Sweet and Sour Spectator

Simple but Good

• 2003 Georges Dubœuf Saint-Amour - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Saint-Amour
  Corked. The wine was then poured into a 1-qt. plastic bag stuffed with a big sheet of Saran Wrap. Nick waited until the next day and reported: "The Saran wrap experiment is at least a partial success. The corked odor is gone as far as I can tell. The wine now has a rather pleasant, almost pinot-like cherry aroma. The mouth is dominated by alcohol (14% and it shows) and tannin, and there is only a bit of cherry fruit. However, I’ve read that Saint-Amour tends to have delicate and low fruit anyway. So without an uncorked control bottle it’s hard to say if the fruit has been restored to uncorked levels. Overall I would say that it is below the average of the other wines we had last night. In any event, I’d say it’s definitely worth doing with future corked wines." 14% alcohol.
• 2003 Georges Dubœuf Brouilly - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Brouilly
  Good traditional bubble-gum/banana nose. Excellent balanced, acidic structure, ripe fruit, medium finish. Good wine. 13% alcohol. (88 pts.)
• 2003 Georges Dubœuf Beaujolais-Villages - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages
  Reserved nose (just a bit of soap suds). Simple wine, well made, moderate structure with tannins noticeable on finish. Would be a good, solid bistro wine. 13% alcohol. (86 pts.)
• 2003 Georges Dubœuf Fleurie La Madone - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie
  Clean nose with pepper and minerals. Light body, sweet fruit. Finish shows bitter tannins. 13% alcohol. (87 pts.)

Côte de Brouilly and Régnié

• 2003 Georges Viornery Côte de Brouilly Cuvée Unique - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Côte de Brouilly
  Closed nose. Overripe, burnt fruit. Over extracted, but light and watery on the palate, acidic core dominates mid palate. 13% alcohol. (83 pts.)
• 2003 Château Thivin Côte de Brouilly - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Côte de Brouilly
  Nice clean nose. Palate shows balanced core of sweet red fruit balancing the noticeable tannins. Very nice. 12.5% alcohol. (89 pts.)
• 2003 Georges Dubœuf Régnié - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Régnié
  Overripe, unstructured, not enough acid, flabby, not distinctive. Rather uninspiring stuff, but not obviously defective. 13% alcohol. (85 pts.)
• 2003 Joel Rochette Régnié Cuvee des Braves Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Régnié
  Showed a bit of trapped CO2 upon opening, but that blew off leaving a core of black sweet fruit with good balance. Nice example. 13% alcohol. (88 pts.)

Things Start Getting Rocky

• 2003 Domaine Piron & Lafont Chénas Quartz - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Chénas
  Black, dark fruit, light body, extremely tannic; finish drying and green. 12.5% alcohol. (78 pts.)
• 2003 Georges Dubœuf Juliénas Cuvée Prestige - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Juliénas
  Moderate nose. Hole in mid palate with core of fruit missing; a bit lightly extracted, tannic; tastes oxidized. 14% alcohol. (83 pts.)
• 2003 Georges Dubœuf Moulin-à-Vent Domaine des Rosiers - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent
  Just a hint of traditional bubble-gum Beaujolais nose. Good sweet red, ripe fruit like you expect from Beaujolais -- but seldom get from the '03s. Medium body good structured finish with some tannins. Nice wine. 13.5% alcohol. (88 pts.)
• 2003 Georges Dubœuf Chiroubles - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Chiroubles
  Nose of banana and bubble-gum which gave way to soap suds (which, surprisingly was not a bad nose). Sweet red fruit, medium palate; balanced but not complex. 13% alcohol. (86 pts.)

The Gang of Three Plus One

The "Gang of Four," Guy Breton, Jean Foilard, Marcel Lapierre, and Jean-Paul Thevenet are garageriste producers in Morgon imported by Kermit Lynch. I couldn't find a Jean Foilard '03 Morgon, so we tasted the "Gang of Three" plus Domaine Calot.

• 2003 Marcel Lapierre Morgon - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon
  Dirty brett-laden bacterial nose. Acidic, watery, spritzy, bitter finish. Clearly defective (60 pts.)
• 2003 Guy Breton Morgon Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon
  Beautifully made wine from obviously good material. Sweet Beaujolais fruit at core of palate, lively tastes, good balance, smooth and well integrated components. Best of tasting. 13.5% alcohol. (90 pts.)
• 2003 Jean-Paul Thevenet Morgon Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon
  Closed nose. Palate shows burnt, overripe, over extracted fruit with a big hole in mid palate. Bitter finish. 13% alcohol. (80 pts.)
• 2003 Domaine Calot Morgon Cuvée Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon
  Nose showing mineral and metallic, palate is austere and acidic with lean dark black fruits. Rustic Beaujolais. Alcohol 13% (84 pts.)

Well, we are done. Where is the face slathering puppy love that Beaujolais is supposed to give? As a whole, these wines were disappointing. The abnormally hot 2003 vintage clearly was a challenge that many of the producers couldn't overcome. The wines as a whole were tannic and many showed burnt fruit tastes. Guess you can't get wine from unripe raisins! And what is with all of the "black fruit" business? In Beaujolais? It should be red. It is clear why Georges Duboeuf is the "King of Beaujolais" this tasting showed that his wines are very consistent and quite often better than the other guys.

The 2003 vintage was definitely disappointing in Beaujolais. I didn't care much for most of the '03 Red Burgundies I tasted last month, either. Nor, did I like the 2003 Huet Vouvrey wines. The Burgundies and the Vouvreys didn't have enough acid and were flabby. 2003 French wines are very uneven. It is a vintage that needs to be approached with caution.