WTN: Pierre Chermette Beaujolais 2006

I found this at our local Whole Foods, which has a small but fairly well chosen selection. Not even a Beaujolais Villages, I was skeptical, but the baby-faced clerk convinced me it was good. The label claims the makers - Pierre Marie and Martine Chermette - were amongst the pioneers of "sustainable viticulture" in the region, use only the naturally occuring yeasts on the grapes, and do not filter their wines. It comes in at mere 12% alcohol and cost me $15 USD. Whatever they do this is a lovely wine! It is the first day of spring. It is light and beautiful but not simplistic. It needs no decanting and sings with effervescence on the first sip. Some wines take a lot of effort to appreciate, like dense literature. This one is just likeable. It puts a smile on your face. It lost a little of the strawberry patch fruit on the second day, revealing some good solid tannic character, but still made me happy. When you just want to enjoy some really reliably tasty fun wine, this could be the one.

Thanks for the note-maybe one of the regional Whole Paychecks carries this, too, here in Northern California.

I am becoming a real fan of Beaujolais. I just love the combination of effervescence, black berry fruit, and earthyness!

Brian,
I think Beaujolais still gets very little respect, and I think it's wonderful wine. The up side to this is that it has stayed a great bargain. The downside is that, outside DuBoeuf and some Louis Jadot (not that their wines are not good), it's fairly hard to find much variety in Beaujolais, especially Cru Beaujolais. But here and there, more and more, it's out there. Also at Whole Foods recently I found 2 Brouillys which I have yet to taste. In Detroit a few weeks ago I found a couple of others, a Brouilly and a Morgon. It's a fun search. If you like this wine, you really should read "I'll Drink to that" by Rudolph Chelminski, which has been reviewed on this site. It will really make you want to go there. And if you haven't already, watch Gary Vaynerchuk's episode on Beaujolais: http://tv.winelibrary.com/2007/06/08/wi ... isode-252/

I agree! I am a new convert to the Church of Gamay! I'm lucky enough to live near some great importers. Have had a couple Brouillys that were great. Also: a really strange Gamay wine from Auvergne-it was cloudy and pink and very lively!

Well I have liked Beaujolais for a long time with the Domaine de Vissoux wines close to the top; probably because we used to stay overnight at a place called Les Maritonnes close to Romaneche-Thorins when driving south every year. It had a Michelin starred restaurant in those days and an excellent wine list.

Current favourites are:
1. Chermette's [Domaine de Vissoux] Fleurie, Poncie but their Moulin a Vent, Les Deux Roches [2005] is pretty good too.
2. Lapierre's Cote du Puy Morgon [the unfiltered but SO2 only at bottling version] - there are 2 others, each comprising 1/3 of the total, including one which requires special handling because it is unfiltered and made and bottled without any SO2.
3. Jadot's 5 single vineyard Moulin a Vents at Chateau des Jacques - currently drinking the Grand Carquelin and Rochegres. The basic Chateau des Jacques is also a good wine.
4. Foillard's Cote du Puy Morgon

While all of these [and several more great producers] remain good value for money they have been creeping up in price, particularly the top Jadot wines. But absolutely worth it IMO.

Well I have liked Beaujolais for a long time with the Domaine de Vissoux wines close to the top; probably because we used to stay overnight at a place called Les Maritonnes close to Romaneche-Thorins when driving south every year. It had a Michelin starred restaurant in those days and an excellent wine list.

Current favourites are:
1. Chermette's [Domaine de Vissoux] Fleurie, Poncie but their Moulin a Vent, Les Deux Roches [2005] is pretty good too.
2. Lapierre's Cote du Puy Morgon [the unfiltered but SO2 only at bottling version] - there are 2 others, each comprising 1/3 of the total, including one which requires special handling because it is unfiltered and made and bottled without any SO2.
3. Jadot's 5 single vineyard Moulin a Vents at Chateau des Jacques - currently drinking the Grand Carquelin and Rochegres. The basic Chateau des Jacques is also a good wine.
4. Foillard's Cote du Puy Morgon

While all of these [and several more great producers] remain good value for money they have been creeping up in price, particularly the top Jadot wines. But absolutely worth it IMO.

Good list, but one question: is Lapierre's Morgon truly from Cote du Puy? AFAIK, it's not mentioned anywhere on the rather spare label. Just curious...

Mark Lipton

2. Lapierre's Cote du Py Morgon [the unfiltered but SO2 only at bottling version] - there are 2 others, each comprising 1/3 of the total, including one which requires special handling because it is unfiltered and made and bottled without any SO2.

Good list, but one question: is Lapierre's Morgon truly from Cote du Puy? AFAIK, it's not mentioned anywhere on the rather spare label. Just curious...

Mark Lipton

Good point. I was going on memory [so definitely worth the question] since, as you say, there's nothing on the simple label.

However it appears that only about 1 hectare is on the Cote du Py but it was their comment about the 'violet note' in their wine that comes from the Cote du Py that had stuck in my mind.