Skip to main content
Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant
Toggle Navigation Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant Your Cart

2019 Côte-de-Brouilly

Nicole Chanrion
Discount Eligible $24.00
SOLD OUT

Tasting through the five massive oak foudres residing in Nicole Chanrion’s cellar always offers a sweeping view of the Côte de Brouilly and its various terroirs. Made from several parcels along the northern and eastern sides of this imposing hill, the wines range from perfumed, floral charmers to dense, tannic beasts that emanate the gunflinty minerality typical of the Côte’s rocky blue soils.
     The blend of all five always proves the most compelling, the wines complementing each other like pieces to a delectable puzzle. The latest edition exudes lovely whiffs of violets and spice, gradually building weight on the palate before culminating in a chewy finish replete with stones and some more spice.

Anthony Lynch


Technical Information
Wine Type: red
Vintage: 2019
Bottle Size: 750mL
Blend: Gamay
Appellation: Côte-de-Brouilly
Country: France
Region: Beaujolais
Producer: Nicole Chanrion
Winemaker: Nicole Chanrion
Vineyard: 50 years, 3.5 ha
Soil: Schist, Porphyry
Aging: Ages for at least nine months before an unfiltered bottling
Farming: Lutte Raisonnée
Alcohol: 14.5%

More from this Producer or Region

About The Region

Beaujolais

map of Beaujolais

After years of the region’s reputation being co-opted by mass-produced Beaujolais Nouveau and the prevalence of industrial farming, the fortunes of vignerons from the Beaujolais have been on the rise in the past couple of decades. Much of this change is due to Jules Chauvet, a prominent Beaujolais producer who Kermit worked with in the 1980s and arguably the father of the natural wine movement, who advocated not using herbicides or pesticides in vineyards, not chaptalizing, fermenting with ambient yeasts, and vinifying without SO2. Chief among Chauvet’s followers was Marcel Lapierre and his three friends, Jean Foillard, Guy Breton, and Jean-Paul Thévenet—a group of Morgon producers who Kermit dubbed “the Gang of Four.” The espousal of Chauvet’s methods led to a dramatic change in quality of wines from Beaujolais and with that an increased interest and appreciation for the AOC crus, Villages, and regular Beaujolais bottlings.

The crus of Beaujolais are interpreted through the Gamay grape and each illuminate the variety of great terroirs available in the region. Distinguishing itself from the clay and limestone of Burgundy, Beaujolais soils are predominantly decomposed granite, with pockets of blue volcanic rock. The primary vinification method is carbonic maceration, where grapes are not crushed, but instead whole clusters are placed in a tank, thus allowing fermentation to take place inside each grape berry.

Much like the easy-going and friendly nature of many Beaujolais vignerons, the wines too have a lively and easy-drinking spirit. They are versatile at table but make particularly good matches with the local pork sausages and charcuterie. Though often considered a wine that must be drunk young, many of the top crus offer great aging potential.

More from Beaujolais or France

Discount Eligible $43.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $32.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $24.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $42.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $29.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $19.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $29.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $46.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $21.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $34.00
AT CART MAX
Terroirs

Great winemakers, great terroirs, there is never any hurry. And I no longer buy into this idea of “peak” maturity. Great winemakers, great terroirs, their wines offer different pleasures at different ages.

Inspiring Thirst, page 312