A visit with the Desvignes family

I was very excited to meet the Desvignes family as I absolutely adore their wines. We are talking some seriously structured, ripe, stoney Cru Beauolais here. With their 2005 Morgon Javernieres (2nd tier upper block bottling #6) they have made one of the cultiest Beaujolais this market has ever seen. I have not seen people go that apeshit for a wine since I was selling spoof at The Wine Shop on 82nd and 1st when we sold 50 cases of Castano Solanera at $10.99 a bottle (RP 93) in ten minutes. 100 cases in two days. I don't miss those days at all. But anyway I never thought I would be taking about Castano and Desvignes in the same blog post so let me get a grip and continue on.

The first thing you need to know about a visit to the Desvignes estate is you are going to the cellar and it is ass freezing in there. Combine that with the structure of these wines it is a tough tasting to get through as you are tasting cold tannic wines. But if you work it with major swirling and swishing you cab get through it with a good understanding of the wines. Well enough blabbering and onto the notes.


Started off a with the 2007 Desvignes Morgon Cote de Py which had a cooling mineral nose with nice ripe fruit. Juicy palate with high acid and a lovely structural spine. Really just gloriously ripe fruit with a soft stylish texture and hint of some youthfulness on the finish. This was a specific barrel from 60 year old vines and was not the final cuvee. Very nice start.

Then moved onto the other part of the 2007 Desvignes Morgon Cote de Py which was raised all in cement. This was significantly more tannic than the first sample. Still very ripe and clean. But more tannic. I can see the final blend being nice.


The 2007 Desvignes Morgon Javernieres had a fantastic stony nose with nuances all over the place. But after swirling it did get a bit shy but would peek out now and then. Another tannic, structured wine but with wonderful juiciness and a deeply pitched pure red fruit character. Very long finish. Wonderful.

The 2006 Desvignes Morgon Cote de Py had a nose of minerals presented very elegantly on a bed of red fruits. Palate was excellent. Juicy, ripe and concentrated with greta thrust from the accessible tannin and acid. You could chew on the tannin and enjoy the lingering and high pitch of the acids. This had length and power. Sensational stuff.


Up next was the 2006 Desvignes Morgon Javernieres which has a much more minerally intense nose than the Cote de Puy. Almost steely in its intensity. The palate was shut pretty tight but there was nice staining fruit on the finish. And that finish was long. Intense but wound up.

Then moved onto the 2005 Desvignes Morgon Cote de Py which showed very well. The aromas were a but shy but that was due to the coldness of the cellar rather than to the wine being aromatically shut. The palate had it al. Ripe, juicy, complex with phenomenally deep fruit. Really densely structured wine. This puts the more in Morgon. Fantastic.


The next wine was the 2005 Desvignes Morgon Javernieres which had a floral stony mineral nose with intense dense cherry fruit. Very ripe. A wow wine. Showed amazingly today. The clarity in this wine is top notch.

The vertical continued with the 2004 Desvignes Morgon Javernieres which had clean berry aromas and a nice but simple fruity palate. This wine has never showed really well for me. The trend continued again but as I coaxed this wine it had nice sweet tannin and almost a confit-like fruit character in the aromas.


Then we moved back in time to the 1992 Desvignes Morgon Cote de Py which was a treat. It had an elegant, horsey, almost Burgundian quality to the nose. Very leathery. The fruit is very jolly-rancher like. Great complex aged nose. Palate was ripe and juicy and this wine was singing and ready to go. If there was one detraction the finish was a bit dry.

Next up was the 1993 Desvignes Morgon Cote de Py which was rocking on all cylinders on this particular night. The nose was much deeper and riper with a lot more leafy aspects. Great complexity here. The palate was full, dense and layered with lovely tertiary notes of leather, leaf and mature fruit yet still very sweet. Fantastic wine.


The final wine was the freakish 2003 Desvignes Morgon Javernieres and this was just too ripe for me. They were also puzzled by the wine. They said it was good wine but not Morgon. I thought it ws unbalanced and too raisiny. Too rich for me.

A great visit and real treat to taste those older Morgon's. The transformation Morgon takes with age is remarkable. Really gets so Pinot-like you almost cannot tell but there is a a Gamay footprint there.