2019 Anne-Sophie Dubois “Les Cocottes” Fleurie Cru Beaujolais, France.
How Anne-Sophie Dubois remains under the radar, especially after tasting her 2019s like this gorgeous Les Cocottes Fleurie, is a mystery, these Gamays are enthrallingly beautiful wines that rival Chambolle-Musigny and Morey-Saint-Morey Burgundies with sublime aromatics, silken textures and lively details with this Cru Beaujolais showing a brilliant dark fruited medium bodied palate. Dubois, a studied vigneron and artist, she drew all of the artwork on the labels, based in Les Labourons call Fleurie home these days even though she grew up in the Champagne region and learned her gifted winemaking skills in the Cote de Beaune’s Volnay appellation, and she grew an appreciation for elegance and subtlety from her experience there. She has applied her considerable talents on her tiny eight hectares in the heart of Fleurie, all of which are now organically farmed, and with the vines, some over 60 years old, these parcels show loads of terroir personality and concentration. The expressive whole bunch, carbonic style and electric ruby/magenta Les Cocottes has a bright inner intensity, but is graceful, perfumed with dark florals and is texturally satiny with Fleurie’s classic strawberry, plum and red currant fruits, as well as a dusting of spices and herbs, adding a touch of mineral crunch and a walnut husk note. This is exceptional Gamay and I could possibly give bit consideration for a dessert island wine, it is that delicious!
Up until the 2015 vintage all of Anne-Sophie’s Fleuries were 100% de-stemmed and fermented in a Burgundian-style fashion with a nod to delicacy and elegance, though this Les Cocottes, her “little sweetie(s)” is different from her usual style, she crafted this Fleurie with 100% whole cluster and using a carbonic maceration, making it her most flamboyant offering, and it is one of my favorites in her stunning lineup, along with her more traditional L’Alchimiste, her signature bottling. Anne-Sophie uses a combination of cement vats, stainless and neutral French oak casks, which each wine demanding an individual approach to bring out the singular parcel’s soulful characteristics with this Les Cocottes coming from Fleurie’s unique pink granite soils, which brings out that heavenly nose of violets, peony and sticky lavender and round profile. As the 2019 opens it gains complexity and the stems add some good contrasting savory and earthy elements that is very seductive, while remaining amazingly drinkable and exciting, very much in league with Dutraive and Lapierre, two of the regions most legendary producers. This is remarkably impressive Beaujolais and when you realize that Anne-Sophie has only been doing this for about 10 years now, you got to admire her work even more. These 2019s are getting pretty scarce now, I’m glad I got a few bottles tucked away, but I highly recommend searching them out, they are classy wines that take Gamay beyond most expectations, with this Les Cocottes proving to be a stylist ready to drink version that can be served with a range of cuisine options and is best with a slight chill, it is a highly entertaining quaffer, perfect for the Summer season.
($33 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive