The Beauty of Beaujolais

Dear Delicious Beaujolais,

I'm sorry that people haven't paid enough attention to you. You are so tasty, and so easy to drink, and so wonderfully full of diversity, and SO affordable, that I want you to know you are very loved and appreciated. And if other people are just now catching on, please don't let yourself sell out and get too cool (and expensive) for school. Below please find a list of assorted tasting notes from our recent Beaujolais Cru party where we tried to hype you up a bit. Please don't be offended--some of us were professionals, others semi-wine-nerds, still others total fantastic amateurs. We all loved you.

I love you,
Stevie

2008 Jean-Paul Brun l'Ancien: iron, strawberry, cranberry, very tart with white pepper, quite light and simple but tasty 

2009 Dupeuble Beaujolais Villages: much more fruit than previous, more garnet color and violet, very violet and grassy nose, a bit stemmy, richer and more supple on the palate

2007 Trenel Fleurie: less vibrant but richer look, thick floral rainforest musk, green pepper on nose, spicy palate, something very heady and sensual but hard to place... pheromonic

2008 Descombes Regnie: Christmas spice and gumdrops, candied violets, Pepto Bismol, herbal, menthol, fertilizer (but in a good way), palate-staining (the first time I've personally felt compelled to use this overused tasting note), huge and inky with minty finish, sour cranberry and blackberry and strawberry finish... REALLY delicious; super well-balanced with big acid yet big tannin

2009 Ducroux Regnie: So stinky upon opening but now (two hours later) really tamed and pretty menthol beneath dark fruit beneath stink; something Grandma's atticky... FERNET Branca! menthol with bitterness, less balance than the last with more super-fruit cranberry

2008 Pavillon de Chavannes Cote de Brouilly: more faded color, less vibrant and restrained on nose, herbs and flowers more than fruit, less musky, cinnamon red hots/hot tamales, cherry coke, bricky minerality... try it after a while? cheese shuts this down completely

2006 Martray Cote de Brouilly Les Feuillees: OHH THAT SMELLS GOOD; wet forest, wet leaves, wet armpit but seductive?, grape Kool-Aid!, toasted sesame, soy, smoke, umami, petrol burnt tire-y, the most complex with a satiny floaty sexy miso-finish

2009 Lapierre Morgon: "Bringing sexy back"; yoked-out, Christmas spice and pine soap, so purple in color, banana and pear drops, roses!, pine needles with dried cocoa powder and a bit broad... wait to see what this decides to reveal in a couple years

2007 Descombes Morgon VV: still really vibrant color, very very ambiguous spice and fruit and flowers but hard to really place what exactly... shut down?, structurally seems to be going in a really good direction; this was open and beautiful earlier and now seems tight-lipped

2007 Lapierre Morgon MMVII: (Sourced mostly from Cote du Py) very musky fruit with some complementing freshness something, yet still a bit shut down, surprisingly soft and supple but very spicy palate with a rooty medicinal, dried potpurri and cherry-flower thing

2009 Fessy (Louis Latour) Moulin-a-Vent: On the color, first impression is Bordeaux?! cocoa dark stinky chocolate, grapefruit rind, charry charcoal, bright acid but really dark ripe sweet fruit, raisiny finish, smells like fruit rollups... perhaps unfair b/c this was opened a couple hours after all the others