Regnie and Chiroubles have a couple of things in common. They both border Morgon, but, unlike their famous neighbor, they are considered among the lightest and most forward-drinking of the 10 Crus.
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We deal with two AOCs in one focus this time because, as the names suggest, these are two Crus that really ought to be discussed together. The most important distinction between the two Crus is in the names themselves: Brouilly is on the flatland; Cote de Brouilly is on the adjacent "Cote," or slope. If you know anything about wine, you can guess which produces the more interesting wine. While Brouilly produces fun, light, fruity juice for drinking young, often out of a jug at a simple bistro in Paris, while Cote de Brouilly makes serious wine. Both Brouilly and the Cote de Brouilly have similar soils — a mix of granite, clay, and limestone — so really we have a natural experiment that proves conclusively that the superior drainage and exposure offered by a cote results in better wine.
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If Julienas sounds a bit like Julius Caesar, it’s because they were actually making wine here 2000 years ago and Julius did in fact give the AOC its name (as well the name of its principal village, also Julienas, and another village in the AOC, Jullie). When I learn stuff like that it gives me great hope that quality wine production will continue in the great vineyards of France despite climate change.
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Morgon is blessed with a greater number of quality producers than any of the other Crus.
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I am starting our Cru Beaujolais series with Moulin-à-Vent because of the soils that lie beneath the vines. Thanks to those soils, Moulin-à-Vent can produce a wine that many Beaujolais-lovers consider to be the very greatest of all the wines of Beaujolais.
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Beaujolais is a great place to travel when you're with the team from Kermit Lynch. No U.S. importer has done more to promote the wines of Beaujolais than Kermit Lynch. Among his other great finds is the entire line up of the Gang of Four producers of Morgon: Thevenet, Breton, Lapierre and Foillard.
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