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Le Caveau Bugiste, Manicle Pinot Noir, “Cuvée des Rocailles”

Other, France 2016 (750mL)
$34.00
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Le Caveau Bugiste, Manicle Pinot Noir, “Cuvée des Rocailles”

Attention French wine scholars: today’s wine is master-level study material, and a delicious Pinot Noir with real character to boot. Given its grape and price, the likely audience extends well beyond the studious, but there sure is a lot to sink one’s brain into here.
On the spare, artful front label of this bottle is the name “Manicle”—is that a family name? A ‘brand’ name? In fact, it’s a vineyard name, and one of the handful of officially codified ‘cru’ sites within the Bugey AOC appellation of eastern France. If you knew that already, my hat is off to you: this is some rare stuff from a remote (and stunningly beautiful) place. Situated at the base of a steep limestone cliff at the southern end of the Jura mountain range, the south-facing Manicle vineyard—with a soil composition resembling the best of Burgundy—is the prized possession of Le Caveau Bugiste, a cooperative founded in 1967 that has been the keeper of wine tradition here ever since. Planted exclusively to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Manicle is a Burgundian bastion within Bugey (whose most internationally famous wine is still the pink sparkling Gamay of Bugey-Cerdon). We were very happy to make this wine’s acquaintance, especially at this price—it has the backbone and breed of a red Burgundy with a slightly more floral, mountain-influenced lilt, much like the Pinot Noirs of nearby Jura. The quality, and not just the story, of this wine will linger in your memory long after you’ve finished your bottle(s).
Let’s first home in on the place: Bugey, a mountainous and sparsely populated region of eastern France situated between Lyon and Geneva. The Savoie region lay to the east; Beaujolais to the west. This is the birthplace of French gastronome Brillat-Savarin, who, it’s important to note, had at one time owned a barn on the Manicle vineyard and championed its wines. Although Bugey is a cool climate, Manicle’s full-south exposure and somewhat secluded positioning enables Pinot Noir to ripen fully and deliver wines of genuine structure. 

Le Caveau Bugiste is now run by Yannick Chaudet, son of one of the six original founders, Jean Chaudet. They own the majority of the Mancile cru—about 6.5 of its 11 total hectares—and currently farm according to ‘lutte raisonnée’ (‘reasoned fight’) principles, although Yannick is said to be preparing for the full conversion to organics. Grapes for this cuvée—rocaille translates as “rock garden,” which gives you a good sense of the soil composition—are hand-harvested and fermented over two weeks before being transferred to used oak barrels for about eight months of aging before bottling.

Based in the bucolic, flower-strewn village of Vongnes, the Caveau and its surrounding environs are a big tourist destination; 80% of the co-op’s wine is sold locally, so to see any of it in this market, and at this price, is remarkable. In the glass, it’s a bright garnet red moving to pink and magenta at the rim, with fresh and lively aromas of wild blackberries, bing cherry, raspberries, lilacs, forest floor, and crushed stones. Texturally, it is slightly more softly contoured than Burgundy reds (it’s more reminiscent of Jura on the palate), with beautiful freshness that drives the long and floral finish. It is delicious to drink now after about 30 minutes of air in a decanter, but it will also improve over the short term if you decide to lay some down and revisit periodically. Serve it at 55-60 degrees in Burgundy stems and pair it with something with some Alpine flair, like the attached recipe. It’s the next best thing to being there (although you may want to do that, too). Cheers!
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Country
France
Region
Other
Sub-Region
FranceManicle
Soil
Limestone, Clay & Scree
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
Pinot Noir 100%
Alcohol
14.0
OAK
Large Used French
TEMP.
55-60
Glassware
Burgundy Stems
Drinking
Now-2022
Decanting
30 Minutes
Pairing
Tartiflette

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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