2021 Anthony Thevenet, Morgon “Le Clos” Cru Beaujolais, France.
The seriously structured, vividly ruby/purple hued and youthfully intense 2021 Morgon Le Clos from Anthony Thevenet really hits the spot and shows off a depth of fruit and taut tannins, making for an impressive, rewarding and age worthy effort. I’ve really enjoyed all of Anthony Thevenet’s Gamay offerings I’ve tried, but this one is by far my favorite to date with its gripping presence and classic whole cluster spicy pop and vitality, its a wine impossible not to admire, though best to have with food to soften the powerful sense this wine has. The medium bodied palate takes a few moments to uncoil in the glass, then it reveals a more pretty nature with dark berry, currant, plum and strawberry fruits with a light floral presence and lifted spicy array of flavors and accents including hints of violets, cracked peppercorns, licorice and walnut/cedary notes. With protein rich dishes, an extra dimension and supple vinous pleasure comes through here and it begs to sipped with reckless abandon. Morgon’s sandy and rocky granite soils make for chiseled wines, as this one shows, which are much more muscled, and savory, than the more elegant Fleurie versions, but still incredibly aromatic and lengthy, and this wine exploits those qualities to near perfection.
Winemaker Anthony Thevenet, began his career in the cellars of Georges Descombes, one of the local veterans of natural winemaking, then after, 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. Of Anthony Thevenet’s wines, I recommend the Vieilles Vignes (Old Vine) Cuvée, his lovely Chénas, the Cuvée Julia Côte du Py Morgon, coming from 80 plus year old vines and this one, which is sourced from 20 year old vines, which are starting to come into their own, to great effect.
($44 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive