I am running a 2009 Cru Beaujolais tasting next week with approx. 40+ attendees. I would love to hear decanting recommendations from people who have opened these wines recently. Given the size of the tasting (10 wines x 4 bottles each) the reasonable options are: pop and pour, double decant, or slow ox. The wines in the tasting are:
2009 Domaine du Vissoux / Pierre-Marie Chermette Fleurie Poncié
2009 Louis Jadot Moulin-à-Vent Clos de Rochegrès Château des Jacques
2009 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Moulin-à-Vent
2009 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Morgon
2009 Georges Descombes Morgon Vieilles Vignes
2005 Domaine Savoye Morgon Côte du Py Vieilles Vignes Cuvée Speciale (ringer)
2009 Marcel Lapierre Morgon
2009 Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py
2009 Jean-Marc Burgaud Morgon Javernieres
2009 Marcel Lapierre Morgon Cuvée Marcel Lapierre
Again, I would greatly appreciate any advice from those with recent experience.
Not an expert here on your decant, but let me just chime in to say that is one heck of a tasting. I have had 6 of those wines, some more than a couple of times, and they are just fantastic. I have done a “pop and pour” on all of them, with no regrets. I found that some tasted much better on day one, more fresh and vibrant, suggesting to me that any decant time should be relatively short.
Been on a bit of a Beaujolais roll recently, including an 09 Brun MaV and 09 Brun Cotes Brouilly. The MaV is a lovely wine but still relatively firm for the vintage. The fleshier Brouilly also needed air time to meld. Even the normally subtle Lapierre Morgon is ripe and muscular. I’d recommend a double decant for all. The Jadot MaV is a beast of a Bojo, intended for the long haul. You’ll be hard pressed to get it to open fully.
Just finished the 09 Domaine du Vissoux / Pierre-Marie Chermette Fleurie Poncié tonight after opening it last night. Much better on night 2 so a slow ox would be my recommendation. BTW it was amazing tonight, sure to be a crowd pleaser in your tasting.
Gil - I have enjoyed quite a few 2009 Cru Beaujolais over the last two months. I recommend decanting them just before serving them. You get the benefit of a little air but still close to a bottle pour. The 2009 Cru’s have been “idiot proofed” so far. I really like them.
There are some really good wines in that lineup Gil, but I think that you have good reason to worry about decant times. I’ve had very mixed results with 2009’s over the last year. Recently a Foillard Morgon CdP showed beautifully on PnP and throughout an evening. OTOH, Brun Fleurie has showed terribly shut down. The Jadot MaV’s seem to have a fairly slow evolution. I suspect you’ll need a range of approaches to get the best showings.
I would only decant the Jadot – I think I’ll die before that’s ready to drink. The rest, many of which I’ve had in the last couple of months, are all pop and pour. For me, the only question is always temperature: I like a little chill on most bojo, the muscular Jadot being an exception.
Echoing what Richard said above, I’d recommend an extended decant on the JP Brun wines. A few bottles over the last 6 months have proven to be pretty closed and unyielding.
I think Diane is right on the money and personally, I would pop n’ pour or maybe give up to one hour of aeration in bottle. Many of these will show great immediately upon opening and you should expect some to only get firmer with air (which will definitely happen to the Foillard and Jadot, possibly the Brun’s as well). Splash decanting upon serving might work well too, but after having tasted 7 of these wines over the past year or so, I truly feel the pop n’ pour works best.
I’ve had three of those. Here they are with dates opened and aeration notes (I didn’t decant any of them, if it says “took 1 hr” it just means waiting 1 hr after opening):
Lapierre Morgon 12/11 took 1 hr to open
Chermette Poncié 11/10 PnP, fine
Foillard CdP 1/12 took 1 hr to open
Brun Morgon 12/10 PnP, fine
Brun l’Ancien 2/11 PnP, fine (oops! you don’t have that one, well here it is FWIW)
I look forward to your TNs. Please include decanting info.
Thanks everyone for your advice so far! I greatly appreciate the feedback – even if directions are a little all over the map. Based on the advice above, I am leaning towards pop and pour. The event will run such that the early flight will be in the glass for ~ 20-30 minutes before tasting begins – and the last flight will be in the glass for about an hour. I agree the the Jadot has been particularly reticent when I have had it before, so maybe I double decant that one.
On the other hand, from a “educational tasting” standpoint is there more value in treating them all the same? This is a group of fairly experienced tasters – so most of them will be accustomed to trying to read the “potential” in a wine that may not be showing its best at the moment – though I think most of these will show well.
Sorry it took me slow long to report on this – and no detailed notes. The tasting was postponed by a week due to Hurricane Sandy. In spite of the schedule change, we had over 40 attendees. All the wines were opened and poured about half an hour before the start (though this means that the later wines [poured in the order listed above] got more than an hour in the glass).
The WOTN as voted by attendees was the Jadot MaV Clos de Rochegres Chateau des Jacques (17 votes) with the Lapierre Cuvee Marcel coming in second (12 votes). No other wines were close. I thought the wines were a little closed (and maybe a little cold) but generally were representative of my previous experiences. I was surprised the “regular” Lapierre Morgon wasn’t received better (it got one vote). The 2005 Savoye got 3 votes – and nobody suggested that it was younger than the other wines.
Interesting result from my perspective, Gil, considering that I prefer the “regular” Lapierre Morgon 2009 much much more than the Cuvee Marcel. Just got in my '10s and '11s, so psyched to try them!
Agreed. I think the regular Lapierre is in a great place for drinking now and expected it to do better. The Jadot is the only wine with any new oak; I think that appealed to some palates. Though some of the people who voted for it are generally anti-oak. It did show well.
That Rochegrès is quite oaky but I think it gets by because its oak character seems to mold very well with the wine and just comes off as more complexity. If you sit there and analyze it, you can tell the oak is heavy, but the whole package is delicious.
