Community Tasting Notes 3

• mercurius Does not like this wine: 85 points

  February 6, 2024 - A bit more Brettanomyces and VA than I would like.

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• BRogo Likes this wine: 92 points

  December 27, 2020 - Nose of bing cherries, pomegranate, a touch of earth (at first, less so with some air), cassis. Initial acidity around the outside of the mouth followed by delicate tannins on the top of the tongue. Big hit of red cherries, jolly rancher, pomegranate tang. Not many layers, but very tasty, smooth, silky and with a velvety finish.

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• apple1813 Likes this wine: 90 points

  September 18, 2020 - 2018 Jean-Claude Lapalu Côte de Brouilly was earthy, meaty and well-balanced. The youthful Beaujolais Cru was clear and medium ruby in colour. Aromas of farmyard, dark cherries and liqourice jumped out of the glass, supported by a dash of black pepper spices. The mouthfeel was dry and medium-bodied, with medium level of finely grained tannin and medium-high level of fresh acidity. Flavours of earth, bramble and smoke were present in a rather long meaty finish.
  
  Jean-Claude Lapalu is a respected leader of natural wine movement in France. The vineyard was certified organic, and is in the process of converting to biodynamic farming. The wine was made with minimal sulphur addition, except about ten milligrams prior to bottling.
  
  I generally do not have a strong opinion about natural wine. Personally, the universal attributes of a great wine are its balance, length and complexity, regardless of whether it is made naturally, organically and/or biodynamically. There are two occasions about natural wines that would turn me off.
  
  One is an unbalanced natural wine with little flavours, or too much funkiness from the ambient yeasts. A wine would not demonstrate the typicity of the region and the varietal, if brett and manure are all you could taste.
  
  Another is when natural wine advocates trash talk conventional winemaking, and present a false impression that all other wines are sulphur-rich and fermented on artificial yeast strain. In reality, there is a spectrum of winemaking practices, and many conscious vignerons are curbing the use of fungicide and pesticide in the vineyard. Moreover, free sulphite is naturally produced in alcoholic fermentation, and even natural wines would inevitably contain measurable levels of free sulphite.
  
  There is a multitude of ways to make great wine, and being natural and organic/biodynamic is a way of achieving that, no more and no less than that.

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Pro Reviews 2

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2018
• Type Red
• Producer Jean-Claude Lapalu
• Varietal Gamay
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard n/a
• Country France
• Region Burgundy
• SubRegion Beaujolais
• Appellation Côte de Brouilly

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 42 (37%)
• Consumed 71 (63%)

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