~$22US, 100% Gamay, Fleurie, Cru Beaujolais

This summer’s Beaujolais adventure takes me to Fleurie, one of the 10 Crus in the region known for it’s eponymous floral aspects. This is my first 2006, which I understand to be a textbook year in Beaujolais, yielding characterful and focused wines.

Bright ruby color with the slightest yellow and magenta hues at the rim. There is a cool haze, which I attribute to the importer ’s (Kermit Lynch) appreciable insistence on non-filtering for purity. Very aromatic nose - strawberries and violets go on and on - very clear and definite. The palate is soft and sweet on entry and moves into a cranberry tartness which is just mouthwatering. Pencil-box flavors come into focus for a moment and more flowers and spice hit toward the finish - something like a sandalwood soap (?) - but cranberries and strawberries really persist. The lightest dusting of tannins finish it out. Can I say strawberries again? Right off the vine.

Pure and vibrant - walking the line between elegance and opulence. Without question, the palate here rivals that of a fine Pinot Noir - but it’s lighter and a little higher-pitched. It lights up with food (light-medium bodied fare) - Poached salmon? all day long. Turkey sandwich? brilliant. Light pasta? no prob. It’s drinking so well now, I don’t have the patience to wait to see how it evolves - the purity of fruit here is really the key - but will probably show other dimensions in the next 3 years. Excellent wine. A sleeper.

Update: I Vac’d ~300ml in half-bottle and popped it 24 hours later. Better integration and lusher  - with the fruit was as vibrant as ever. Even better - You could really confound folks in a blind tasting w/ this and some old and new-world Pinots.