This is a true clos of about eight hectares, and it's a monopole of Dutraive's. The VV (featured today) is from vines within the clos that are 30 to 70+ years old.

Dutraive compares the Grand'Cour to a Beaune in its muscle and broad-shouldered profile.

In 2009, Jean-Louis included 90% of the stems in the carbonic maceration, which gave the wine a sturdy and spicy edge aligned with the marked fruitiness from the full carbonic.

(Not that Champagne.) This well-respected climat in Fleurie hosts a bedrock of granite that's much closer to the surface than many other sites in the Cru.

Dutraive has one scant hectare of vines that are over 70 years old, and he limits the hectare's production to just 15-30 hectolitres.

The results are an elegant wine - commonly considered Dutraive's best - that Jean-Louis compares to a Chambolle-Musigny with bright, focused, precise yet silky and slightly spicy elements.

Following the guidance of Jules Chauvet, a biochemist and Beaujolais negociant who is credited as being the godfather of the natural wine movement, the “microscope group” sought to produce wines that displayed purity and honesty - the truth of the vineyard. In pursuit of this, they relied on native yeasts, minimal to no sulphur, working naturally in the vineyards, cool fermentations, restricting yields and picking late to ensure ripe fruit.

It's impossible to overemphasize how radical an idea this was in Beaujolais at the time. The norms of the region included manufactured yeasts with particular aroma signatures (bananas anyone?), pesticides, over-cropping, and chaptalization (adding sugar). These trends occurred as the region’s growers began to modernize and move away from the polyculture, instead relying on grape-growing exclusively for cash. Chauvet, who began making sulphur-free, spontaneously fermented wines in 1951, was in part trying to make wines in the non-interventionalist, old fashioned way with the aid of science. The goal was to produce the most natural, purely expressive wines possible and use science to help solve the problems and reduce the risk.

As such, Metras, Lapierre and the others in the group purchased the same device to observe their wines: the microscope. (Sulphur acts as an antiseptic amongst other things, so curtailing its use carries with it an increased risk that things can go awry in the cellar. They would meet to discuss winemaking and, of course, pull a few corks. "La group a microscope" was how the members referred to themselves.

Kermit Lynch, in his Adventures on the Wine Route, begins the chapter on Beaujolais (where Chauvet is a central figure) with the following: Beaujolais “serves to remind us of the first time that man tasted fermented grape juice and decided that it was an accident worth pursuing.” The work of Metras and the other members can be seen as a combination of two things that Lynch’s quote implies: one, to follow scientifically informed natural methods to express the absolute purity of the Gamay grape; two, to render a wine that is so lively and delicious that each sip fills you with uncomplicated joy.

Inaugural Vintage from Beaujolais Legend
2009 Roilette Fleurie Griffe du Marquis

Domaine Roilette's Alain Coudert compares the 09 vintage to 1991, a vintage that serves as a benchmark for the estate.

In response to the quality of the vintage, Coudert took a single parcel of vines planted in 1930 and aged them in old barriques. Their famous Tardive, in contrast, is aged in large foudres. 

Beaujolais' New Name to Reckon With
2010 Bouland Morgon "Delys"
Bold, Unabashed, Polished, Powerful

"It's clear by now that Daniel Bouland is one of Beaujolais's major as well as most consistent talents." - David Schildknecht

In recent years, aided by effusive praise like Schildknecht's above, Daniel Bouland's various Beaujolais have gained quite a following. Nevermind that there's less than a handful of internet search results - and no, Google, we don't mean "Daniel Boulud."

Alain Coudert,
in Touch with Fleurie's Feminine Side
2010 Roilette Fleurie Cuvée Christal
The Little-Known Coudert Rarity (Well Under $20)

Today, though, we provide you with a little pre-party.

I've written this previously: The 1999 Roilette Cuvée Tardive that I had in 2007 was hands-down the best Beaujolais I've ever had. It was velvety, Rhône-like and still young.

Metras Part II
2010 Yvon Métras Fleurie
l'Ultime in 750 & MAGS - VV in MAGS
Rarities in Beaujolais

In this case, "buyership has its privileges" - you get the first look at some of the rarest and greatest Beaujolais out there, Metras' Fleurie VV in magnum, and the super-rare l'Ultime in both fifth and magnum.

Suffice it to say you should act now if you have any interest - it's impossible to over-emphasize the rarity here. To be perfectly transparent, here's what we have:

Concentration - Completeness - Elegance
2010 Yvon Métras Fleurie
Cuvée Printemps & Vieilles Vignes

Yvon Métras is the cult producer of Beaujolais. And while these wines aren't inexpensive, they're cheaper than flying to Paris to try and find a bottle or two.

We have been carrying the wines of Yvon Métras since the 2006 vintage. This fact has spread quietly, yet quickly, among a certain genre of Beaujolais fanatic.

From this group the whispers and rumors of Métras' wines have spread and for the last two vintages, our small parcels have disappeared very quickly, people ringing in from all over the U.S. for a few bottles.

Coudert's Cult Fleurie
2010 Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive
The New Release of the Beaujolais Icon

Alain Coudert's Cuvée Tardive is a serious contender for the most ageworthy and profound Beaujolais.

I do not say so lightly. The 1999 Cuvée Tardive remains the best Beaujolais I've ever drunk. I had it in 2007, and it was STILL youthful.

This is indeed the anti-Beaujolais-Nouveau, sourced from two east-facing parcels of vines over 80 years old and boasting a most formidable structure. The typical profile of Roilette's wines is one of dark fruits (black cherries, mulberries, plums), olives, licorice, smoke, mint, a complex array of flowers and a salty, meaty, nutty quality.

The Chef d'Oeuvre
2009 Marcel Lapierre Morgon: MAGS & D-MAGS
An Aptly Grand Tribute to a Beaujolais Torchbearer

It's impossible to overestimate Marcel Lapierre's impact on Beaujolais.

The torchbearing vigneron died last October, but not before helping the Beaujolais region perform an about-face, inspiring its revolution from a region of cheap, mass-market plonk to a region of terroir, a place where the great wines have depth, purity and distinct character.

Pi: The Pinnacle of Py
2007 Foillard Morgon Cuvée 3.14
The Darling of Paris Wine Bars, Rarely Seen in the U.S.

It is almost never available stateside.

Collectively, we've experienced multiple vintages of the Pi at wine bars like Le Verre Volé in Paris. It's one of those wines, like Metras Ultimé or Overnoy/Houillon Vin Jaune, that you can almost never find stateside. Almost never.