Although the wines of Grégoire Hoppenot are relatively new to the US, his outsized reputation precedes him: Before he returned to his Beaujolais birthplace and set up shop in Fleurie—right across the road from one of my all-time favorites, Clos de la Roilette—Grégoire was a well-known consultant for Jaboulet in the Rhône Valley and several top estates in Burgundy. When it came to the raw material for his Cru Beaujolais wines, he assembled a small but enviable collection of vineyard parcels, including acclaimed sites in Fleurie and some treasured old vines in Morgon’s “Corcelette,” perhaps the most iconic Beaujolais cru of them all (thanks to local legend Jean Foillard, among others). Hoppenot’s Morgon and Fleurie alike have been drooled over by the French wine press and trade: He was named La Revue du Vin de France’s “Discovery of the Year” in 2021, and he’s right atop the SommSelect rankings as well—so it was a no-brainer when it came time to pick a Cru Beaujolais to lead off 2022.

This bottling, from Hoppenot’s monopole (solely owned) “Le Clos de l’Amandier” vineyard, is the estate’s rarest and, arguably, most powerful expression of Fleurie. The vineyard, which faces south/southwest and sits in the hamlet of Poncié (where the winery is located), contains soils of granitic sand and stony clay over granite bedrock. Vine age ranges from 15-30 years. In comparison to Hoppenot’s “Les Moriers” bottling, it is denser and slightly more brooding in its structure, requiring a little more time to open—perhaps a little more reminiscent of some of the darker, more iron-rich reds of Morgon. The production methodology for “Le Clos de l’Amandier” is essentially the same as that for “Les Moriers”: there’s no sealing up of the fermentation vessels and pumping in CO2, but instead an ambient yeast fermentation/maceration in 60-hectoliter concrete vats, followed by aging in a combination of large oak foudres and used pièces bourguignonnes (228-liter Burgundy barrels). There’s no added sulfur at bottling.

And in 2019, there’s no other way to say it: Le Clos de l’Amandier is an epic wine and a scandalously under-priced one at that. Deep wild berry fruit is perfectly balanced with crushed-rock minerality, and if ever a Cru Beaujolais could fool someone into thinking they had a Gevrey-Chambertin in their glass, this would be the one. Grab up to six bottles before our small allocation disappears!