Description
Domaine Dupré Goujon, Côte de Brouilly “Démarrante”
I’ve spent many nights, over many bottles of Beaujolais, pondering with sommelier friends where the region’s future lies. Is it in more structured, savory interpretations of Gamay that look further north in Burgundy for inspiration? Or is it in the lighthearted, juicy reds the place built its reputation on? Today’s delectable 2019 from Domaine Dupré Goujon has an answer: Both!
Here’s a bottle of Cru Beaujolais as playful and ebullient as they come, yet with a brambly, mineral core that calls to mind Pommard or even Gevrey-Chambertin. We recently discovered “La Démarrante” during a long tasting of unabashedly great wines—Brunello di Montalcino, Bordeaux, and the like—and its sneaky combination of seriousness and joyfulness took the top prize. As soon as we tasted it, we knew we needed to share it with you. This is your first and possibly only chance to get this stunner, because we’re the very first to offer it stateside, and we snagged as much as we could. The laid-back label and the accessible price might indicate you’re in for another playful quaffer (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but one taste and you’ll see this has complexity and even ageability (if you wanted to go that route). Grab all you can—it’s not just perfect for this season, but all seasons!
The elegance of La Démarrante (“the start”) shouldn’t be a total surprise, hailing as it does from the Côte de Brouilly appellation. Whereas wines from its “sister” appellation, Brouilly, come from the flatlands below, Côte de Brouilly reds draw from vines planted on the slopes of the dormant Mont Brouilly volcano. With higher elevations and a more southerly aspect, Côte de Brouilly bottles take the deep granite-derived generosity of Brouilly and wrap it in a firmer, fragrant, more Pinot-like frame. The resulting wines, and especially this one, are the perfect middle ground of Cru Beaujolais—combining the floral freshness and bright fruit of a Fleurie with the sturdiness and mineral grip of a Moulin-a-Vent. It’s succulent and deeply refreshing now, but don’t be fooled: As demonstrated by the famed Château Thivin, a four-minute drive from Dupré Goujon, great Côte de Brouilly can develop for 10 years or more.
What did surprise us, though, is just how new to the game Dupré Goujon is. Sébastien Dupré and Guillaume Gujon are lifelong friends and natives of Brouilly. They went their separate ways, working at esteemed estates around the Rhône and Languedoc before reconnecting and returning to purchase Sébastien’s family estate. In 2015, they began with a mere eight barrels of wine, and have been able to carefully and selectively add vineyard plots in the intervening years. Sébastien handles the vineyard, where he farms biodynamically, encouraging diverse plant and animal life to grow. Guillaume focuses on the cellar, fermenting spontaneously, utilizing only tiny amounts of sulfur, and breaking each vineyard block into an insane number of fermentation lots depending on how much the grapes are destemmed, carbonically macerated, what vessels they ferment in, etc. The two friends’ attention to detail is evident in the wine, elevating what might just be a “glou-glou” fruit bomb in someone else’s hands into a detailed, mineral masterpiece.
Aged for about six months in concrete tanks, this ’19 shows beautiful purity of fruit and lots of mineral grip. Give it a quick decant to let the brambly goodness unwind and you’re in for a treat. It pours a dark ruby with purple hints, leading into a nose of explosive aromas of blackberry, raspberry, sweet red cherry, pomegranate, crushed violets, granitic rocks, and high-toned cinnamon spice. It has the aromatic dynamism that marks all great Cru Beaujolais, but the palate has an extra jolt of freshness you don’t often see here. It’s medium-full with a vibrant kick of acidity and gentle tannins, reinforcing the deep underpinning of granitic minerality. The finish is long and succulent, and while this is certainly a crowd pleaser, there’s plenty of aromatic and textural complexity to chew on for a whole evening. Served with a slight chill in Burgundy stems, it’ll absolutely sing with something autumnal and spiced like this Hungarian mushroom soup. We can’t wait to see what Dupre Goujon has in store next!
