2021 Morgon, Côte du Py, Louis Claude Desvignes, Beaujolais

2021 Morgon, Côte du Py, Louis Claude Desvignes, Beaujolais

Product: 20218138422
Prices start from £37.50 per bottle (75cl). Buying options
2021 Morgon, Côte du Py, Louis Claude Desvignes, Beaujolais

Buying options

Available for delivery or collection. Pricing includes duty and VAT.

Description

Opening in the glass with notes of cherries, smoky berries, sweet soil tones and burning embers, the 2021 Morgon Côte du Py is medium to full-bodied, ample and layered, with good concentration, powdery tannins and a penetrating, saline finish. Despite the challenges of the vintage, the Desvignes family has produced a very classy wine.

Louis-Benoît Desvignes reported yields averaging 23 hectoliters per hectare in the 2021 vintage, mainly due to losses from frost, which made for uneven ripeness down the line. The domaine accordingly destemmed more than usual, opting for macerations lasting 12–13 days. The results remind Louis-Benoît increasingly of the 2016 vintage, a very successful year in a more classical register at this address.

Drink 2021 - 2033

William Kelley, Wine Advocate (August 2022)

wine at a glance

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Critics reviews

Jasper Morris MW88-90/100

A glowing lighter purple colour. Given how difficult the growing season was, I am really impressed by the lovely raspberry and strawberry nose. Fresh and lively with enough fruit throughout.

Jasper Morris MW, InsideBurgundy.com (April 2022)

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Wine Advocate92/100

Opening in the glass with notes of cherries, smoky berries, sweet soil tones and burning embers, the 2021 Morgon Côte du Py is medium to full-bodied, ample and layered, with good concentration, powdery tannins and a penetrating, saline finish. Despite the challenges of the vintage, the Desvignes family has produced a very classy wine.

Louis-Benoît Desvignes reported yields averaging 23 hectoliters per hectare in the 2021 vintage, mainly due to losses from frost, which made for uneven ripeness down the line. The domaine accordingly destemmed more than usual, opting for macerations lasting 12–13 days. The results remind Louis-Benoît increasingly of the 2016 vintage, a very successful year in a more classical register at this address.

Drink 2021 - 2033

William Kelley, Wine Advocate (August 2022)

Read more

About this WINE

Domaine Louis Claude Desvignes

Domaine Louis Claude Desvignes

This fabled domaine, based in the town of Villié-Morgon, is today run by siblings Louis-Benoît and Claude-Emmanuelle Desvignes – the eighth generation of their family to make wine in Beaujolais. It is renowned for producing concentrated, age-worthy Morgon wines, which gain exceptional complexity with time in bottle.

Benoît and Emmanuelle (as they prefer to be called) have, in recent years, updated the winery and begun farming organically, but their method of vinification is the same as their forebears’: semi-carbonic maceration, with a grille to keep the cap submerged. The length of the maceration varies from cuvée to cuvée, being around 10 days for the relatively early-drinking Voûte Saint-Vincent, but longer for Javernières and Les Impénitents, of which only a tiny quantity is produced from a parcel of century-old vines.

From the 2018 vintage, the Desvignes are also producers of our Own Selection Beaujolais-Villages.

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Morgon

Morgon

With 1100 ha of vines, Morgon is the second largest Cru after Brouilly, producing wines that are only marginally less powerful than those of Moulin-à-Vent. Certainly Morgon’s are the firmest in the region, with a bouquet of great purity and compact Gamay fruit. Morgon needs more time than other Crus before it can be broached - normally 2-3 years for its most serious exponents – and develop its rich, savoury flavours which lead to a Pinot Noir-like maturity. 

The ‘Classico’ heart of the Morgon region is the Mont du Py, just south of the commune of Villié-Morgon. The finest wines almost exclusively come from its Côte de Py slope, whose aspect and rich schistous soil contribute to greater ripeness, and yield wines that are denser than anywhere else in the appellation. As you would expect from a region of this size the character and quality of Morgon can vary considerably, but the best are as good, and as sturdy and long-lived, as any other Beaujolais you will find.  

Recommended Producers: François Calot, Maurice Gaget, Louis-Claude Desvignes.

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Gamay

Gamay

A French variety planted predominately in Beaujolais where it is the grape behind everything from light and often acidic Beaujolais Nouveau through to the more serious and well-structured wines from the 10 cru villages. It takes its name from a hamlet just outside Chassagne-Montrachet and was at one stage widely planted on the Côte d`Or. However it was gradually phased out due to its poor yield and supposed poor quality of its wines.

The majority of Gamay wines in Beaujolais are labelled as Beaujolais or Beaujolais-Villages and are deliciously juicy, easy drinking, gulpable wines. Of more interest are the Cru wines from the 10 villages in the north of the region where the soil is predominantly granitic schist and where the vines are planted on gently undulating slopes. These can be well-structured, intensely perfumed wines, redolent of ripe black fruits and, while delicious young, will reward medium term cellaring.

Gamay is also grown in the Touraine region of the Loire where it produces soft, well-balanced, gluggable wines for drinking young.

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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.