Beaujolais has shed the unfortunate image of oceans of indiscriminate plonk from the lowest Beaujolais AOC (although, yes, there’s still plenty of that available, primarily from the low-lying vineyards of the southern half of the region), and it has overcome the years of the nouveau frenzy, which has peaked and subsided to a reasonable amount sustained by a select number of producers.
Now it is highlighting its many excellent Beaujolais-Villages wines and championing the superb artisanal productions of the best of Beaujolais located exclusively in the northern, hilly portion of the region.
Fanciers of fine Cru Beaujolais are in luck right now, for there are still quite a few 2009 vintages remaining on wine lists, and 2009 was a spectacularly lavish, fat, and succulent vintage for both immediate drinking and for aging potential.
One of the best of the many fine offerings available from the Beaujolais-Villages AOC is the small estate of Jacky Janodet---essentially consisting of Jacky, his wife and their children. The 2009 Beaujolais-Villages Les Fine Graves, named for the deposit of fine gravel that defines the vineyard and provides its unique character, is a tour de force of Gamay, with all the ready charm of the grape easily evident, but possessing a silky-rich body with a tense underlying acidity and minerality, along with a density that can surprise and delight even the most exacting palate.
This particular bottle graced a bistro dinner of tripe, roasted bone marrow, and coeur de boeuf (beef heat, grilled and thinly sliced, served with pommes frites and a hollandaise sauce); the rich organ meats provided no problems for the lush black cherry fruit of the wine, and all three dishes were handsomely supported by the wine.
Interestingly enough, Les Fines Graves, or the last dregs of it in the glass, provided a quiet finish to the evening, accompanying a vanilla-laced batch of hot, piping, freshly made madeleines from the oven, so hot they had to be gingerly juggled from hand to hand before popping in the mouth. The vanilla of the madeleines and the cherry fruit of the wine merged together splendidly into an impromptu deconstructed---or perhaps reconstructed?---cherry pie impression, a lovely and whimsical end to a fine dinner.
Jacky Janodet Beaujolais-Villages Les Fine Graves is worth seeking out---especially the lush 2009---and would fare well as a summer picnic wine or as a choice bottle tucked away for a few years in the cellar to await some special meal.