2011 Fleurie, Morgon and a Moulin-à-Vent

Beaujolais becomes more and more popular also with out Pinot friends, so we organized a little get together at Mme Hu's Restaurant to have some 2011 Beaujolais Cru with Mme Hu's French-German cuisine that has strong Viatnemese influences. All wines were served slightly chilled at around 15° C, some were popped and poured and some had been opened some hours in advance. As a starter we had mixed hors d'oeuvre ranging from pickled horseradish, via deep fried radish cake with chili, rainbow trout raw-marinated in lemon juice, Viatnemese roast-beef salad and spinach dumplings. For the main course, we had a veal red curry with cilantro and green beans. For dessert there was lime infused crème brulée and I had brought the remainders of a bottle of 1988 Ch. Suduiraut opened the weekend before.

• 2011 Julie Balagny Fleurie La Carioca 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie

  Bright cherry red. In the nose, this is very bright and friendly, there's some black cherry, very strong notes of lilacs and just very slight vegetal notes (celery stalks). On the palate, it's juicy, rather soft around the edges with fairly soft acidity, but a very nice mineralic note towards the finish.

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• 2011 Damien Coquelet Morgon Côte du Py 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon

  Fairly dark crimson colour. In the note, it smelles like a red version of a Mosel Riesling. There's a mix of smokey slate and spontaneous fermentation notes, mixed with hints of reduction. It's also quite gamey (deer's fur?). Underneath, there's a very attractive core of fruit though, based on red currant and juniper berries. On the palate, it's got great minerality, it's just very slightly tart with mouth coating tannins, but also here you sense a nice fruit core. While it can be approached now, waiting some years for the spontaneous fermentation and reductive notes to settle down, should be rewarded.

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• 2011 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Fleurie 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie

  Transparent light red. In the nose, this is lucid, very clear, very bright and very expressive. There's raspberry and red currant, discreet herbal notes, only very slight hints of reduction and notes of spontaneous fermentation. You can't get your nose out of the glass. On the palate, it's equally lucid and see-through, it's juicy, but very finely woven, almost fragile, very precise and ends with a great mix of raspberry and minerality.

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• 2011 Château du Moulin-a-Vent Moulin-à-Vent Champ de Cour 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent

  Dark cherry red. In the nose, this is marked by the oak. While there's no obvious oak note, you can sense the elevage in (albeit used) oak barrels. It's very close to Côte de Beaune Pinot Noir in its overall characteristics, more sensual, yet less precise and bright than many other Beaujolais Crus. Its perfume is incredibly seductive. On the palate, this is extremely firm and difficult to approach. There's a very prominent, yet fine acidity (reminiscent of red currants) that worms its way through the mouth, the tannins are still a little edgy. This will need serious cellar time (at least five years), but could or even should turn out to be great.

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• 2011 Louis Claude Desvignes Morgon La Voûte Saint-Vincent 87 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon

  Dark crimson colour. In the nose, this is open for business: there's bright, yet a tad too obvious fruit that jumps in your face. Red cherries, some blackberry, ripe plums. While it's nice, nothing's held back and it lacks complexity a bit. This continues in the mouth. It's very juicy, saliva inducing, yet a tad soft and not too complex (which it probably doesn't aspire to be anyhow). Great to drink now without having to think too much about it.

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• 2011 Louis Claude Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon

  Very dark red, almost black. In the nose, this is incredible, very compact, hard as a block of marble, it offers a super precise scent of small black berries (blackberries, cassis, elderberry), hot, wet stone and high pitched notes of red fruit (raspberry). On the palate, the tannins are not rough, but mouth coating, it's fairly tart right now, but with so much precision. Great structure, very firm and compact and with lots of potential.

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• 2011 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie

  Crimson colour. In the nose, this is very typical for this particular wine and very distinguishable. It's quite meaty (beef carpaccio) and plummy, yet at the same time super precise and with lots of complexity and depth as there are also high notes of raspberries and forest strawberries and notes of hot granite rock. On the palate, it's got an incredible structure, round, but without any fat, like the racehorse on the label. I already like the 2011 Clos de la Roilette a lot, but the Cuvée Tardive is a big step up from it.

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• 1988 Château Suduiraut 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Light amber colour. This needed four days open to finally come around. At first it seemed a little plump and unexciting. On days 1 and 2 it showed fairly prominent notes of Botrytis and spices (cinnamon, ginger) as well as some Marzipan. On the palate, it was fairly heavy and slightly hot from the alcohol. After 4 days in the fridge and drank with a lime infused crème brulée, it was simply marvellous with a light and airy feel to it, notes of citrus fruits (white grapefruit, lemons) and great freshness. This continued through to the palate where the alcohol didn't show anymore, the acidity was much more prominent and fresh and all heaviness was gone. It doesn't seem at its peak yet.

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Many of the wines were Beaujolais all time classics (Clos de la Roilette CT, Terres Dorées Fleurie, Desvignes Morgon CdP) and they did indeed deliver, in this case just very slightly more than the young talents. The 2011 Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive is a wine for the long haul and to me seemed to be a very classic vintage of this wine. I very much liked the Terres Dorées Fleurie and the Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py as well, as both were great examples of their origin, the Terres Dorées Fleurie with its lucid, transparent and red-fruited elegant style and the Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py with its black fruit core and compact and firm structure. The Julie Balagny Fleurie 2011 faded a bit next to the two other Fleuries although it is most certainly a very good wine. I had slight difficulties with the Coquelet Côte du Py, as its spontaneous fermentation and reduction notes as well as its animality made the wine a tad too rustic for my taste. The Desvignes Morgon La Voute St. Vincent is ready to drink now. While it was super approachable, even to drink now, I prefer the Côte du Py. There were discussions at the table about the Ch. du Moulin-à-Vent 2011 Champ de Cour. While we all agreed that it's an excellent wine and that the oak is very well integrated, not everyone was convinced that the very Burgundy centric style of the wine is all too typical for Beaujolais and the Gamay grape. Then again, especially in Moulin-à-Vent, there are now several producers leaning towards a Burgundian style (Château des Jacques, Château du Moulin-à-Vent, Thibault Liger-Belair to name maybe the most prominent). And at least to me, when thinking about what the wine reminds me of the most, it's still rather Beaujolais than Burgundy or anywhere else. It's just a different interpretation.

The wines went well enough with the food and were not overpowered by the spiciness. Yet, I'd say Viatnemese influenced dishes and Beaujolais Cru are not a match made in heaven. We all loved the crème brulée with the Suduiraut.