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Domaine Gilbert Chetaille, Côte de Brouilly

Burgundy, France 2015 (750mL)
$22.00
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Domaine Gilbert Chetaille, Côte de Brouilly

My steady date to almost every meal lately is ‘cru’ Beaujolais. For one thing, we keep tasting and loving them, so there are a lot of them around. But there’s also the amazing versatility of these wines with food: their combination of bright acidity, minerality, medium-to-light weight, and relatively low alcohol/tannin is tough to beat.
This wine from Domaine Gilbert Chetaille is the latest cru Beaujolais to have us shaking our heads—in admiration, mind you. Sourced from 100-year-old vines on the volcanic slopes of the Côte de Brouilly, this 2015 is a concentrated, mineral, perfectly balanced red with a genuine sense of terroir.
As you move from north to south in Beaujolais, soils shift from pink granite and schist (in crus such as Moulin-a-Vent, Fleurie, and Morgon) to richer, more clay-based soils (as in Brouilly, the southern-most of the crus). In general, those more northerly crus produce more structured, mineral wines, and while Brouilly is generally thought of as one of the softer, rounder styles of cru Beaujolais, Côte de Brouilly is distinct—it is named for Mont Brouilly, an ancient volcano nearly smack in the middle of Brouilly’s otherwise rolling plains. Chetaille’s 2015 is highly expressive of this more mineral-rich, better-exposed terroir, showing an impressive level of breadth and backbone for a wine at this price point. It also helps, of course, that some of his vines are more than a century old.

Gilbert Chetaille is a homegrown Beaujolais talent who took the reins of his family estate in 2005. He has since expanded his family holdings to 20 acres, which includes parcels acquired from the now-retired Georges Viornery. His sustainably farmed vineyards are meticulously tended and organic methods are utilized as much as possible. The pristine fruit is harvested by hand, fermented with only indigenous yeasts, and aged in stainless steel tanks. The result is a wine of incredible varietal purity and linear structure.
 
The 2015 Côte de Brouilly exhibits a dark, concentrated garnet red core with hints of purple moving to light pink and magenta reflections on the rim. The assertive nose reveals concentrated aromas of cassis, black raspberry, and dried black cherry laced with wet rose petals, lilac, violets, wild herbs, damp forest, wet leaves, licorice, and crushed stones. The fruit is dense and mouth-coating, the tannins supple, but the ample acidity brings wonderful freshness and lift. It’s a spicy, snappy red to drink now or even hold for a few years; should you choose the former, decant for 30-60 minutes and serve in Burgundy stems at 60-65 degrees. This food-friendly wine is equipped to enliven just about anything you throw its way, but my favorite marriage of flavors for this style is Thomas Keller’s incredible recipe for roast chicken.
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Country
France
Region
Burgundy
Sub-Region
FranceCru Beaujolais - Côte de Brouilly
Soil
Volcanic
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
Gamay 100%
Alcohol
13.0
OAK
n/a
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Burgundy
Drinking
Now-2018
Decanting
Optional
Pairing
Thomas Keller Roast Chicken

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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