2023 Domaine Anthony Thevenet, Morgon “Village” Cru Beaujolais, France.
In recent years, I’ve really fallen in love with Anthony Thevenet’s wines, which are wonderfully expressive and show off loads of terroir, depth and authentic natural character, as this new 2023 Village Morgon release delivers with verve and vitality. This seductive 100% whole cluster Gamay, coming from all organic 60 plus year old vines on granite based sandy soils, including a parcel in the famed Corcelette Lieu-Dit, is bursting with ripe flavors, spice, stony notes and crushed flowers with black raspberry, plum, strawberry and cherry fruits leading the way along with pepper, cinnamon stick, violet/geranium florals, walnut, licorice and orange zest. The tannin is supple and the acidity perfectly lifts the wine in the glass, giving structure and refined balance here, this dark ruby/magenta Gamay is absolutely delicious and very rewarding. With air this wine gains pedigree and textural pleasure, I highly recommend searching out these Anthony Thevenet 2023s, especially the cru Morgon offerings, with this one being a great place to start, and I wouldn’t miss the old vine Morgon either.
Winemaker Anthony Thevenet, as mentioned in my prior reviews, began his career in the cellars of Georges Descombes, one of the local veterans of natural winemaking, then after, (and) as his importer The Source notes, followed by five years as the right hand man of Jean Foillard, one of the true luminaries of Beaujolais. He went out on his own ten years ago, back in 2013, creating his own label and securing prime vineyards and impressive results came right away, making him one of the hottest names in the region. As per normal, the wines at Thevenet’s cellar are vinified by whole bunch carbonic fermentation using only native yeast and the wines are aged in a combination of neutral (old) oak casks, including 600L barrels, as well as used smaller 228L barriques, usually bought from quality Burgundy domaines, and the wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined. Thevenet’s family domaine vines are located in Morgon, which is just to the south of Fleurie and Chiroubles on granite based soils that brings out a fine mineral note in the wines and even though the climate is fairly warm, the elevation and the natural acidity of the Gamay grape makes for balanced and complex wines here, as clearly see in this tasty Village Morgon bottling.
($30 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive