Clos de la Roilette Fleurie 2024
IMPORTER NOTES:
TASTING: “A bouquet of red and black currants intermingled with stewed blackberries, violets, aniseed, cloves and a subtle hint of charcoal-grilled meats, it's sappy and concentrated, with a full-bodied palate built around abundant, fine-grained tannins.”
PRODUCTION: "100% Gamay. From 50-year-old vines on heavy clay soils with relatively little granite and quite a lot of the iron-like mineral manganese. The farming is sustainable. All vineyard work is by hand; the soils are worked only superficially, at most twice per year, to protect the roots of these old vines. Vinification is traditional, semi-carbonic Beaujolais style. The whole clusters are harvested by hand and fermented spontaneously with native yeasts in open-top concrete tanks. Maceration lasts around 14 days for this bottling, with a submerged cap rather than punchdowns. The wine is aged in large oak foudres of 80 to 100 years old for 9 months with only one racking before bottling. Sulfur use is quite minimal."
ABOUT THE PRODUCER: "The Clos de la Roilette, a lieu-dit in the village of Fleurie, covers nine hectares of one of the best slopes in the Beaujolais Crus. The clos has an eastern exposure, borders the Moulin-à-Vent appellation, and produces wines that are beautiful when young and have the capacity to age 5-10 years, depending on the vintage. In the 1920’s, when the Fleurie appellation was first created, the former landowner was infuriated with losing the Moulin-à-Vent appellation under which the clos had previously been classified. He created a label, using a photograph of his racehorse Roilette, and used the name Clos de la Roilette without mentioning Fleurie. The owner vowed not to sell a drop of his wine on the French market and the production went to Switzerland, Germany and England. By the mid-1960s, the owner’s heirs had lost interest in the clos and a large portion of the land had gone wild and untended. In 1967, Fernand Coudert bought this poorly maintained estate and replanted the vineyards. His son Alain joined him in 1984, and has been the winemaker since. He has recently been joined by his son Alexis."