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93 WA.
"I might have under-estimated the 2014 Côte de Brouilly when I tasted a barrel sample last year. Here, it is a little more backward on the nose compared directly with the Brouilly Reverdon, although there are some lovely strawberry, cranberry and subtle marine scents to discern. They will come forth with a year or two in bottle. The palate is very well balanced with fine, supple tannin. There is a wonderful salinity to this Côte de Brouilly and impressive focus towards the finish. The tongue tingles long after the wine has departed. What a great Beaujolais from Château Thivin - perhaps their standout release this year. The good thing about visiting Château Thivin with only a sketchy idea of its location is that you can just head for a large, hilly-shaped object (the Côte de Brouilly) and circle it a few times and you are bound to finally locate the 16th century château. Like last year, I also met with Cédric Chignard in order to taste his own wines and also those of Jean Foillard, also “in the house,” for a representation of Kermit Lynch’s Beaujolais producers. Claude-Edouard Geoffray, who may possibly resemble Daniel Radcliffe/Harry Potter even more than last year, has cast his magic wand over recent releases from Château Thivin and, in my humble opinion, produced some absolute classics from around Côte de Brouilly. “I was surprised by the freshness of the 2015,” he told me as we sat down to taste. “We had more concentration than maturity but the wines were also rich with acidity. We started the picking on 28 August and finished on 9 September. The harvest was fast, almost too fast. Because of the dryness there were not a lot of leaves and this made it easy for the pickers. There was hardly any sorting that needed to be done. People will like the 2015s.” As I mentioned, Château Thivin has a roster of outstanding wines that for me reach their zenith with their Côte de Brouilly. Both the 2014 and 2015 are fabulous wines that would be up there with the finest that I tasted during my stay in the region. I actually prefer them to the Cuvée Zaccharie that sees more oak maturation: still a very impressive wine but perhaps not quite as nuanced and detailed as the regular bottling." Wine Advocate #226, Aug 2016 |