By the Glass - 2007 Beaujolais Edition

2007 was difficult in Beaujolais as the summer was mostly overcast and rainy. Not easy to achieve ripeness under those conditions, but September was sunny and dry and the vintage was saved. Saved for those growers who worked carefully in the vineyards to avoid mildew and rot, which generally means spraying a lot. Or possibly getting lucky and not being his by mildew because of favorable wind currents or something.

I've drank almost my fair share of 2007 Beaujolais over the past few months and I very much like the wines in general. They are not as concentrated as the 2006's - these are lighter in color and in body, and when they're good they're fresh and bright with great purity of fruit. And they are terroir expressive, which is something that I always enjoy. But this also means that little problems can make a lot more noise than they might in a vintage like 2006. For example, a bit of rusticity on the finish or volatile acidity - these are problems that become very noticeable. Bottle variation seems to be more of an issue than in the past few vintages.

2007 in Beaujolais has so far for me been about finding the wines that I want to drink now and over the next year or so. It is a vintage for drinking young. In fact, it might be best to stick with the simpler wines like Vissoux's Cuvée Traditionnelle and Brun's Cuvée L'Ancien (aka Vin de Table this year). They are quite tasty and compliment many types of food, and there is a lot of variability, sometimes disappointment, in the higher level wines.

There are wines yet to be released and others that I haven't yet had at home with dinner (Coudert Fleurie Cuvée Tardive, Diochon's Moulin a Vent, to name but two), so this is not an exhaustive report. It may prove impossible to drink some wines. Yields were down (although not as much as in 2008, from what I hear) and the economy stinks, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the wines we're used to seeing simply do not appear on retail shelves.

Here are some notes on the wines I've had at home with dinner, in order of preference, loosely speaking. Prices are east coast.

2007 Jean Foillard Morgon Cuvée Corcelette, $29, Kermit Lynch Imports. This is an old vines cuvée, I believe the vines average about 70 years old. This so far for me is the wine of the vintage, without anything coming all that close. I've had it several times now and once it was incredible, fresh and pure all the way, with lively sour cherry and herbs on the nose, and a crackling kind of energy. So refined and smooth on the palate with great density of fruit. It glides across the palate and is very well balanced, with a nice finish that really lingers. It still has a lot to reveal and I think will be best beginning in about 4 years. The second time I drank this wine I still thought it was great, but there was a bit of volatile acidity that detracted, but the purity and density of fruit was still compelling. I have a few more bottles and probably will not be cellaring much of anything else from 2007.

2007 Georges Descombes Régnié, Louis/Dressner Selections, $22. If I had to pick one wine from this vintage for drinking over the next 3 years it would be this one. Highly perfumed and just delicious with slightly rustic but sweet fruit, and there is great snappy acidity. Great balance and some complexity with air time as the mineral and earthy sides show themselves. There is plenty of grip too, actually, and this should be great for quite a few years.

2007 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette, Louis/Dressner Selections, $22. When this was good it was great, with lovely fruit on the nose, a fruit-filled punch on the palate, great balance and ample structure to hold everything together. But I drank a lesser bottle too that was very rustic and unappealing.

2007 Domaine du Vissoux Beaujolais Vieilles Vignes Cuvée Traditionnelle, $17, Weygandt-Metzler. One of my favorite under $15 wines every year, when it was nder $15. Now at $17 I feel like for a few buck more I can take a very large step up to any of the above wines. Be that as it may, this is still quite lovely, with good ripe fruit, snappy acidity, an herbal undercurrent, and only 11.5% alcohol this year.

2007 Terres Dorées Beaujolais Cuvée L'Ancien Vieille Vignes, $17, Louis/Dressner Selections. I haven't had this in a few months now, but I liked it a lot when I drank it. Lots of herbal character, almost resiny on the nose. Well defined and high toned red currant, herbal, and tomato leaf/potting soil flavors, kind of disjointed. On day two much more integrated. Every year I drink this too early. By the way, this is the wine that lost the appellation status for 2/3 of production due to "rubber, mushrooms, and volatile acidity." Whatever, It's very good, as it always is.

2007 Marcel Lapierre Morgon, $21, Kermit Lynch Imports. I've had two great bottles of this wine. It does well with a good decant, as usual. Light and somewhat delicate, although the floral and fruit aromas are pungent and heady. Striking for its purity, this is fresh and snappy wine, a classic Beaujolais feel to it. But I've also had to return three bottles that were undrinkable because of volatile acidity. As much as I liked it when it was good, I wouldn't buy any more of this wine. Too volatile.

2007 Terres Dorées Fleurie, $21, Louis/Dressner Selections. Lovely perfume of dark flowers, ripe fruit, and wet stones. Nice texture and zippy acidity makes this absolutely gulpable, but only for 20 minutes, and then it becomes a vat of raging acidity. Like the red sauce at a bad Italian restaurant, I'm sorry to say. And it's so funny because the nose is lovely all the while.

Please let us know if you've had something good that's not mentioned here. Or something to avoid.

More Dressner / Polaner Highlights - Reds

More notes from the great Polaner Spring Tasting, this time red wines from the Dressner producers.

Domaine Filliatreau, Saumur-Champigny - the 2005 Saumur-Champigny Grande-Vignolle was one of my favorite Loire Valley everyday reds, when it was around. I think there may be a few more bottles at Garnet in Manhattan, but I'm not sure. The 2006 isn't showing as well now, but then again, 06 was a much tougher year for growers. And it probably needs a bit more time in the bottle. The 2007 Saumur Chateau Foquet (separate estate, same wine maker) was quite nice, a wine made from certified organic vines just outside of the Saumur-Champigny appellation (thus the Saumur appellation) and it should be very reasonably priced. But the superstar in the portfolio on this day was the 2005 Saumur-Champigny Vieille Vignes. This wine was deep and complex on the nose with brilliant ripe fruit, and all sorts of earthy minerality lurking beneath the surface. This, to me, is a wine to go deep on, the first bottle to be enjoyed this year, and then spread them out over the next 8-10 years. And at what should be about $30 a bottle, it's a very fair price to pay for wine of this caliber.

Domaine Bernard Baudry, Chinon - if I could swap lives with another person for a year, it would be with Matthieu Baudry, son of Bernard. He is about my age with two kids and lives in a cute house in Chinon, and he makes wine at a celebrated estate in the gorgeous area of Cravant Les Coteaux near Chinon. Matthieu poured three wines, beginning with the 2006 Chinon les Granges, from 15 year old vines on gravel soils. This is the estate's easy drinking wine, always fruity and approachable when young. This version was very tasty. The bad dollar makes it no longer seem like such a bargain, but what can you do? Baudry's top wines, Les Grezeaux, Clos Guillot, and La Croix Boisée typically require a lot of time to unwind and display their pleasures, but 2006 seems to be different. The 2006 Clos Guillot was working right now, with plenty of dark fruit and earth. The 2006 La Croix Boisée was shockingly delicious too, completely drinkable right now and a wonderful wine. I've never found this cuvée so approachable at this young of an age. Matthieu agreed that it will not need as much time as in previous years, and offered the heavy rains before the harvest as a possible explanation. As always, Baudry's wines are worth exploring.

Domaine Catherine & Pierre Breton, Bourgueil - I will admit it, I've not spent so much time with these wines in the past couple of years, after feeling very ho-hum about wines like Trinch!, Les Galichets, and Beaumont in 02 and 03. I like the higher end wines, particularly the Chinon les Picasses, but I gravitate towards producers whose entire lineup excites me. I was quite pleased to find that although they didn't blow me away, I liked the entry level wines again. Particularly the Bourgueil 2007 Trinch!, with its lovely berry nose and raspy tannins. I cannot say, though, that Breton's wines excite me at the $20 and under price point the way other wines do, like Baudry or Hureau or Filliatreau, for example. The higher end wines though, these are very exciting. The 2005 Bourgueil Clos Sénéchal was captivating, with its translucent purple color and powerful deep dark nose. Although clearly this will improve with age, I would gladly drink it tonight with dinner. The 2004 Chinon les Picasses and the 2005 Bourgueil les Perrières were both dense wines, full of fruit and earth. The potential was evident, but they are both wines that I couldn't really experience at this tasting - they require more focus and time.

And now, onto some of the superstars of Beaujolais. I did a dumb thing - it was stupid of me to taste through the darker wines of Pierre Breton right before tasting all of the Beaujolais. How are you supposed to organize yourself at a tasting of this size, anyway?!? I need to spend more time with the program before tasting anything next time.

Jean-Paul Brun's wines were very good, as usual. Although some people loved his '05s for their complexity and ageability, I actually prefer his '06s on the whole. What I love about Beaujolais is its absolute drinkability - charming fresh fruit, nice acidity, a softness and lightness to the texture, with real interest in the flavor and aroma. The perfect food wine, when done well. Brun of Terres Dorées usually does this for me, although I'm not sure yet what I think about the '07s. I loved the 2007 Côte de Brouilly with its deeply pitched flavors and humming energy. But nothing else wowed me, although the 2007 Fleurie showed well too. Maybe 6 months in the bottle will do these wines some good. I didn't love the 2006 Beaujolais l'Ancien Vielle Vignes 6 months ago either, but when I drank it with dinner the other night we both LOVED it. I was also surprised to find a Pinot in this lineup, the 2006 Pinot Noir, and it was good!

Georges Descombes poured four of his wines, and all were quite good. The 2006 Régnié was just as I remembered, very lively and elegant fruit, and crackling with energy and acidity. The standout for me was the 2006 Brouilly Vieille Vignes, which had beautiful floral mouth aromas. Very long and intense. I still have trouble wrapping my head around $30 bottles of Beaujolais, but this is America, where the dollar is worthless and we eat $7 fast food meal combos with super-sized sodas.

Michel Tête's wines were both very good. The 2006 Juliénas had such a pretty nose, and the 2005 Juliénas Cuvée Préstige is just an excellent and beautiful wine, and you're crazy not to buy it if you see it. It was great last summer upon release, it was great at this tasting, and I bet it will be great for quite a long time. Domaine Desvignes Morgons were both exciting, buzzing with fruit and energy in a dark and brooding way. Although tasty, I would prefer to allow them to develop a bit in the bottle than to drink them now, particularly the 2006 Morgon Javernières, which Louis-Benoit Desvignes says is the wine to age. He says that the Côte du Py is usually better young, and I could see that in the 2006 Morgon Côte du Py, but it seemed like it could use 6 months too.

Wow - such a long post, again. I'll have to tell you about the red Burgundies next week.