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2023 Côte de Brouilly
Château Thivin
The Beaujolais and its reds may be known first and foremost for their exuberance, but with ten crus and spread across nearly 15,000 hectares, the region’s many terroirs are capable of expressing many personalities beyond silky, high-toned quaffers. One of the region’s great examples of Gamay’s more structured, noble, and earthy side is Château Thivin’s Côte de Brouilly. Originating along the steep slopes of Mont Brouilly in an incredibly unique soil of pierre bleue—a strikingly blue volcanic stone—this flinty rouge vividly evokes the mountain’s special terroir. Notes of brambly fruit, pomegranate, and spice dance atop a minerally foundation, making for a wine that exudes both the convivial charm of Gamay and the crunchy intensity of the Côte de Brouilly. Thivin is not only the Côte’s benchmark domaine but also one of the great estates in the entire region.
—Jane Augustine
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2023 |
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% |
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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.
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Kermit once said...

Kermit once said...
You don’t have to be rich to cellar a great wine.