Jadot (France) Morgon Chateau des Lumieres 2001
I visited this property in the Beaujolais village of Morgon a couple of years ago, soon after the Burgundy house of Louis Jadot had prchased it, and whilst it was still named Chateau de Bellevue. Under the direction of Guillaume de Castelnau, winemaker at Jadot’s other prestige Beaujolais property, Chateau de Jacques in nearby Moulin a Vent, grapes are picked by hand, ensuring grape clusters remainintact. The wine undergoes an extended maceration of up to 20 days, at least three times the normal period for the region, to extract maximum colour and tannin. Now, with around four years in bottle, this wine has been released and is a bit of a treat for Beaujolais fans. The colour is a deep garnet, and it has a typical and expressive nose of minerals, wild cherry and a little lift of violetty, floral perfume. On the palate it is quite a poerful wine, with a cool, redcurranty fruit quality, but a firm spine of tannins and quite a warming, earth and gravy richness just filling in on the finish. It is perhaps a touch lacking in fruit through the mid-palate, but then it is designed to go with food, where its balance and finesse shines through. £9.99 – £12.99, Luvians, Waitrose, Budgens, Peckhams, D. Byrne, Highbury Vintners
