{"id":16617,"date":"2017-01-05T20:52:51","date_gmt":"2017-01-05T20:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=16617"},"modified":"2017-01-06T17:10:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-06T17:10:43","slug":"wines-of-the-year-4-some-brilliant-french-wines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/france\/wines-of-the-year-4-some-brilliant-french-wines","title":{"rendered":"Wines of the year (4) some brilliant French wines"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Continuing the theme of wines of the year, I’ve picked some of the very best French wines that I tasted in 2016, excluding Champagnes and older wines, which I wrote about separately. So many good bottles here, including a strong showing from Beaujolais, which may surprise some people.<\/p>\n

Richard Leroy Les Rouliers Chenin 2012 Vin de France
\n<\/strong>Amazingly intense matchstick nose is mineral and taut with citrus, flint and spice. The palate has ripe apple, spice and pear with lovely bright citrus notes. Complex and detailed with amazing integrated reductive mineral notes. So expressive. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Thierry Germain Domaine des Roches Neuves Clos Romans Saumur 2012 Loire, France<\/strong>
\n13% alcohol. Chenin Blanc from tufa soils. Very spicy, smoky and linear with sweet apple, a hint of hay and bright lemony acidity. Such precision here with an amazing linear focus, and a touch of anise and apple on the finish. Long and profound. 95\/100<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Lapierre Morgon C\u00f4te du Py Cuv\u00e9e Marcel Lapierre 2014 Beaujolais, France<\/strong>
\nBeautifully aromatic: pure, floral and sappy with nice ripeness. Silky with a generous, almost liqueur-like cherry note as well as supple raspberry notes. Crisp but with generosity, this is quite beautiful. 96\/100<\/p>\n

Jean Marc Burgaud Morgon C\u00f4te du Py Javerni\u00e8res 2014 Beaujolais, France<\/strong>
\nThis is from a more alluvial part of C\u00f4te du Py. Brooding and smooth with pure black cherry, raspberry and red cherry fruit. Amazing finesse on the palate with focused blackcurrant fruit. Amazing finesse. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Berne Morgon Corcelette 2014 Beaujolais, France<\/strong>
\nFrom deep pink granite soils, this is elegant yet fresh with liqueur-like richness to the fruit. Complex, with fine, fresh fruit and grippy tannins, as well as a slightly sappy edge. Really pure and elegant with amazing finesse. Finely grained. 95\/100<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Moulin \u00e0 Vent Croix des V\u00e9rillats 2014 Beaujolais, France<\/strong>
\nBeautifully perfumed with sweet, floral, aromatic sweet black cherry fruit and some raspberries, showing some subtle herbal notes. Beguiling and complex. Lovely concentration here with expressive finely spiced black fruits. Polished but not overly so: thrilling, in a modern style. 95\/100<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Domaine Piron Lameloise Chenas \u2018Quartz\u2019 2014 Beaujolais, France<\/strong>
\nFrom Dominique Piron. Very fresh red fruits nose with some peppery spiciness. Detailed and fresh with some raspberry too. Lovely elegance on the palate, which shows focused red cherry and raspberry fruit with some peppery detail. Floral, fresh and delicious. 95\/10<\/p>\n

Thillardon Chenas \u2018Chassignol\u2019 2014 Beaujolais, France<\/strong>
\nGranite and quartz soils make their mark here. Fine, fresh and expressive peppery nose with some sappy red fruits. So pretty. Lively, bright and sappy on the palate with a hint of green and a vivid, peppery, mineral edge to the red fruits. Good acidity and focus to this pure wine. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2010 Burgundy, France
\n<\/strong>Wonderfully mineral, spicy nose with a bit of nice reduction. Deliciously minerally on the palate with citrus and pear fruit. Subtle creamy notes in the background, but overall this is a powerful, fresh, driven Chablis with a complex, expressive personality. It\u2019s just beautiful. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Raveneau\u00a0Mont\u00e9e de Tonnerre Chablis 1er Cru 2006 Burgundy, France
\n<\/strong>Very taut and crystalline with lovely finesse to the mineral-driven lemon and pear fruit. Just a hint of creaminess in the background. So pure and fine with some oyster shell character. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Roulot Meursault Clos des Bouch\u00e8res 1er Cru Monopole 2012 Burgundy, France<\/strong>
\nBeautifully taut and mineral with a subtle salty mineral streak and beautiful focus and finesse. Great precision here: a lovely wine. 96<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Pichon Baron, Pauillac 2012 Bordeaux, France
\n<\/strong>This is sensational. It\u2019s concentrated and intense with ripe blackcurrant and black cherry fruit supported by beautifully refined chalky tannins. Structured and bold with restraint: while this has enough ripeness, it is also really direct and savoury with lovely precision to the black fruits. There\u2019s amazing balance and concentration here. Still very youthful with taut structure, and real potential for development. Such purity to the fruit, and no rough edges; structured and fine. An astonishingly good expression of this vintage, which I\u2019ve grown to like quite a bit. 96\/100<\/p>\n

Zind Humbecht Riesling Clos St Urbain Grand Cru Rangen de Thann 2014 Alsace, France
\n<\/strong>Really focused lemony nose. Bright and mineral with real precision and focus, showing pure citrus fruits with well integrated acidity. Quite thrilling. 95\/100<\/p>\n

\"albert<\/p>\n

Albert Boxler Riesling Sommerberg Grand Cru \u2018E\u2019 2014 Alsace
\n<\/strong>From a special parcel in the Sommerberg, which is cooler and more stony. Very lively, pure and mineralwith focused citrus and pear fruit, and a bit of white peach richness. Lively and pure with many dimensions. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Grand Cru 2015 Alsace
\n<\/strong>This is amazing. From granitic soils. Bright, taut and linear with a stony, mineral edge to the palate, which is tight and lean with lovely acidity and an almost saline character. Such precision and linearity, and real length. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Domaine Labet Fleur de Savagnin \u2018en Chalasse\u2019 2013 C\u00f4tes de Jura, France
\n<\/strong>From massale selection vines planted in 2003, this is truly remarkable. Fermented and aged in older oak. Complex, lively and citrussy with lovely lemony notes and real concentration and intensity. So fine and distinctive with fine spicy notes and lovely acidity. This is just incredibly beautiful and complex. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Domaine Labet Chardonnay \u2018La Bardette\u2019 2014 C\u00f4tes de Jura, France<\/strong>
\n13% alcohol, pH 3.01, 10 mg\/l total SO2. This is from a small 0.55 ares parcel that spends 18 months in oak, and it\u2019s massale selection Chardonnay. Complex, intense and mineral with lovely crystalline citrus and grapefruit character. Smoky, mineral and bright with a pithy edge and some apple and pear notes. This has a bit of grip, with some fine spiciness and a reductive twist. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Find these wines with wine-searcher.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continuing the theme of wines of the year, I’ve picked some of the very best French wines that I tasted in 2016, excluding Champagnes and older wines, which I wrote…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[397,376],"class_list":["post-16617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-france","tag-beaujolais","tag-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16617"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16626,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16617\/revisions\/16626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}