2008 Fleurie Les Moriers

Chignard had just bottled his 2008 Fleurie Les Mories (unfiltered, for the U.S.) a week before I tasted it with him, which was in turn not long after its having been racked from cask and assembled (from three cask lots), so it may be advisable to make some allowance for that. Relatively light in color and body by Chignard’s standards, it is dominated by but tart-edged blackberry and mulberry fruit, but harbors meat stock and marrow element to accompany its bright finishing fruit. Fleurie is dominated by iron-rich, weathered granite, and lacks the manganese-rich clay found in much of Moulin-a-Vent and often associated with that appellation’s age-worthiness. But ever since two years ago when I tasted a remarkably fresh 1928 Fleurie that had been bottled by Sichel, I have been more convinced than cellaring Chignard’s wines had already made me that this is an appellation with amazing potential. Imported by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524