Every time I go to La Maison du Colombier in Beaune, I keep my ears open when their sommeliers talk Burgundy. These are people that grew up here, so you can bet they’re privy to great producers and those who are about to launch into stardom. That’s why we were determined to see what the buzz was all about when the sommelier couldn’t stop gushing over a freshly minted producer in Nuits-Saint-Georges.
Moron-Garcia burst onto the scene in 2016 with old-school farming and new-age winemaking and released a collection of micro-bottlings to the local market. We got our hands on their one-and-only Cru Beaujolais, and it transcended our sky-high expectations of this resurgent appellation. This isn’t “glou-glou” Gamay, nor is it lean and crunchy, but rather a sumptuous powerhouse that oozes polish, energy, and texture. Coming from a naturally farmed vineyard that runs off the magnificent Mont Brouilly, childhood friends Mathieu Moron and Pierre-Olivier Garcia managed to bottle liquid luxury in the smallest of amounts—only seven barrels were produced and we secured one. Moron-Garcia truly has the look of an up-and-coming superstar, and it’s hard to not feel like an insider when opening today’s bottle. To our knowledge, you can’t find this producer anywhere in the states, which is why we imported our parcel directly from the cellars of Moron-Garcia. You’ll be sitting on your porch with a glass in your hand well before the rest of the world learns about this budding producer. Enjoy being ‘in the know’ while it lasts!
Two thousand sixteen was an eventful year for longtime friends Mathieu Moron and Pierre-Olivier Garcia. When the former’s father gifted him one acre of vines in Nuits-Saint-Georges, they put their heads together and decided to go for it. So, Mathieu and Pierre-Olivier, with their tiny sliver of vines, purchased a house in the center of town and immediately went to work. In a matter of months, they had transformed it into a functioning winery and were prepared for the inaugural harvest of their one acre, as well as a few other leased parcels from around the region.
In the vineyard, the duo is determined to add biodiversity and farm naturally at all costs by bringing in various insects/animals to enrich the balance of the land, manually ploughing, and using organic mixtures to treat their crop. For Brouilly—one of Beaujolais’ 10 famous Crus—they source grapes from the “
La Folie” vineyard. This respected site is rich in sandy, pink granite and angled toward Mont Brouilly, the focal point of both Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly. The grapes are mostly de-stemmed (90%) at their winery and after fermentation the wine is sent into French barrels, 20% new, for well over 12 months.
This isn’t your everyday, casual-drinking Beaujolais. Moron-Garcia’s 2017 “La Folie” is a richly layered, energetic beauty begging for the main-course spotlight at your dinner table. It’s darkly colored with an opaque black-purple core moving out to a vibrant magenta rim. Give it a few swirls and you’ll notice thick tears that cling to the glass. Although I do recommend a minimum 30-minute decant, a massive surge of aromas is apparent right out of the gates: black cherry liqueur, huckleberry, raspberry compote, grape stem, red plums, crushed granite, underbrush, baking spice, and a fine dusting of fresh herbs and violets. Energy and purity dominate the palate before embracing a cascade of ripe forest berries and crushed rock minerality. As the wine opens, polished tannins and vivid acidity sing a silky tune that melds into a lengthy, mouthwatering finish. This is the wine I’ll be showing off to those who want Beaujolais with a little more ‘seriousness’—a lot more, in this case. I have no doubts that the concentration and compacted layers of this 2017 will astound those who are well-versed in red Burgundy. Serve in large stems around 60-65 degrees and enjoy it next to a heaping portion of pork chops dripping in a rich raspberry sauce. Cheers!
