Jean-Paul’s 40th Vintage – Pre-shipment 2018 offer, Domaine focus and recent press reviews
Back in February I attended a huge tasting in Paris to meet with growers and taste new vintages and new wines alike. I made several new discoveries, about more of which you will be hearing soon. Some of the very best wines I tasted all day, however, were from Robert’s old friend, Beaujolais elder statesman, innovative wine maker and all round bon oeuf Jean-Paul Brun. He was showing a range of his 2018s – his 40th vintage, their quality shone out and stood testament to his years of dedication and hard work.
Below we look at the domaine in more detail and focus on three wines recently reviewed by the press, including the “dependably superb” Beaujolais Ancien 2018 and the “finest Saint-Amour” Matthew Jukes has ever tasted.
We also have a pre-shipment offer with discounted prices on some of my favourite wines tasted with Jean-Paul in Paris. This is the first in a series of pre-shipment offers we have planned. These will focus on wines from individual domaines which we think particularly outstanding and suitable for ageing. By buying before the wines leave the domaine you will get a favourable price and some fantastic bottles for your cellar. Jean-Paul’s 2018s are ideal candidates to get us started.
To order any of the wines in this offer, or to get more information, please just reply to this email or give me a call on 0207 215 0011.
Pre-shipment offer open until Friday the 8th March 2020
Stop the Press!
Recent Recommendations from the wine press
Available for immediate delivery. Free delivery on any 12 bottles mixed.
Buy an unmixed six of any one wine and get a 5% discount
White
Domaine Terres Dorées Beaujolais Blanc Classic 2018
£14.34 per bottle inc VAT
From a plot of 80-year-old vines grown on Charnay’s distinctive clay and limestone soils. Fermented and aged in stainless steel this is a beautiful racy wine with citrus and stone fruits.
“Aromas of citrus oil, green apple, clear honey and nutmeg introduce Brun’s 2018 Beaujolais Blanc, a medium-bodied, pure and precise wine that’s fermented and matured in tank.”
William Kelley, Wine Advocate #244
Red
Domaine Terres Dorées Beaujolais l’Ancien 2018
£14.95 inc VAT
Produced from old vines grown on clay and granite this wine is synonymous with Jean-Paul’s domaine. Hand harvested and vinified with great care before ageing in old wood and cement. Outstanding value.
“Brun’s dependably superb 2018 Beaujolais l’Ancien offers up notes of rose petals, cherries and raspberries, followed by a medium to full-bodied, fleshy palate built around satiny tannins and juicy acids. It’s a beautifully gourmand but precise wine, demonstrating the strengths of this vintage in the limestone soils of the southern Beaujolais.”
William Kelley, Wine Advocate #244
Domaine Terres Dorées St Amour 2017
£18.95 inc VAT
The most northerly Beaujolais Cru with complex soils that mix granite, clay and limestone, known for lighter, ethereal wines. Jean-Paul says wines from granite, like his, have more structure and can age well while still retaining their elegant, red fruit and peach perfumed character.
“Get your superlative hard hat on because here come a few fat compliments for this amazing wine. This is not only the finest Saint-Amour I have ever tasted but it is also my favourite Brun wine in years. The depth of fruit is staggering and the richness and swagger rarely seen in wines from this oft-lightweight village. The colour is the darkest inky purple and spice and herb notes puncture the deep core of fruit like a leg of lamb studded with rosemary and garlic (Simon Hopkinson’s recipe) and this is what it would drink epically well with, too! Yum.”
Matthew Jukes Money Week Wine Club April 2020
Jean-Paul’s 40th Vintage – 2018 Pre-shipment offer – Offer Closed
We will ship these to the UK in the next few weeks. They are offered in six packs at a special discounted rate and will be available for delivery in June. All wines also available in bond, please ask for details.
Jean-Paul was very pleased with his 40th vintage, saying it allowed him to make wines which display the scintillating, pure fruit quality of Gamay at its best, underscored by a clear sense of the individual terroirs and character of each Cru. Classic plus, and a vintage that will keep. It is a benchmark year at Terres Dorées, balancing the character of a warm ripe year with the freshness, focus and transparency of cooler vintages.
2018 was warm, often hot, and dry throughout the growing season and harvest and produced ripe, concentrated grapes. Indeed, harvest date was even more important than normal; Jean-Paul’s experience, 39 previous harvests, stood him in good stead. Two other factors should be mentioned which may account for 2018’s quality here – Jean-Paul said the winter of 2017 was wet, allowing large water reserves to accumulate, and flowering was good and led to a large yield, which slowed ripening somewhat over the course of the year. These factors were probably key to retaining the freshness and balance of the wines, despite the warm and dry conditions of the growing season.
Terres Dorées produce a huge range of wines and having tasted them all there are some real high points amongst them. Please find my favourites below, alongside notes from William Kelley at the Wine Advocate, also very positive.
Domaine des Terres Dorées Côte de Brouilly 2018
50+-year-old vines growing at around 950ms altitude on the thinnest of soils over granite. A serious vineyard. The granite gives this wine its cool, concentration and finesse. Ages well.
“Aromas of violets, cherries and red fruit compote introduce the 2018 Côte de Brouilly, a medium to full-bodied, fleshy wine that’s a bit more structural and muscular than Brun’s elegant wines from Fleurie and Moulin-à-Vent. It should develop well with a bit of bottle age. 92+/100 pts 2021-2033”*
Domaine des Terres Dorées Morgon Côte du Py – Javernières 2018
Javernières is a particularly well regarded site within Morgon’s famous Côte du Py. The soil here is a mix of clays which sit in a thin layer over pure granite. Jean-Paul’s vines were planted in the 1950s, their roots now deep in this complex terroir
“The 2018 Morgon Côte du Py Javernières unfurls in the glass with an incipiently complex bouquet of dark fruits, baking chocolate and grilled meats. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, ample and layered, with fine framing tannins, excellent concentration and a long, penetrating finish. As is typically the case, this is quite a serious Morgon that will reward some bottle age. 93+/100 pts 2021-2035”*
Domaine des Terres Dorées Fleurie Grille Midi 2018
As the name suggests, this is a south facing slope which can get warm, yet its poor granite soils and cooling winds always seem to retain freshness and although it gives a structured wine, it is also a refined wine with delicate floral perfume and wonderfully pure red fruits. This is terrific in 2018 and absolutely deserves a place in your cellar.
“Jean-Paul Brun’s 66-year-old vines in this prime lieux-dit have yielded a superb 2018 Fleurie Grille-Midi, a striking wine that unfurls in the glass with complex aromas of black raspberries, rose petals, smoked meats and violets. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, deep and satiny, with a bottomless core of concentrated fruit, velvety tannins and ripe acids, concluding with a long and sapid finish. This is a brilliant, age-worthy Fleurie worth special effort to track down. 95/100 pts 2021-2038”*
Domaine des Terres Dorées Moulin à Vent La Rochelle 2018
Regarded as one of the top sites of the village. La Rochelle sits at around 260-300ms and its poor shallow soils over granite give wines which are structured and age worthy.
“The 2018 Moulin-à-Vent La Rochelle unfurls in the glass with aromas of spicy berry fruit, espresso roast, candied peel and dark chocolate. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with a firmer, more tensile profile than the Thorins this year—and likely greater potential, too. 93+/100 pts 2020-2035”*
William Kelley, Beaujolais writer at the Wine Advocate, on Domaine des Terres Dorées
“The 2018 vintage is Jean-Paul Brun’s 40th, and he can look back with some much deserved satisfaction on a career that has done so much to validate the potential for quality in the southern Beaujolais, as well as a portfolio of wines that exemplify like few others that a more “Burgundian” approach to vinification can be made to work well with the Gamay grape. Destemmed fruit and macerations lasting as much as four weeks, followed by élevage in used barrels, are the order of the day here, and Brun’s excellent 2018 portfolio includes several terrific cuvées that Beaujolais lovers will not want to miss.”*
*William Kelley, Wine Advocate #244 August 2019
We can store your wines for you if space is an issue. Please ask for details.
Domaine Profile – Jean-Paul Brun Domaine des Terres Dorées
Early in his career Jean-Paul rejected the industrial approach to wine making which was taking over Beaujolais and began making wine in ways his ancestors would have recognised. He began using only indigenous yeasts, eschewing 71B, the designer yeast popular in the region which is responsible for the banana and candy aromas found in so much mass-produced Beaujolais. He stopped automatically chaptalizing his wines and began to concentrate on drawing out the characters of each individual site. He totally de-stems the grapes from his Crus before fermentation and vinification begins with a light cold soaking followed by maceration for 10-12 days, although they can last longer. Elevage is partly in tank, partly in barrel, depending on the wine and the nature of each vintage. In other words, more Côte D’Or than traditional Beaujolais. The results are Beaujolais of unusual density, but which are also beautifully poised, fresh and elegant and which reflect with great clarity the subtle soil differences and age of vines of each Cru. Parcel selection is key. The domaine owns old vine plots on the local limestone rich clays as well as vineyards on the granite of Moulin-a-Vent and Fleurie. Recent vintages have been tremendous, producing some electric wines which will age beautifully.