2021 Domaine Anita, Morgon “Chateau-Gaillard” Cru Beaujolais, France.
The Domaine Anita’s dark, earthy and well rounded Chateau-Gaillard Morgon old vine Gamay belies the lack luster 2021 vintage with an impressive depth, intensity and vinous fruit density, easily making for a rewarding effort to drink now. The palate possesses nice generous layers of raspberry, plum, strawberry and tart cranberry fruits along with stony elements, snappy herbs, spice, walnut and anise, framed by well judge wood and subtle floral notes. Anita Kuhnel, a former professional cyclist-turned winemaker with a reputation quickly rising in Beaujolais, has put out a set of delicious wines, which were all new to me until Stuart Pigott of James Suckling wrote about this winery that has joined Neal Rosenthal’s portfolio who’s star-studded import book includes mostly old world producers with a rustic charm. While still a bit behind that top producers in region, I can see why this winery is gaining a reputation for quality and I look forward to seeing what comes from Anita in the future.
Anita Kuhnel, based in Chénas does mainly cru bottlings from Moulin-a-Vent, but also has this plot of old vines in Morgon, a plot in Fleurie and another in Chénas, all of which feature in her lineup and are from vines that range from 40 to 100 years old on mainly the classic granite based soils here. Importer, Neal Rosenthal says that Anita is assisted in making the wines by Guy Marion, who he adds, oversaw no fewer than 52 harvests as cellarmaster for Georges Duboeuf, so there is solid foundation of experience to play off of here. Anita has a collection of small concrete vats to ferment each parcel separately and that she uses a different percentage of whole cluster in each wine and she uses ex-Burgundy barrels to age the Cru bottlings like this one. For this Chateau-Galliard Morgon Anita did a native yeast fermentation after maceration in cement with a combination of whole clusters, with some stem inclusion, and mostly de-stemmed berries, this cuvée was matured 80% in cement and 20% in used the mentioned Burgundy barrels, from a domaine in Aloxe-Corton that have seen at least three fills. This is an excellent value and a very likable wine to enjoy over the next 3 to 5 years.
($25 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive