The great thing about small, boutique vineyards is that the wine, the place and the winemaker are all interwoven in some magic way.
Why drink something wonderful that doesn’t tell a story about people and place? Most of the wines I love do and this one is no exception.
The superstar-in-the-making winemaker of “Grain et Granit” is Charly Thevenet, son of the well-know producer, Jean Paul Thevenet. He is still in his 20s and grows his Gamay grapes on a tiny plot of land in the Regnie appellation of Beaujolais in Eastern France, north of Lyon. The vineyards are biodynamic and the vines ancient at 70 years old. He hand harvests his grapes and doesn’t use sulfites.
However, just bringing a new slant to organic viniculture and adding them to an old Beaujolais rootstock is certainly not enough. This bottle has character and taste.
This is great tasting Beaujolais. I drank all the ’07s from Charly Thevenet I could find and the ‘08s are really good. A bit richer than the ’07 but well balanced, almost tangy on the palate and with a finish that is sustained, satisfying but not overwhelming.
Beaujolais at their best are silky smooth, low on tannins and with just enough acidity to carry the taste of berries, which always seems to permeate the bottles I favor. To my palate “Grain et Granit” does all of this and more.
This wine seems a natural with food. I must admit, I’ve enjoyed this bottle with steak one night, a dinner salad another and finally with an omelet for dinner the other night while rewatching Godfather II. All seemed great pairings to me. With the food and the movie!
This is a yummy bottle of Beaujolais. Not inexpensive at $31 a bottle but I think well worth it to get wine from a new generation winemaker who is figuring out how to get world class taste from old vines in an entirely new way.
Available from Chambers Street Wines and many online venues.
