A wine full of promise that highlights all the great work of the Graillot Family.
The Graillot Family has established itself over the years as THE reference in Crozes-Hermitage. Now it is the turn of the Beaujolais where it decides to show its know-how through refreshing and tasty wines full of tenderness. This Beaujolais is in line with these. As delicious as it could be, it develops sparkling aromas that fill you with pleasure!
Wine Advocate Rich aromas of plums, wild berries, smoked meats, rose hips and spices introduce the 2018 Beaujolais En Besset, a medium-bodied, ample and fleshy wine that's round and enveloping, with ripe acids and melting tannins. Gourmand and savory, this will drink well young.
I've long been an admirer of the Graillot family's wines in Crozes-Hermitages—wines that are well-represented in my own cellar—so I've followed their venture in the Beaujolais with considerable interest. Established in 2011, with the purchase of vines in the Saint-Amour, Beaujolais and Fleurie appellations, the vineyards are biodynamically cultivated and the resulting fruit vinified with whole bunches, followed by élevage in foudre and cement tank. Use of sulfur dioxide is minimal, and if I've one criticism of these fragrant, supple and charming wines it's that annoying levels of volatile acidity seem to crop up more often than is desirable—and certainly markedly more often than in the Graillots' wines from the Rhône Valley. And as to how they will travel, I can't speculate, having only tasted and drunk them in France. That aside, there's much to admire here, and it's nice to see more aspiration in much-neglected Saint-Amour.
- William Kelley
SKU: 210000025196
