2009 Daniel Bouland Morgon Corcelette Vieilles Vignes

Bouland’s 2009 Morgon Corcelette Vieilles Vignes – from a single parcel near his winery – offers a striking combination of richness and lush texture with exuberant primary juiciness, elegance, buoyancy, and both animal and mineral complexity. Charred meat, musky peony perfume, toasted hickory; red and black raspberry tinged with nutmeg and cinnamon, and a suffusion of crushed stone, all add up to an amazing value and complex show that should be worth attending to for at least another 4-5 years. It’s clear by now that Daniel Bouland is one of Beaujolais’s major as well as most consistent talents, and it is encouraging to be witnessing the expansion of his domaine (now ten hectares). Most of Bouland’s vines are old, and his young parcels have been planted with selections massales from old vineyards. All of the 2009 cuvees – based on fruit not harvested before late in the first week in September and displaying deep, healthy color – came in at just over 14% alcohol, but none showed ill-effects. A couple of lots of Morgon were so late to go through malo that they were still gaseous when I visited in April, but Bouland’s four cuvees destined for the U.S. had just been bottled, from which they also appeared not to have suffered. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800