2022 Clos de la Roilette Fleurie Cuvee Tardive 1.5L [JG95+]

Producer: Clos de la Roilette   
Region: Fleurie, Beaujolais, Burgundy, France  
Varietal: Gamay 
Year: 2022 

John Gilman, 95+ Points 

"The 2022 Fleurie “Cuvée Tardive” from Alain Coudert is equally deep and sappy as the Clos de la Roilette regular bottling, but not quite as expressive aromatically right out of the blocks. The bouquet offers up scents of black plums, black cherries, a hint of pomegranate, bitter chocolate, dark soil tones, fresh thyme, woodsmoke, pigeon, beautifully discreet spice tones and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with great focus and grip, lovely mineral drive on the backend, ripe, buried tannins and a long, nascently complex, seamlessly balanced and still fairly tight-knit finish. This will be very long-lived and it will be a crime to open a bottle until the wine is at least seven or eight years of age. Its true apogee is probably fifteen years down the road! 2030-2075+." 

Winemaker Notes: 

"100% Gamay. From the oldest vines,which are from 80 years on up, on heavy clay soils with relatively little granite and quite a lot of the iron-like mineral manganese. "Tardive" does not mean that the harvest is late, as is commonly believed, but rather is a reference to the wine's ability and need to age for years. The farming is sustainable or lutte raisonnée. All vineyard work is by hand, with the soils worked only superficially, at most twice per year, to protect the roots of these old vines. Vinification is traditional, semi-carbonic Beaujolais style. The whole clusters are harvested by hand and fermented spontaneously with native yeasts in open-top concrete tank. Maceration lasts around 18 days for Tardive, with a submerged cap rather than punchdowns. Sulfur use is quite minimal. The wine is aged in large, old oak foudres for about 9 months before bottling." 

Alcohol: 14% 

*Price and availability in store may vary. Vintage date may differ from pictured.