Vissouxtudes

Chermette “Domaine du Vissoux” 2004 Beaujolais “Vieilles Vignes Cuvée Traditionnelle” (Beaujolais) – A cellar orphan, buried (due to its ridiculously and incomprehensibly fat bottle shape) under things that were guaranteed to reward aging. It’s not like I regularly hold basic Beaujolais – other than the shouldery Brun, perhaps – for this long very often. That said, it’s doing quite well, though I certainly wouldn’t hold it any longer in the hopes of anything positive. There’s brett, there’s volatile acidity, there’s spritz…a bit of a parody of “natural,” the cynic in me muses…and drying cherry, but there’s more than enough of the essential, fun, spiky fruit this had in its youth to have said that the accidental aging, while not a “success” as such, was also no failure. Call it a teachable moment. (10/11)

Vissoux Storm

Chermette “Domaine du Vissoux” 2009 Beaujolais “Cuvée traditionnelle vieilles vignes” (Beaujolais) – Would I guess this was Beaujolais, blind? Quite possibly not. Gamay? Maybe, but I bet I’d guess New World. Neither Q/A is meant to be an indictment of the wine, by the way, which is big, muscular, a bit heavy, but not too over-anything. At least, that’s my hope. The future may prove me wrong. Fruit remains decidedly red and of the berry variety, there’s acidity (though less than usual), and despite the gravity there’s still some zip and zing to be found. But now we need to age our basic Beaujolais? I guess we do. (2/11)

Steel-cut griottes

Chermette 2009 Beaujolais Rosé “Les Griottes” (Beaujolais) – Yearning. Not quite acquiring whatever it’s in the mood for, though. Simple cherry analog, tarragon analog, dust analog…nothing really seems entirely present here. There’s no obvious sign of damage, and yet I wonder. (8/10)