Notify me
2022 Côte de Brouilly
Château ThivinThe typicity of the Côte de Brouilly shines in this peppery, spicy, and angular cuvée from Thivin. Our signature bottling blends a selection from seven parcels, vinifed separately, and bottled especially to exemplify the complexity of this cru. Not your basic Beaujolais, it showcases pedigreed and assertive fruit that is strikingly substantial for Gamay, with a finty core from the famous pierre bleu soils. It delivers pleasure and class in stride.
—Jane Augustine
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2022 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Gamay |
Appellation: | Côte de Brouilly |
Country: | France |
Region: | Beaujolais |
Producer: | Château Thivin |
Winemaker: | Claude-Edouard Geoffray |
Vineyard: | Average of 50 years, 8.3 ha |
Soil: | Pierre bleue (metadiorite) |
Aging: | Ages in oak foudres for six months before bottling |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 13.5% |
More from this Producer or Region
2021 Côte de Brouilly
France | Beaujolais
For lovers of old-fashioned Beaujolais in all its elegant, high-toned, terroir-driven glory.
2022 Brouilly “Reverdon”
France | Beaujolais
This bottling is classic Brouilly, balanced and old-school, and showcases the beauty of Gamay
2023 Beaujolais Villages Rosé
France | Beaujolais
Sourced from the pink granite terroir of Brouilly, this rosé is simply delicious, with good grip and notes of summery red berries.
2022 Beaujolais-Villages “Cuvée Marylou”
France | Beaujolais
French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan says nostalgia is the longing for a past that never was. But, hand to god, this year's Cuvee Marylou tastes just like the raspberry thumbprint cookies my mother used to make for Christmas.
2022 Beaujolais Blanc “Clos de Rochebonne”
France | Beaujolais
Different from the whites of neighboring Mâcon, this blanc is firm but also a touch fleshy.
2021 Brouilly “Reverdon”
France | Beaujolais
The 2021 vintage proved an elegant one for Thivin’s Brouilly, with all the suppleness and tonicity you’d expect from this storied estate.
2022 Côte de Brouilly “Cuvée Zaccharie”
France | Beaujolais
This is a true homage cuvée, with an old-fashioned soul and vibrant energy.
2021 Côte de Brouilly “Cuvée Zaccharie”
France | Beaujolais
Give the wine a moment to open and you’ll find it unwind, silky and lush with the familiar whispers of juicy blackberries and a bit of hibiscus.
2021 Côte de Brouilly HALF BOTTLE
France | Beaujolais
Cassis, blueberry, violets, plum, and blackberry. In other words, a whole lot of Beaujolais in one bottle!
2020 Côte de Brouilly
France | Beaujolais
Alex Foillard fashions a Côte-de-Brouilly that strikes a deeper register, saturating the senses with tooth-staining fruit, gritty earth, and just a touch of the good funk.
About The Producer
Château Thivin
It is no surprise that Château Thivin is the benchmark domaine of the Côte de Brouilly; everything about it is exceptional. Built in the fifteenth century on an ancient volcano which juts out steeply into the valley below, Thivin is the oldest estate on Mont Brouilly, In 1976, Richard Olney took Kermit to visit on their first wine trip together. It was Olney’s top recommendation in the whole of the Beaujolais region. The current generation of the Geoffray family continues their tradition. Today their grandnephew Claude, his wife Evelyne, and their son Claude-Edouard continue the tradition as staunch and proud defenders of the terroir of the Côte de Brouilly.
About The Region
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
2021 Morgon “Eponym”
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais
2020 Côte de Brouilly
Alex Foillard France | Beaujolais
2021 Brouilly
Foillard, Alex France | Beaujolais
2021 Brouilly “Reverdon”
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2022 Beaujolais Blanc “Clos de Rochebonne”
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2021 Fleurie
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais
2021 Beaujolais Blanc “Terrain Rouge”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2020 Morgon “Eponym”
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon
M. & C. Lapierre France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2021 Chiroubles “Cuvée Léa”
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2021 Morgon “Eponym”
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais
2020 Côte de Brouilly
Alex Foillard France | Beaujolais
2021 Brouilly
Foillard, Alex France | Beaujolais
2021 Brouilly “Reverdon”
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2022 Beaujolais Blanc “Clos de Rochebonne”
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2021 Fleurie
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais
2021 Beaujolais Blanc “Terrain Rouge”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2020 Morgon “Eponym”
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon
M. & C. Lapierre France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2021 Chiroubles “Cuvée Léa”
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
Where the newsletter started
Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch