2022 Anne-Sophie Dubois “Les Cocottes” Fleurie Cru Beaujolais, France.
The Les Cocottes is fast becoming a favorite of mine and a go to Fluerie Cru Beaujolais, it is one of the most expressive in Anne-Sophie Dubois lineup, especially this 2022, which is bursting with personality, vivacious and pure Gamay fruit and bright energy. Anne-Sophie, as mentioned here, is a full fledged star in the region these days, and while her wines can still be under the radar, there’s no doubt about her talents and each of her wines are remarkably distinct and transparent. The Les Cocottes is her old school traditional whole cluster version and this latest edition shows loads of ripe dark berry, black cherry, plum and tangy currant fruit on the vivid medium bodied palate, along with its perfumy and spicy bouquet and racy stem herbal notes. As with all of her wines, it is texturally silken and there’s Fleurie’s classic strawberry and mineral tones that are always present. As with prior releases of Les Cocottes there’s that touch of stemmy crunch, structure and an electric freshness with its varietal’s natural acidity. This vintage is very delicious and well balance, going sublime with food, this is an exceptional Gamay wine that can be enjoyed young and vibrant, though looks set to age nicely for another 5 to 7 years. Anne-Sophie, who also designs the labels as well as hand crafting her wines, has a gifted and thoughtful touch and is a perfect producer to highlight during Women’s History Month and deserves huge credit for her sublime collection of past and current offerings.
Dubois grew up in the Champagne region and learned her winemaking skills in the Côte de Beaune’s Volnay area, and now, based in Fleurie, using her organically farmed parcels, with the vines, some over 60 years old giving her grapes terroir personality and concentration. Anne-Sophie Dubois’ Fleuries were once all 100% de-stemmed and fermented in a Burgundian-style fashion with a nod to delicacy and elegance, though in recent years, this Les Cocottes, her “little sweetie(s)” is different from her usual style, she crafts this Fleurie with 100% whole cluster and using a carbonic maceration, making it her most, as noted above, flamboyant offering, and it is one, as mentioned, it along with her more traditional L’Alchimiste, her signature bottling, are must haves. The L’Alchimiste is as divine as many Burgundy Premier Crus with a sensibility that is not far off a Chombolle-Musigny. Anne-Sophie, as noted in my prior reviews, uses a combination of cement vats, stainless and neutral French oak casks for her fermentation and elevage, which each wine demanding an individual approach, to bring out the singular parcel’s soulful characteristics. There’s a fine tension between savory complexity and elegant delicacy, here, and in Anne-Sophie’s wines and lots of charm in this bottling, as there was in the 2019 and 2020 releases. I very much recommend these Dubois wines, which as I’ve said are in league with the region’s icons, like Dutraive, Lapierre, Thevenet and others in that elite set of top producers in the region. My love for these wines has grown over the last five years and Dubois through her wines shows off her skills as a vigneron and the glorious terroir of the Fleurie appellation.
($38 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive