His Best Wine - a Premium Cru Beaujolais (See Below)- 90+ Year Old Vines
- The Regular Cuvee Got 94 Points in 2015, This is A Huge Step Up
- One of the Great Wines of Beaujolais and one of the TOP 15's
We have all heard of Foillard and Lapierre as they are the most well known of the Gang of Four,
Kermit Lynch's name for four Morgon producers who decided to go against the industrialization and homogenization of the Beaujolais region's wines. No filtration or chapitalization, little to no sulfur dioxide, native yeasts, no pesticides or herbicide - the mantra of the Gang of Four - and each producer has a signature. Today I am offering one wine Guy Breton is perhaps the most overlooked producer in the Gang of Four. This wine is his signature wine and takes his nickname, P'tit Max. I remember falling in love with Breton's wines when I tried the 1999 Morgon Vieilles Vignes, which is still one of the greatest Beaujolais I have ever had. For me these wines are the most elegant and perfumed of the Gang of Four. Guy likes wines that are very easy to drink and that they are. But he does not sacrifice any complexity or nuance. They are always the lowest in alcohol and the least tannic of the Gang of Four. And they are so damned pretty as a result. His 2015 regular Morgan VV got 94 from Josh Reynolds at Vinous and he did not taste the higher end old vine cuvée, which is his loss and it is maybe my favorite wine from the vintage. I've saved the best for last or amongst the last as this was just released and people need to pounce on it as it is one of the best wines of the vintage and maybe one of the 2-3 best Morgan's I've had.
I am thrilled to offer one of the best and most rare wines in Beaujolais that is seldom, if ever, seen in America. The 2015 Guy Breton Morgon "P'tit Max" ($36.99 4-pack) is an astonishing bottle of Beaujolais and up there with Metras and Foillard 3.14 as one of the very best wines of the appellation. It is from a 2 ha parcel of vines averaging over 90+ years old and is just as compelling as anything out there. The nose is as subtle as it is compelling. With classic red fruited Gamay notes, there are also dried flowers with ridiculously vivid deep cherry notes. Super spice and complexity with lights out fresh and pure aromas. With air, the palate has the most insane floral aromas. So floral with incredible sweet fruit. So silky and generous with its fruit but also has amazing inner mouth floral aromas. Some of the best I've ever experienced in Gamay. The 15 character is here with its gorgeous rich fruit yet there is a whiplash of freshness and acidity. This is 14 dressed as a 15. Best of both worlds. After some hours this is a mirror image of great world class Pinot Noir. It Pino-tates and it will develop more Pinot character with age as Morgon is famous for that. Guy's wines have this when young moreso than any other producer. It has exceptional length and purity and could use 2-3 years in the cellar and will last for the next 10+.
What is a Premium Cru Beaujolais?
One of the categories that I've tried to create here at Fass Selections is the category of Premium Beaujolais and, all things considered, I think that Premium Beaujolais is one of the most exciting types of wines we have offered. What is Premium Beaujolais?
These are NOT your typical fruity, simple Cru Beaujolais. These are one of a very small number (fewer than 10) of premium Cru Beaujolais that are becoming more available in the US market. Other wines in this category include Thivin's top cuvees like Zaccharie, Foillard's 3.14, Metras Fleurie VV & Ultime, Jules Desjourneys anything and Morgon "Cuvée Marcel Lapierre" and "Cuvée Camille." The wines tend to come from older vines, have greater extraction and fruit and slightly greater hang time, slightly longer vinifications and barrel ageing. And in today's case very unique vinification They are more structured, intense and capable of long ageing. Prices range from $40 (when I sell them) - $70. They are typically made in small quantities and are hard to find (especially in the States).
The 2015 Vintage in Cru Beaujolais
2015 Beaujolais is one of those vintages that many people, especially the vignerons, cannot wrap their head around as there is nothing else really comparable. Some have compared it to 1947, which is one of the three great post war vintages in France along with 1945 and 1949. 1947, though is deemed extra special as there was nothing else like it before. It was an incomparable vintage. Incomparable vintages tend to always be great but also they tend to be atypical. Classic vintages, like 2014, are indeed what the name suggests, everything that Beaujolais should be if grown in perfect conditions. 2015 is a great vintage because the conditions were hot of course, but also very dry, which did damage to some young vines who had no water. But there was no heatwave like we had in 2003 (where there was a roasted fruit expression on many wines). The key to 2015 is that there were relatively cool nights to contrast to the high temperatures during the day which is a recipe for freshness and acidity. But yields dropped very low in 2015 which concentrated the grapes further. What results are some of the finest Beaujolais of the last 50 years. These are thrilling wines with deep ripeness matched by terrific freshness and acidity. Like 2010 Bordeaux or 1999 Red Burgundy these wines have that beguiling contrast of once in a generation fruit and the acid and freshness to buffer it. The fruit is more black than red in '15 Beaujolais and almost veers towards Cote-Rotie in quality, with some of the finest and ripest tannins you can taste. They are sweet and velvety.
2015 Guy Breton Morgon P'tit Max - $38.99 ($147.96 4-pack)
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