Nick Dobson Wines Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly

Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly Le Mont Brouilly is a strikingly beautiful (and thankfully dormant!) volcano, a landmark visible from much of the Beaujolais countryside, home to the appellations of Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly. The summit is crowned by a chapel which is illuminated at night. Legend says Le Mont Brouilly was created by the giant Gargantua, hurling large rocks following a drinking bout one evening. The name originates from Brulius, a Roman Lieutenant who settled here. Vines have been grown and wine made here since the 4th century; today, the Brouilly vineyards are planted on the lower blue granite slopes of Le Mont Brouilly. The Brouilly appellation - the most southerly and largest Cru - has a large number of producers in the villages of Odenas, Charentay, Cercié, Quincié, Saint-Lager, and Saint-Etienne-la-Varenne, and the soil characteristics vary somewhat through it, meaning that the style of wines also varies. However a good Brouilly should be full of grapey fruit, with good depth of purple colour. Further up the hillside are the vineyards of the appellation Côte de Brouilly; there is more sun here, and the wine is somewhat fuller and fruitier than Brouilly, has slightly more alcohol and a perfume including violets and raspberries. The wines from these parts are very flexible, and are equally at home chilled for summer drinking, or as serious companions for good food. We offer a good range from some excellent producers, plus a mixed case.

Brouilly 2009 Les Bruyères Domaine du Point du Jour Jocelyne Depardon
Ref: 3332141

** (*)

The superb 2009 vintage of Jocelyne Depardon's Brouilly. TN to follow.

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Price: £13.20 (Including VAT at 20%)

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Brouilly 2009 Les Bruyères Domaine du Point du Jour Jocelyne Depardon

Brouilly Pisse-Vieille 2009 Domaine Fernand Gravallon & Cédric Lathuilière
Ref: 3332144

** (*) £

The superb 2009 vintage of the Gravallon-Lathuilière Brouilly. This is the wine that came in 1st place in a review of 37 different 2009 Beaujolais Cru wines in the September 2010 issue of Decanter magazine; it earned a 5 star rating and a score of 18.5/20.

Tremendous depth of colour, with cherries and aniseed on the nose. On the palate, hugely ripe and intense dark fruit, chewy tanins, and good minerality. Fantastic length. Drink around 14 deg C with white or red meat dishes.

Extremely serious Brouilly; if you only try one Brouilly from 2009, make it this one.

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Brouilly Pisse-Vieille 2009 Domaine Fernand Gravallon & Cédric Lathuilière

Claude Geoffray, Château Thivin, Odenas

This estate is today widely regarded as one of the best and most consistently reliable estates in the Beaujolais. Claude Geoffray makes a superb range of Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly wines, and now also a Beaujolais Blanc, a Beaujolais Villages, and a Rosé. The Côte de Brouilly wines are harvested by terroir, with specific parcels of vines yielding quite different results. The estate is bathed in history; early manuscripts from the 12th century refer to a "40-man" estate and to the "Clos de Brouilly" being owned by Humbert 3rd, the Lord of Beaujeu. The main Château building dates from the 14th century, and the date 1383 can still be seen above the door of a small cellar. The name "Thivin" derives from M. Thivind, a Parliamentary lawyer who owned the estate in the wake of the French revolution. Claude Geoffray's ancestor Zaccharie, a farmer near Villefranche sur Saône, bought the estate in 1877, when Château Thivin had a little less than 2 hectares of vines. From 1894 his son, Claude, greatly enlarged the estate by buying vines and houses. Claude’s son, also named Claude (it runs in the family!), father of today's owner, took over the estate on his return from the Great War. He countered the slump of the 1930’s with the creation of the Côte de Brouilly appellation. He and his wife Yvonne worked tirelessly to build up the quality and reputation of Côte de Brouilly, and of Beaujolais as a whole, founding the “Maison des Beaujolais” in 1953. Thivin has an atmosphere all of its own, both as a family home, with its roofs of glazed fishscale tiles, nestled on the lower slopes of the Mont Brouilly, surrounded by vines, and as a producer of some of the best wines in this part of the Beaujolais, where tradition and impeccable winemaking skills go hand in hand. A beautiful vaulted cellar of blue stone houses the oak “foudres” (casks) in which the wine matures, and an older cellar beneath the château provides the perfect conditions for laying down the wine once bottled. Manoir du Pavé, on the eastern side of the Mont Brouilly, in the village of St. Lager, is a recent addition to the estate through marriage.

Some superb bottles from Claude Geoffray

Brouilly 2009 Château Thivin
Ref: 3332168

This excellent example of a Brouilly comes from grapes grown on the 3.5 hectares of vines in the Château Thivin estate in the Brouilly appellation on on the lower pink-blue granite slopes of le Mont Brouilly. A splendid purple with masses of fresh grapey fruit, red berries, and typical Gamay raspberry, violet and strawberry aromas, this wine has a rich rounded taste and superb finish. It is the ideal companion for regional dishes such as Poulet de Bresse à la Crème or with mushroom-based dishes (especially morelles, if you can get them), but will also go well with white meats such as pork. Serve between 15° and 18°. Château Thivin Brouilly will keep 4-6 years.

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Price: £12.00 (Including VAT at 20%)

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Côte de Brouilly 2007 Château Thivin
Ref: 3332137

Made from grapes grown from 8.3 hectares of vines grown on the blue granite slopes of my favourite volcano, this is the wine which has been instrumental in building the reputation Château Thivin enjoys today. A lovely deep red with purple-blue tinges, fresh ripe Gamay fruit, violet and peony aromas, and delicate acidity to balance the abundance of flavour, combine to create a quintessentially fine example of just what a Côte de Brouilly should be. Delicious and easy to drink young or after a few years; this wine can be vivacious in its youth, yet becomes somewhat more elegant with time, keeping up to 8 years. Long savoury finish. Excellent with meat dishes and in particular poultry dishes with rich sauces, and magret de canard. Particularly good with a fine crumbly goat's cheese.

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Price: £12.30 (Including VAT at 20%)

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Côte de Brouilly "Les Sept Vignes" 2009 Château Thivin
Ref: 3332169

Claude Geoffray has renamed his classic Côte de Brouilly as Côte de Brouilly "Les Sept Vignes". "Les Sept Vignes" is so called because all in all, the estate has seven parcels of vines within the Côte de Brouilly appellation, totalling 8.3 hectares. Grapes from each parcel are vinified seperately, but then an assemblage is made to produce a wine which reflects the best qualities of each plot. This is the wine which has been instrumental in building the reputation Château Thivin enjoys today. A lovely deep red with purple-blue tinges, fresh ripe Gamay fruit, violet and peony aromas, and delicate acidity to balance the abundance of flavour, combine to create a quintessentially fine example of just what a Côte de Brouilly should be. Delicious and easy to drink young or after a few years; this wine can be vivacious in its youth, yet becomes somewhat more elegant with time, keeping up to 8 years. Long savoury finish. Excellent with meat dishes and in particular poultry dishes with rich sauces, and magret de canard. Particularly good with a fine crumbly goat's cheese.

Parker 90-91 points.

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Price: £15.00 (Including VAT at 20%)

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Côte de Brouilly "Le Clos Bertrand" 2009 Château Thivin
Ref: 3332170

*(*)

Clos Bertrand is a recent addition to the Thivin range of Côte de Brouilly wines. It's a single vineyard near the estate manor house, lovingly recreated with the same footprint as the 14th century mediaeval vineyard of the same name. The wines from here have a bit more individuality, power and weight than the "Sept Vignes". They still have the fresh grapey fruit, red berries, and typical Gamay raspberry, violet and strawberry aromas of the Sept Vignes but are just that bit fuller. Again a flexible wine, the ideal companion for regional dishes such as Poulet de Bresse à la Crème or with mushroom-based dishes (especially morelles, if you can get them), but will also go well with white meats such as pork, especially gammons and hams.

Decanter 4-star, 17.5/20. (Sep 2010) Jancis Robinson 16/20

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Côte de Brouilly 2007 Château Thivin Cuvée La Chapelle
Ref: 3332138

This is a Côte de Brouilly made from a south-facing 4 ha vineyard near the very summit of Le Mont Brouilly, in some of the sunniest spots on the mountain, and on blue granite soils. Aged in large oak barrels, it has a deep cherry red colour with granite tinges, with a dusty dry nose of bilberry, gamay grapes, and hints of orange blossom, cherry, and raspberry. On the palate it is smooth and dry, with plenty of lovely cherry fruit and a nice slither of tannin on the long finish. Will keep 3-4 years; drink with hams, charcuterie, white meats (especially with mushroom/cream sauces), pasta, and mildly spiced food.

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Côte de Brouilly 2009 Château Thivin Cuvée La Chapelle
Ref: 3332171

Côte de Brouilly 2007 Château Thivin Cuvée Zaccharie
Ref: 3332139

**(*)

This is a particularly special Côte de Brouilly made in very small quantities by Claude Geoffray, in honour of his ancestor Zaccharie, who lived in the 19th century. The wine is made in exactly the same way it would have been in Zaccharie's time, with some time in oak barrels. It has an excellent bouquet, and is soft and mellow in the mouth - truly exceptional. Very full-bodied. Expensive, admittedly, but a really special treat.

The label for this wine is the same as that used on the other Côte de Brouilly wines from Château Thivin, shown elsewhere on this page. The picture to the right is an old photo of Zaccharie himself.

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Price: £16.80 (Including VAT at 20%)

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Côte de Brouilly 2007 Château Thivin Cuvée Zaccharie

Côte de Brouilly 2009 Château Thivin Cuvée Zaccharie
Ref: 3332172

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Brouilly Cuvée Prestige 2009 Philippe Deschamps, Morne, Beaujeu
Ref: 3332155

** (*)

The superb 2009 vintage of Philippe Deschamps' Brouilly. TN to follow.

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Brouilly Cuvée Prestige 2009 Philippe Deschamps, Morne, Beaujeu