2024 Domaine M. & C. Lapierre, Morgon, Cru Beaujolais, France.
The 2024 vintage of Lapierre’s Morgon is dark ruby in the glass and ultra quaffable with a lighter, low alcohol and juicy style that shows off loads of freshness and is not quite as ripe as most years, it highlights a slightly gentler touch. This no sulfur added cuvée N is delightful with a medium bodied palate of classic mineral laced blackberry, cherry, plum and strawberry fruits, a touch of whole cluster crunch, tangy herbs and subtle savory/earthy tones. This (Morgon Cru) wine, coming from mature 70 plus year old vines in sandy decomposed granite soils was made with 100% whole cluster fermentation, as Kermit puts it, à l’ancienne, with only native yeasts, mostly in conical wood tanks, with what the Lapierre’s call careful low temperature maintenance, and then age their wines on fine lees for at least nine months in old used oak, which are a combination of ex-Burgundy barrels, and neutral foudres and fûts, all ranging from three to thirteen years old, to promote transparency. As mentioned before, this Cuvée N or Sans Soufre is made exclusively for importer Kermit Lynch (for the United States) and is made without the addition of sulphur, which Marcel promoted, since Gamay is perfectly suited to allow this practice. Coming from organic head trained old vines set on granite based soils in the Cru Morgon region of Beaujolais, these Lapierre wines, as I’ve said many times before, are all about hedonism and pleasure, they are incredibly well crafted, but still has a raw playful quality, impossible to resist.
Continuing their late father and legend Marcel Lapierre’s traditions and faithfully following the teachings of Jules Chauvet’s natural wine practices, brother and sister Mathieu and Camille Lapierre makes some of the best Gamay wines you can find. The famous Lapierre domaine, as mentioned in my prior reviews, was always organic the sister and brother team of Mathieu and Camille have converted to biodynamic. Marcel Lapierre took over the family domaine from his father in 1973, and according to Kermit Lynch, he was already on the road to becoming a legend, but In 1981, his path would be forever changed by Jules Chauvet, a man whom many now call his spiritual godfather (and the godfather of natural wine). Chauvet was a winemaker, a researcher, a chemist, and a viticultural prophet, in much the same way Nicholas Joly was with biodynamics in the Loire Valley. It was he who, upon the advent of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the 1950s, first spoke out for “natural wine,” harkening back to the traditional methods of the Beaujolais. This 2024, which comes in at just 12.5% natural alcohol, isn’t as expressive or as concentrated as most years that sometimes reach 14.5% or more, but is absolutely delicious, lively with bright acidity, and it grew and filled out with air and food, plus it is wonderfully pure and nicely structured for enjoying right away. Again, I’m a big fan of Lapierre, their wines turned me on to Gamay, and I highly recommend all of their wines, especially this Cuvée N bottling, along with their special upper end bottlings, such as the Cuvée Marcel and the Cuvée Camille, the Juliénas, as well as their lovely Le Beaujolais, a tasty value priced effort.
($45 Est.) 91 Points, grapelive