When people who are older and wiser than you keep warning you not to acquire a taste for Burgundy, you listen. And so, I’m really into the Beaujolais crus lately. While Beaujolais is technically part of Burgundy, the grape is Gamay and the prices are much friendlier.
Tonight’s special treat is Château Thivin Côte de Brouilly. With grapes sourced from the elevated terrain of Mount Brouilly, an ancient volcano, Château Thivin is a blend from seven vineyards on the east, south, and west slopes. (In France and international markets, the wine is called Les Sept Vignes. In the United States, the label instead bears the name of importer Kermit Lynch.)
I tasted this at a Wine Authority member event in December and was startled by its finesse and power. I grabbed a bottle for the wine hoard. I coulda shoulda woulda let it rest for another couple of years, but I kept thinking about it and eventually couldn’t resist opening it.
No waiting required, it turns out. This is an intense, nuanced, and pleasurable wine right out of the bottle. A whole basket of ripe red fruits (cherry and raspberry, but also plum tomatoes) are balanced by bright acidity and a stony, lightly spicy finish. Aromas of purple iris, tomato leaf, and cinnamon unfold in the glass. There’s an elusive, vegetal spiciness of cut, wet roots (orris or beetroot).
Assertive, drying tannins and medium alcohol hot-glue the aromas to your palate, creating a beguiling collage that’s revised with with each sip. After an hour of decanting, some of the more delicate vegetable and floral aromas have blown off. The wine gets jammier and smoother, mellowing into concentrated strawberry coulis, raspberry paste (like the inside of a Pop-Tart), and barely-there oak.
Big fruit, big acid here. Surprising amount of tannic structure, too. You’ll note that it doesn’t say “Beaujolais” anywhere on the label. I know that’s the French way–but it’s also probably a good thing for retailers, because this is not the kind of wine you picture when someone says, “Let’s get some Beaujolais.” Nope–this is a wine that knocks down Beaujolais Nouveau and steals its lunch money, all while looking cute and innocent with not a hair out of place.
This would probably age well, but it didn’t have a chance. I drank some of the bottle while cooking. The rest was served with a Dijon-crusted pork roast with mushroom pan sauce.
Bottle: Château Thivin Côte de Brouilly Kermit Lynch (2023)
Variety: Gamay (100%)
ABV: 13.5%
Suggested retail: $34.99
My rating: 8.9 (out of 10)
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
Leave a Comment