Beaujolais has always produced serious wine, but not enough people believed that until recently. With each new vintage, the region further cements its reputation as one to be reckoned with: It’s one of France’s original hotbeds of organic/biodynamic viticulture; still has (relatively) affordable real estate; and is home to scores of young, ambitious
vignerons. Right now, it would be difficult to name another wine zone in the world with such a critical mass of great wine in the $30-ish range.
Isabelle and Bruno Perraud, makers of today’s elegant Morgon, exemplify the renaissance underway in Beaujolais: They founded their small domaine in 1987 and farmed “conventionally” (today’s way of saying “with the labor-saving help of chemicals”) but, in 1999, after Bruno became ill from exposure to an insecticide, the Perrauds urgently began converting to organic viticulture. They were certified organic by 2002 (and biodynamic in 2018) and have extended their sustainable practices to the cellar. The transition, they say, has been “brutal but vital,” and the hard work is worth it when it results in a Morgon as vibrant and complex as this 2017. This is a triumphant wine from a vintage which, while qualitatively great, saw producers across the region lose half their crop (or more) to hail. And yet here we are offering the wine at $34. Where else does this happen? Given time, I could probably find a few places, but I’d rather just pour this bottle for some fellow travelers and defy them to come up with a better value anywhere in the world. I don’t think it can be done!
The Perrauds started out with a little over a hectare of vines but have since grown their holdings to 8.5 hectares across several villages, including Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, and Fleurie. Their Morgon vineyard is in the Douby subzone near the northern limits of the appellation, where altitudes are a touch higher and soils are a slightly sandier version of the granite and schist mixture found throughout Morgon. This village is generally known for the most structured of the Cru Beaujolais wines, though subzones such as Douby and nearby Corcelette produce wines with a finer grain to their tannins and a touch more brightness in comparison to some of the darker-hued, burlier styles from sites such as Côte du Py.
In terms of winemaking, the Perrauds opt for the increasingly popular ‘semi-carbonic’ maceration, in which whole grape bunches are used in the fermentation but the vessel is not completely sealed up under a blanket of CO2, as it is in the ‘full’ carbonic method so readily associated with Beaujolais. There’s plenty of dark, wild berry fruit but it’s not quite as juicy and primary as it is in full-carbonic wines, and in the spirit of the best Morgon wines, a deep vein of iron-shaving minerality runs through the wine. It spent just six months aging in used oak barrels, leaving the fruit and earth components to come through loud and clear.
In the glass, Perraud’s ’17 is a deep, luminous ruby with flecks of garnet and pink, with lifted aromas of wild black and red berries, preserved strawberry, red plum, pomegranate, damp violets, herbs, underbrush, turned earth, and wet rocks. It is medium-bodied and focused, already delicious and ready to drink: Like 2016, ’17 was a “short” but high-quality
vintage marked by wines of impeccable balance and nerve (unlike the ultra-ripe 2015, which produced many overblown wines). Decant this wine 30 minutes before service at 60-65 degrees in Burgundy stems and, given that it will pair well with just about anything you throw at it, don’t rule out holding some in your cellar for drinking over the next 3-5 years. For whatever reason, it made me crave the sweet/sour flavors in a classic Sicilian caponata (essentially ratatouille Italian-style), but you’ve got a wide berth with this one. Enjoy!
