2019 Morgon Cote de Py

The 2019 Morgon Côte du Py, bottled in July 2020 after aging in concrete, has an airy, much more floral bouquet than the Grand Cras, pressed iris petals and potpourri emerging with time. The medium-bodied palate delivers fine, edgy tannins, just the tight amount of bitterness and a cohesive, pure and peppery finish that lingers long in the mouth. Superb.

The Côte du Py vineyard is on a plateau on top of a hill, with schist soils. Tim Sykes really admires how hard Burgaud works, especially in the vineyard. 100% Gamay, harvested 10–14 September 2019. 12-day maceration/fermentation then ageing for 9 months in concrete tank. Bottled July 2020 under natural cork. RS 0.5 g/l, TA 4.1 g/l, pH 3.38; SO 2 total 55 mg/l , free 18 mg/l . Mid ruby. Reserved, serious nose. Hugely intense fruit and real grip of acidity and fine tannin. Extremely concentrated with a little mineral impact on the finish. I’d ideally wait until next year before broaching it. (JR)

Full bottle 1,270 g. The Côte du Py is one of the few outcrops of schist and decomposed blue rock in Beaujolais, producing wines of intense power and structure. Jean-Marc Burgaud owns seven hectares on the Côte du Py slope, which makes his family the largest owner of vines on this famous hill. The vines were planted in 1960 with a mass selection and are gobelet trained and planted at a high density to reduce Gamay's natural vigour and increase concentration. Maceration during fermentation lasted 12–15 days, with daily pumping over. All the grapes were fermented as whole bunches, which Jean-Marc refers to as 'sémi macération carbonique', then aged in concrete until a June bottling. Healthy glowing crimson – much deeper than most beaujolais – oozing with youthful seductive fruit but promising a glorious future. Difficult to resist now but I'd be in no hurry to drink this. There is a strong mineral streak as well as the pure, Gamay gloss on the palate. It really coats the palate in the most delightful way. VGV (JR)