There’s Cru Beaujolais, then there’s epic Cru Beaujolais—Gamay that seemingly moves from the two dimensions of fruit and minerality into an eye-opening third dimension led by textural intensity and the striking ability to age.
One can argue the stylistic differences between the 10 cru villages of Beaujolais, but if there is one that effortlessly puts the magic in Gamay, it is Morgon. Today’s “Vieilles Vignes” offering from Anthony Thévenet is truly special: Beneath the bells of lustrous fruit and slickness of terroir lies powerful, endless depth that will intrigue the senses for years to come. Ask icons Georges Descombes and Jean Foillard, for whom Anthony worked, and they’ll gush about his skilled affinity for natural farming and hands-off winemaking. Ask Beaujolais’s great organic pioneer Jean-Louis Dutraive (of Domaine de la Grand’Cour) or its elusive master Yvon Métras about Anthony, and the word “respect” will float to the top. His first vintage, just six years ago, impressed the inner circles of Beaujolais, and his 2016 confirms that he is a master of Gamay.
As his West Coast importer states, Thévenet’s wines combine “lift, structure, and guts,” three qualities in red wine that often compete with each other, but when executed in harmony create the extraordinary. Anthony inherited his first vineyards after the passing of his grandfather and immediately introduced organic farming. Everything in the vineyard is managed by Anthony and his father, along with a tiny, lightweight tractor that has probably never seen second gear. Thevenet’s “Vieilles Vignes” (old-vine) bottling in 2016 is a total understatement, coming from a mix of 80 and 150+ year old vines! As a result, yields are naturally low, less than 30hl/ha, well under the maximum limit for Cru Beaujolais and even Grand Cru Red Burgundy. The majority of Thévenet’s vines come from two exceptional lieux-dits (named vineyards), Douby and Corcelette. The soils are mostly fluffy, iron-rich sands mixed with some rocky granite—sand gives the wine lift, while granite grounds its core, creating a wine that feels free-spirited and elegant yet intensely focused at the same time.
Old wood barrels and concrete tanks are the heart of the Thévenet cellar in Villié-Morgon. All of his wines are fermented with carbonic maceration, which, like a balloon, makes the aromas in the glass stretch a little higher. The natural fermentation (indigeneous, airborne yeasts) lasts about twenty days with little-to-no movement. The wine is racked once during its seven months of maturation in neutral French barriques and is bottled without fining or filtration. Thévenet adds a minimal dose of sulfur, a necessary “Ziploc bag” to protect the integrity of the wine as it travels from his cellar to yours. We recommend grabbing a few extra bottles of today’s wine: It’s full-blown delicious now, but has several fine layers which will uncoil over the next decade.
Serve the wine from cellar temperature into a Burgundy glass, after a quick decant. In the glass, a deep ruby, magenta core fades into a pale pink rim, with hints of warm purple. The color concentration is medium and texture gives an illusion of silky smooth in the glass. Give the glass a swirl, then let it rest for a moment, before you dive into Gamay’s friendly vortex—crushed red and purple flowers, roly-poly raspberry fruits, melty graphite and pink spice. The wine delicately coats the palate with a creamy minerality of wet stone and tangy red earth. There’s solid tannin, hiding in the background, but you’ll have to pay attention to notice it; it will carry this wine well into the next decade as the balance scale of fruit and earth tips in favor of secondary notes. Because of its bright acidity and food-friendly tannin, Cru Beaujolais is one of the most versatile red wines with food, and this expression definitely has the “guts” to say hello to richer dishes. Often viewed as something you would eat in a restaurant, bone marrow is one of the easiest dishes you can prepare at home. It’s rich and decadent, a special treat, deserving of a special wine. Follow the recipe here, uncork a bottle of Thévenet Morgon Vieilles Vignes 2016, and you’ll truly be living in another dimension!
