After a few too many weeks suffering from some sort of phlegmatic disease or other I finally started smelling enough today that I could open some wine. So it was time to taste some Beaujolais - but not the red Beaujolais that we all know and some of us love, but the weird stuff that generally doesn't get exported.
Jean-Marc Burgaud in Villié-Morgon makes some of the sturdiest, longest-lived Morgons, ones that can be quite brutal when young. But he does make a soft, easy drinking sparkling white (not rosé) from Gamay Bull'GO NV. 12% abv; Vin Mousseaux Méthode Traditionelle. Completely different to my memory of the first release of this bubbly which was strongly bready and leesy and quite Champagne-like. This newest release (sorry, no idea what vintage it is, though it is supposedly from a single vintage) is a fruit-forward, only very slightly bready/leesy wine. The aromas are more about the joyous nature of Gamay than the process of creating bubbles. The palate is either very fruity or slightly sugary (or both) but it is supported by small mousse and decent acidity so it is actually hugely moreish. I love a touch of sweetness in Riesling and Chenin Blanc but rarely in sparkling wine but here, I must admit, it works very well. Lovely wine.
AFAIK, the Jean-Marc Burgaud Beaujolais-Villages Blanc 2012 - 12,5% abv - is the first Chardonnay Burgaud has released from a small plot around Lantigniè. No oak, just pure fruit. A bit reductive initially, but it opens up to expressive neutrality - if you don't mind a paradox. I think this is a profound wine, one that shows how alongside Aligoté and Muscadet even the lowly Chardonnay can on occasion produce greatness from what is essentially neutrality without the nasty effects of pseudo-aromas from oak. (Are my prejudices showing? [Big Grin] ) I might appreciate it, but I somehow feel that this is a curmudgeon of a wine and that not many on this forum will truly love this (Thom, maybe?) but it is a squeaky clean, unoaked Chardonnay so I think everyone will find it perfectly palatable. I wonder why I so often fall in love with wines that are just meh to everyone else?