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Don't miss our last remaining parcels of these these two superb Cru Beaujolais from the excellent 2016 vintage.
The best villages and finest producers from this region are routinely undervalued and overlooked. In August, Julia Harding enthused about Thivin's Côte de Brouilly on jancisrobinson.com:
"This wine is a benchmark beauty, everything you want from a Beaujolais cru: pure, fresh, vibrant with dark-red fruit, a very slight floral note (peony?) and tannins that are smooth and fine-grained enough for current drinking with food but sufficiently structured to age well over at least the next decade..."
Josh Raynolds of Vinous.com was similarly impressed with Alain Coudert's Fleurie:
"Brilliant ruby-red. Intense, mineral-accented red and dark berry aromas pick up a sexy floral quality with air. Concentrated yet lively, offering juicy raspberry, bitter cherry and blood orange flavors that show excellent clarity and back-end thrust. Shows a touch of candied licorice on the gently tannic finish, which lingers with outstanding persistence. Drink 2020-2026. 93 points."
Both long-established domaines, the winemaking approach here is traditional, harking back to a time before Beaujolais compromised its reputation with over-enthusiastic marketing of Nouveau.
The 'Clos Roilette' vineyard is named after a favourite racehorse which belonged to the vineyard's owner in the 1920s. Alain Coudert's 9 hectares are some of the best in Fleurie, with 30-80 year old Gamay vines on clay and manganese soils. The fermentation is part-carbonic maceration and aging is in large old oak barrels. At just £10.42 a bottle in bond this is remarkably good value.
At Château Thivin, the 14th century cellar is filled with large old oak 'foudres' (casks). Both wines have soft but very definite tannins and will develop with age. This is the last parcel of the 2016, so an ideal time to set aside a couple of cases for drinking over the autumn - or indeed on Christmas Day.
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