Daniel Bouland Morgon Corcelette Vieilles Vignes 2017

Description

“These were absolutely superb expressions of traditional Beaujolais: serious wines that I suspect will age as well as their more expensive counterparts further north in the Côte de Nuits. They represent outstanding value in the current market…” Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate

“This tiny wine grower of the hamlet of Corcelette… has seduced us for a few years now with his concentrated and textured Morgons. The fruit weight in no way masks the almost wild minerality of the soil. These wines have an intensity that can only come from old vines that are impeccably cultivated… We do not hesitate to say that you will find here the best value for money in red wine [in this guide].” La Revue du Vins de France
Daniel Bouland is a fourth-generation Morgon grower and his tiny (only 8 ha!) vineyard is now recognised as one of Beaujolais’ yardstick addresses.  Surrounding the small town of Villié-Morgon, the vineyards of Morgon are divided into a seven climats: Côte de Py, Les Micouds, Javerniere, Les Grands Cras, Les Charmes, Corcelette and Douby. The majority of Daniel Bouland’s old bush vines lie within Corcelette, in the hilly Haut Morgon to the northwest of the appellation. Bouland farms a number of old-vine parcels in this terroir, where (in general) the sandy granite soils over weathered schists tend to result in wines of great perfume and finer, rounder tannins than those of the nearby Côte de Py.

2017 is another magic vintage for this grower. From tiny yields of 20 hl/ha, Bouland’s new releases are perfumed, bright and pure, packed with beguiling fruit and balancing freshness.   All of Bouland’s wines undergo natural, 100% whole bunch fermentation, before ageing in large, neutral oak, and all are bottled without fining and only a light filtration.

This particular wine is the first of the Bouland cuvées focusing on Corcelette’s pure, sandy, granitic soils—which create wines of great perfume and finer, rounder tannins than those of Corcelette’s more schist-influenced terroirs. This is truly a Vieilles Vignes cuvée and is now labelled as such. A 50-60 year old vineyard has always been a key component of this wine and now there are two additional parcels of 80-year old bush vines. As the review below explains, instead of blending the entire crop, Bouland bottles this V.V label from two separate foudres. This particular wine was drawn from foudre #7, a four year old 2,400-litre Rousseau vessel. While we’re obviously biased, we thought this had the slightest edge on foudre #4. For the record, the reviewer adds, “While the differences between the two bottlings aren’t sufficient to merit a divergence of scores, #7 is the purist’s choice and seemingly the best-adapted to sustained bottle age: it was the bottling I purchased for my own cellar.”

94 points, William Kelley, The Wine Advocate  “The 2017 Morgon Corcelette Vieilles Vignes (7) wafts from the glass with a creamy bouquet of cherries, cassis, dried flowers, dark chocolate, licorice and plums. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and velvety, with juicy acids and fine tannins that are entirely concealed by a deep, layered core of fruit. Concentrated but mouthwatering, it’s quintessential Corcelette. There are two separate bottlings this year, numbered respectively as (4) and (7) to designate two different foudres that Bouland opted to distinguish to his clientele for the first time: this note refers to foudre #7, which hails from Tonnellerie Rousseau and represents a more recent addition to the cellar than the older, larger foudre #4.” 

RRP $53