I love the names of the Beaujolais Crus as much as I love the names of the Grand Crus of Gevrey-Chambertin: Brouilly, Chiroubles, Chénas, Côte de Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin à Vent, Régnié, Saint Amour. Each one seems to evoke a different expression of Gamay. After trying a Domaine Diochon Moulin à Vent a few years ago, I'd always looked forward to trying more Beaujolais Crus wines, but I have to admit, after sampling two well-regarded Beaujolais Crus wines from different villages, that Gamay isn't ever going to be a grape that speaks to me.
It feels shameful not to enjoy a well-made wine with real terroir, but the Morgon I tried this week reminded me of cherry Kool-Aid, and the highly-praised Fleurie I bought yesterday reminded me of an inner-tube, both in the nose and on the palate.
The Morgon was from Alain Michaud, a 2005 vintage. While the nose was engaging, with notes of raspberry jam and thai basil, the light body and acidic cherry palate, mingled with notes of dill and cucumber, faded into nothing soon after meeting my tongue, and left a lemon-tartness in its wake. I found this bottle extremely hard to finish, even upon the receipt of very bad news.
The Fleurie, a 2002, was from Michel Chignard, the bottling: "Les Morriers." The write-up hanging from the shelf at Sam's made this sound like the second-coming among wines, but the nose of petrol and inner-tubes was less than inviting, even if a meaty richness lurks beneath. The palate is tart with mustard greens and dill pickles, with a huckleberry note that fades into more fructose-laden cherry notes in short order. The finish is pleasing, with a slight savor of herbes de provence to it, but this bottle promises to be another slog through terroir-incognita.
It's good to bend and push the palate, but these are "lean and hungry" wines, and they make me crave, in the words of Julius Caesar, a wine that is "fat and sleek."
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