2017 Château Thivin Brouilly Reverdon

• By Josh Raynolds
  Beaujolais: If You Want Value - You’ve Got It (Oct 2019), 10/1/2019, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Château Thivin Brouilly Reverdon Red) Login and sign up and see review text.

JamesSuckling.com

• By James Suckling
  1/27/2019, (See more on JamesSuckling.com...)

  (Château Thivin Brouilly Reverdon, Red, France) Login and sign up and see review text.

JancisRobinson.com

• By Julia Harding, MW
  7/26/2018, (See more on JancisRobinson.com...)

  (Ch Thivin, Reverdon Brouilly Red) Subscribe to see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Springtime Thivin, 5/3/2019

  (Chateau Thivin Brouilly Reverdon) Phenol55 REMINDER: Full Pull has partnered with Phenol55 for *optional* storage services for our list members. P55 is a full-service wine cellar less than ten minutes from our warehouse, in the subterranean basement of the Malt House in the heart of Georgetown. See here for more details, and then contact Phenol55 if you’re interested in signing up. --- Hello friends. I think of Chateau Thivin as the little Beaujolais that could. We first offered their Cote de Brouilly bottling in 2013, and every year since it has sold out with our list members and become a hotly allocated November bottle. It goes so well with the odd combination of food you eat on Thanksgiving, it’s the ideal turkey wine. Thivin is equally fit for warm weather imbibing. The problem is: it never lasts that long. In my household, we have to try very hard not to drink it all upon release in the fall. That’s what makes today’s offer so exciting. Springtime Thivin. This wine (from Brouilly, adjacent to Cote de Brouilly) is a ghost in the Thivin lineup. We were actually shocked to taste it; even more shocked when a shipment from France timed up with offering it. James Suckling: Copyrighted material withheld. Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld. Okay, those of you who already know and love Thivin have permission to skip down a couple paragraphs. For noobs, here’s the deal. There are ten “Cru” sub-regions in Beaujolais. The Crus generally follow the foothills of the surrounding mountains, whereas wines labeled Beaujolais-Villages or Beaujolais come from the flatlands. (Here is a map of the Crus to get us oriented.) Crus are considered the crème de la crème of the region. Chateau Thivin has sat in the Cru of Cote de Brouilly on the slopes of the extinct volcano Mont Brouilly since 1383. Their winery is located on the southwestern slope of the mountain. They are best known—especially with our list members—for the Cote de Brouilly bottling. However, with today’s wine, we are talking about the greater Cru of Brouilly itself. Today’s wine comes from Reverdon, which sits approximately 1 km away from the winery, just on the outside of the Cote de Brouilly designation. Reverdon is a 50-year-old pink granite hillside that faces the defunct volcano with eastern sun exposure. In the bottle, 2017 has proved to be an exceptional, pure vintage for Cru Beaujolais. Across the board, these are wines that could possibly evolve with cellaring, but what’s the point? They are so beautiful right now. Thivin’s Reverdon grapes are hand picked, whole cluster pressed, and raised in stainless steel cuves before bottling. The listed alcohol is 13%. It opens with the absolute best of Beaujolais: crunchy leaves, ripe berries, flowering blooms, and an inherent minerality. On the palate, it has intensity without extreme concentration; it’s somehow deeply serious and vivaciously high-toned all at the same time. There’s a touch of granite throughout—a tribute to the grapes’ birthplace—and gentle tannins round out the lengthy finish. It’s honestly hard to say which bottling I prefer this vintage: this one or the Cote de Brouilly.