Out in Berkeley for a few days and assembled a small crew to drink some 2009 Beaujolais wines.
We started with an off-theme 2011 l'Anglore Tavel Vintage, which was very delicious and a lovely carbonic entrance into the next wines. Still has plenty of juicy ripe Southern fruit for a 12-year old rosé, but I guess that's the house style for this robust bottling. I would happily drink this often, but when I hear the price, I know I will never buy it myself! So many other wines do the same thing for a fraction of the price. But, let's not get off-track, the wine was a delicious fun start to the evening...
Our first pairing was 2009 Foillard Morgon Corcelette and 2009 Foillard Morgon Cote du Py. This was interesting because the Cote du Py was the more open and composed wine. The Corcelette showed darker, more angular, and less sorted. I don't follow Corcelette as much, but apparently it showed well on release and perhaps was just in a down phase. Of course in an absolute sense, the Corcelette was tasty and delicious and provided pleasure. It's just that in the head-to-head, the Cote du Py had so much more depth and composure. I remember people complained about the Py being too big on release, but I find it a very recognizable Cote du Py, albeit from a warm year. 2015 and 2018 have been much more challenging.
Our second pairing was 2009 Roilette Fleurie Cuvee Tardive and 2009 Roilette Fleurie Griffe du Marquis. These were not showing as well as the Foillards, which is probably a constant theme with Coudert! The Tardive was crisper and more angular and was still delicious in its way, although maybe it will benefit from aging into greater harmony after having slowly shed the exuberant young fruit. The Griffe du Marquis was of course broader and showing more 'material' (even though it's just a function of elevage), and it went through various stages of evolution during dinner. It wasn't completely 'shutdown' for me, as it was a tasty interesting read on a good wine. But, presumably it will be even better when aging into greater harmony.
Our last bottle was the 2009 Bouland Morgon Les Delys, which was certifiably shutdown, even after decanting. More rustic and tannic, darker aromas and flavors, but less about fruit, and never really sorted itself out. This reminded me why I never followed the Bouland wines, although it was fun to taste the different expression. And, of course preferences vary. Would be curious to taste this again in several years, but I'm not going to buy and age for 15+ years myself in order to find out!
Overall great fun, and how funny for 'civilians' to hear that so many 2009 Beaujolais wines are not yet ready!