1889 just seemed a bit overdone, too concentrated, too ripe and too alcoholic. Too fat to walk. The Lucien Lardy on the other hand seemed a bit feeble on its feet.
At the end, we all ranked the wines by our preference and the order of preference of all tasters was the following:
1. Jean Foillard - Fleurie
2. Domaine de la Grand Cour - Fleurie "Champagne" VV
2. Domaine Passot-Collonge - Fleurie VV
4. Domaine du Point du Jour - Fleurie "Sélection VV"
5. Julie Balagny - Fleurie "en Remont" VV
6. Domaine Chignard - Fleurie "Cuvée Spéciale"
7. J.M. Després - Fleurie "Cuvée Prestige"
8. Clos de la Roilette - Fleurie "Griffe du Marquis" VV
9. Clos de MEZ - Fleurie "La Dot"
10. Domaine Metrat - Fleurie "La Roilette" VV
11. Clos de la Roilette: Fleurie Cuvée Tardive
12. Domaine du Clos des Garants - Fleurie VV
13. J.M. Després - Fleurie "1889"
14. Lucien Lardy - Fleurie "Le Vivier" VV
2009 Domaine Métrat et Fils Fleurie La Roilette Vieilles Vignes 89 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Cherry red. Raspberry and a bit of glue on the nose, some coffee. This is shut down, releases a little finesse with time in the glass, but it's fairly restrained right now. On the palate, it has strong acidity that pierces the tongue, but also tickles the mouth in a nice way, there are stony notes, raspberry again. The finish begins with wet stones and finishes with very nice, clear notes of raspberry. Potentially a great wine, but opened way too early.
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2009 Domaine du Clos des Garands Fleurie Vieilles Vignes 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Rather dark red with watery edges. In the nose, it's very restrained and seems shut down. There's some funk and struck match, but also some elderberry notes as well as notes reminiscent of bonfire. It's elegant though. On the palate, it's fairly dense, the tannins are coating the mouth in a non-silky way, but there's fine fruit. The finish is short to medium with metallic notes. 87-88
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2009 Julie Balagny Fleurie En Remont Vieilles Vignes 91 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Rather dense cherry red with some viscosity to it. The nose is open and friendly with strong floral notes (violets), cherry and some fresh herbs, even some mint. On the palate, it's herbal again with a really good structure, soft, yet edgy enough, very juicy, mineralic in the finish. There's cherry and bitter almond in the very back. Excellent Fleurie.
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2009 Jean Foillard Fleurie 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Blackish red. In the nose, it's powerful and very expressive: elderberry, Cassis, black cherry, very dense, meaty, yet totally transparent. There are notes of pine needles, too. Lovely. On the palate, this has tons of nuances and lots to discover. There are high and low notes that are being played, it's very fine and elegant with a nice plummy mouthfeel. Wonderful finish that is just a bit tart.
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2009 Jean-Louis Dutraive (Domaine de la Grand'Cour) Fleurie Champagne Cuvée Vieilles Vignes 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Cloudy, but shiny cherry red. Very transparent in the nose with raspberry and forest strawberry. There are some fresh herbal notes, too (woodruff!). It's very elegant, delicate and finely chiseled. On the palate, it's equally transparent in its aromatics, there's some really deep minerality, fine acidity, some fruity sweetness (raspberry) and the finish is marked by a mix of minerality and delicate fruit notes. This suits my personal preferences almost a 100%.
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2009 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette Griffe du Marquis 89 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Rather dark cherry red. In the nose, this is dark-fruity with notes of small dark berries, it's slightly tart and very direct and linear. However, there's a certain sensuality missing to make the nose outstanding. On the palate, it's transparent, slightly edgy, fairly juicy, very good, but not memorable. Medium long finish. This may improve a lot with further bottle age.
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2009 Clos de Mez Fleurie La Dot 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
I had this twice over the last few months, once non-blind, once blind. The non-blind bottle, served alongside 2008 and 2007 of the same wine was outstanding, dark and brooding, far from being finish, but with so much substance. Served blind, I didn't recognize the wine and wrote: Very dark purplish red with lots of viscosity. In the nose, very dark, Abyss like, some black cherry, dried figs, plums, quite rich, but cool at the same time. On the palate, it's very tannic, quite tart, marked by small black berries, it has a small hole in the middle. The finish ends rather abruptly. To me, this is really a fantastic bottle of Fleurie with lots of potential even if - in a blind setting - it didn't stand out.
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2009 Jean-Marc Despres Fleurie "1889" 85 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
14.5% Vol. Wines dated 1889. Dark red with violet rim. In the nose, this is dark and brooding with blueberry liqueur notes, it's slightly balsamic and slightly lactic, too (blueberry yoghurt). It seems overdone. On the palate, it's thick, there's some alcohol driven sweetness, it's really concentrated, just very slightly bitter, not too balanced. It may get more balanced with time. Right now, it's rather difficult to drink with pleasure.
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2009 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive 89 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Cherry red with violet rim. In the nose, it's dense, but fine, very meaty, but also with stony aspects to it, it seems cool and clear like a mountain stream, there's some raspberry at the back end of the nose. On the palate, this flows nicely, it's very delicate with just ripe blackberry and notes of Earl-Grey-Tea. The tannins are slightly rustic right now. The finish begins with slightly metallic notes and ends on clear fruit (raspberry and blackberry). This will likely be extremely rewarding with five to ten years of additional bottle age. It's currently far away from its peak. 89++
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2009 Domaine du Point du Jour Fleurie Sélection Vieilles Vignes 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Plummy red. In the nose, it's very round, clear and precise, complex, but only medium elegant. There's black currant fruit, wet rock and slightly smoky notes. On the palate, the fruit is great (if only very slightly diluted), the wine is quite linear, finely chiseled, stony, cool and fresh. It's also nicely juicy and combines juiciness and power in a very convincing way. Lots of potential. 90+
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2009 Domaine Chignard Fleurie Cuvée Spéciale 91 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Crimson with violet. In the nose, it's just very slightly tart, smells of pine forest, combines light and dark nuances, very complete. Raspberry and wet granite notes. Transparent, fine, delicate. Nice! On the palate, it's slightly bitter with mouth-coating tannins, but nice fruit that drives its way through the tannins, fine acidity. Minerality in the finish. Great Fleurie.
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2009 Domaine Passot-Collonge Fleurie Vieilles Vignes 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Very dark and dense blackish red. In the nose, no surprise, this is marked by dark fruit, Cassis, blackberry. It's meaty, too, and slightly stony-smokey as if this was born on slate (I don't think it is). On the palate, this is full and round with lots of substance, nice fruit (fruity sweetness, too), pulls all registers, dark fruit with light overtones. Nice tartness. Stony finish. Long. This is absolutely delicious.
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2009 Jean-Marc Despres Fleurie Cuvée Prestige 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
Very dark blackish red. In the nose, this is quite concentrated, plummy and very meaty, slight notes of vanilla (this was elevated in wooden barrels, but not new ones), licorice and blackberry. It reminds me of Northern Rhône Syrah. Quite rich. On the palate, it's also fairly dense and concentrated, slightly sweet, it has a full throttle attack in the mouth, the tannins are velvety, yet just very slightly grainy. Modern interpretation of Fleurie, but very well made and with good flow.
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