Sunday, September 30, 2007

The Beaujolais Challenge - Chenas and Saint-Amour

Been a while, huh? I haven't written up anything on Beaujolais since August I think. Partly because I figured you'd appreciate it if I bundled the rest into one or two posts, and partly because I just hadn't found a few of the wines that I wanted to find. Maybe I'm prejudiced, but I just didn't want to fall back on Georges DuBouef for an example of Saint-Amour.

Then one day I wandered into Moore Brothers in Mannhattan, the place with the padded jackets by the front door for customers to wear while shopping in the sub 56 degree chill. Lots of interesting stuff in there, from both big-name and obscure producers. And there's usually something to open to taste in the back, if you ask. So I'm perusing the shelves and there are three Beaujolais wines, one a Beaujolais, one a Chenas, and the last a Saint-Amour. And what's more, these wines are made by Jean-Francois Trichard, a producer I've seen David McDuff, a dude with pretty darn good taste, crow about on a couple of occasions. Sold, to the Brooklynguy in the padded jacket.

Chenas and Saint-Amour are, with Julienas, the northernmost Beaujolais Crus. Totaling fewer than 750 hectares, these are small appellations. Be that as it may, they are known for light but beautifully perfumed and fruity red wines. Most growers traditionally sold their grapes to negociant producers, so a grower like Trichard stands out for making wine from his own grapes.

Not sure why this is (plummeting dollar?), but the 2006 Saint-Amour was a bit more expensive than the 2005 Chenas. The otherwise very helpful sales guy at Moore Brothers was not able to tell me if there are differences in technique that lead the Saint-Amour to cost more. The Chenas was, to my tastes, a below-average example of a 2005 Cru Beaujolais, nothing to seek out again, and the Saint-Amour was memorable, and a definite re-buy. Strange that two wines from the same producer achieved such starkly different levels of quality.

2005 Trichard Chenas, $16 (Moore Brothers).
Bright cherry red with watery rims, this wine had some tomato leafiness mixed in with the red raspberry aromas. This follows through on the palate, which is not all that well balanced, and finishes with an aspartame sensation. After some time open the raspberry was more pronounced, but this wine was a bit disjointed throughout.

2006 Trichard Saint-Amour, $19.50 (Moore Brothers).
A whole different story here. First of all, this wine honestly was amoungst the most beautifully colored I have ever seen. Don't care about appearance in a wine? Me neither, really. But I like to look and I do appreciate when the color is distinctive. This was gorgeous - deep rich ruby red with purple undertones, and absolutely and perfectly clear and translucent. The nose was beautiful too, with crushed strawberries and raspberries, very clean and pure. with some freshly turned soil. If you feel the need to drink the wine go ahead, but you could also wallow in the nose all night and be happy. The flavors are echoed on the juicy and well balanced palate, and lip smacking acidity balances everything out, tingles the insides of the cheeks.

This wine is just lovely on its own, but it is also a perfect food wine - it's flavorful and structured enough, deep enough and elegant enough to compliment a wide range of dishes. Light enough and low enough in alcohol (13%) to go down easy. And at under $20, I might just have to grab four bottles for the Thanksgiving table...

11 comments:

David McDuff said...

Hey Neil,
Thanks for the mention. Your notes seem almost a mirror -- in opposite -- of my last experiences with these two wines. In other words, I've found the '05 Chenas to be drinking very well and the '06 Saint-Amour to need a bit more time to come together. I'll definitely need to schedule a re-tasting. And I can't help but wonder if you didn't have a slightly off bottle of the Chenas.

Brooklynguy said...

hey David - pleasure is mine. when did you taste them? my chenas wasn't corked, that much i know, but could have been flawed i guess. maybe it's just an "i prefer the 06 style" thing, as discussed in the times today...

Marcus said...

Bguy, you must have been pleased to read Eric Asimov's Wine of the Times... all Beaujolais crus this week and a Domaine du Vissoux comes out on top!

In his column, there's some good and healthy tension tasting the crus. (Actually, I have to say I found myself echoing the comments of Jean-Luc Le Dû...)

Brooklynguy said...

Hey Dok - I was psyched, sure. I think I agree with you - I've preferred the 06s I've tasted, as the 05s are a bit thick for my tastes. With one or two exceptions, my favorite 05s have not been Cru Beaujolais! I left a comment on the pout saying so...thanks for stopping by. see you. btw, come to nyc on Sunday nov 4 and join me and joe for a tasting at my place? talk to joe - maybe he can get you here and back with him?

RougeAndBlanc said...

I tasted a '05 Desvignes St. Armour today. I find that it is still tight. At the same tasting, the '04 Desvignes Javernieres is at peak form.

Marcus said...

Bguy, you must have been WAY-PSYCHED to read Eric Asimov's blog today ... total credit to the Bguy in the New York Times for the entire world to see.

Your hits must be nice-looking today...

I really do want to be in NY November 4. MoMA unveiling, Jane Jacobs exhibition, but a tasting with you (and Joe) would be the bomb that sets it all off...

Will analyze this and get back to you. Thanks for putting it out there.

Brooklynguy said...

hey Andrew - didn't even know Desvignes makes a Saint Amour, cool. Where did you taste it?

Hey Dok - Thanks for pointing that out cause i hadn't seen it. Not sure it's credit, really, maybe more of a neutral reference. but very cool indeed. yes, try to make the 4th with joe - a montreal thing it would be. and by MoMA and Jane Jacobs, you mean wine, right?

David McDuff said...

Neil, It's been several months since I tasted them side by side -- right around the time that the 06's hit the market. But I've drunk plenty of the 2005 Chenas recently and have found it completely pleasurable. Not the most complex Cru in the world but well balanced, aromatic and pure of fruit. It didn't sound at all like you'd hit on TCA, just that the bottle might not have been all it could be.

Marcus said...

Bguy,

No... as in "Museum of Modern Art" (perhaps you've heard of it) and as in the now-deceased world-famous urban activist.

RougeAndBlanc said...

Neil,
I tasted it at VinoVino, but it was not in the regular lineup for that day, the person who poured (I forgot his name) pulled it out from his wine bag and said "taste this and what da ya think?". Now I looked back at my notes (which I scribbled at tasting to the point I could barely read my own hand-writing, I might have the producer mixed up). Sorry about the confusion.

Anonymous said...

I think that the best Saint Amour is in France and it comes from Domaine Des chers à Julienas. Its roundness and its complexity, it's very delicious. When you come in France, go to The estate's chers.
www.domaine-des-chers.fr