2022 Daniel Bouland Cote de Brouilly ‘Cuvée Mélanie’ Beaujolais
Margaux has been looking for this wine since 2019 when she first discovered it at Chez Panisse. The old vine cuvée sang alongside roasted duck, green olives and celery root remoulade.
Thankfully the wine is still brilliant — On the palate it’s medium-bodied, vibrant and complex, with a beautiful core of fruit and smooth texture. This is one of the most exciting wines we have included in the club shipments all year!
Sustainable farming practices, hand-harvested, whole-cluster and native yeast fermentation, unfiltered.
- Tasting Notes Black cherries, pomegranate, smoked meats, dark earth, fresh thyme, and rose
- Variety Gamay
- Region France, Beaujolais
- Volume 750ml
- Alcohol Volume 13.5%
- Table Talk 'Cuvée Mélanie' is named after winemaker Daniel's daughter, Mélanie.
Daniel Bouland is a great producer of old-fashioned Beaujolais wines. From less than 7 hectares of old vines in the Douby, Côte de Py, and Delys, lieux of Morgon, plus small parcels in Chiroubles and Côte de Brouilly, he makes wines that can age 20 years, and are comparable to fine Côte de Nuits Burgundies.
Daniel is a hardworking, humble, discreet and sometimes anxious vigneron. He prefers a solitary life and happily spends 12 hours a day working on his diverse and exceptional terroirs, taking care of old (60-100yo) bush vines traditionally planted at high density on Vialla rootstock; all of this by hand on steep slopes where no tractor could go.
All his grapes are hand-harvested and vinified with full clusters and natural yeasts in concrete vat with two pump overs per day. The wines are then aged in old foudres in a tiny cellar, Daniel follows them through élevage with great care and bottles them without filtration. This makes for some long-lived and old-fashioned Gamay, some of the deepest and finest in the whole of Beaujolais.