Chateau Thivin Cote de Brouilly 2018
-
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling -
Wine &
Spirits -
Wine
Spectator
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Thivin’s version is a perfect example of Brouilly with its smooth, pretty, delicate style and lovely aromatics.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Côte de Brouilly is still a little closed after its recent bottling, but it's a promising wine in the making, unwinding in the glass with scents of cherries,plums, licorice and rich soil tones, complemented by floral top notes that blossom as the wine sits in the glass. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, broad and satiny, with a textural, enveloping profile, a deep and voluminous core, ripe but succulent acids and powdery structuring tannins.
-
James Suckling
This is a very rich Brouilly with strikingly fresh cassis and blueberries, as well as violets. The palate has a very crunchy feel with attractively fresh, fine tannins holding the finish true. Drink or hold.
-
Wine & Spirits
This domaine dates to the 15th century, its vines planted on the side of an ancient volcano at a 48-degree gradient, with southern to eastern exposures. The Geoffray family purchased the property in 1877; the vines now average 50 years of age. They ferment the fruit as whole clusters, then age the wine in foudres, creating a meaty gamay, clean in its spicy berry fruit, tough in its peppery-black tannins. Built to age, then to serve with roast duck.
-
Wine Spectator
Peppery aromas line the tart cherry and red currant notes of this minerally red. Details of herb, smoke and licorice drop echo on the lightly tannic, mouthwatering finish. Drink now through 2023.
Other Vintages
2022-
James
Suckling
-
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
-
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker
Wine lovers who experience is limited to Noveau owe it to themselves to try the other side of Beaujolais, the hillside Beaujolais, where the soils are more granite and the terrain more rugged. The name Beaujolais may not be present of the label; instead one will find the village name, such as Brouilly, Cote de Brouilly, Morgan or Fleurie.
Chateau Thivin is located in the Cote de Brouilly, an ancient volcanic mound which juts unexpectedly from the Beaujeu Valley floor, about 30 miles north of Lyon.
In the heart of Cote de Brouilly, on the south-facing, crumbling granite slopes, Claude Geoffray at Chateau Thivin works twenty acres of vines. The vineyards are planted entirely to Gamay Noir a jus blanc, a variety of Gamay that is cultivated to stand free of wires and stakes, sturdily attached to the hillside by deep-seeking roots.
At Chateau Thivin, each section of the vineyard is harvested and fermented separately, to preserve the characteristic differences afforded by variations in exposure and altitude. The final wine is a selected blend of these cuvees. Traditional whole cluster fermentation is used in order to keep the characteristic fruity qualities of Gamay, after which the grapes are put into cuve by gravity without being crushed or destemmed. Each vintage spends a few months in large oak foudres before bottling.
Delightfully playful, but also capable of impressive gravitas, Gamay is responsible for juicy, berry-packed wines. From Beaujolais, Gamay generally has three classes: Beaujolais Nouveau, a decidedly young, fruit-driven wine, Beaujolais Villages and Cru Beaujolais. The Villages and Crus are highly ranked grape growing communes whose wines are capable of improving with age whereas Nouveau, released two months after harvest, is intended for immediate consumption. Somm Secret—The ten different Crus have their own distinct personalities—Fleurie is delicate and floral, Côte de Brouilly is concentrated and elegant and Morgon is structured and age-worthy.
The bucolic region often identified as the southern part of Burgundy, Beaujolais actually doesn’t have a whole lot in common with the rest of the region in terms of climate, soil types and grape varieties. Beaujolais achieves its own identity with variations on style of one grape, Gamay.
Gamay was actually grown throughout all of Burgundy until 1395 when the Duke of Burgundy banished it south, making room for Pinot Noir to inhabit all of the “superior” hillsides of Burgundy proper. This was good news for Gamay as it produces a much better wine in the granitic soils of Beaujolais, compared with the limestone escarpments of the Côte d’Or.
Four styles of Beaujolais wines exist. The simplest, and one that has regrettably given the region a subpar reputation, is Beaujolais Nouveau. This is the Beaujolais wine that is made using carbonic maceration (a quick fermentation that results in sweet aromas) and is released on the third Thursday of November in the same year as harvest. It's meant to drink young and is flirty, fruity and fun. The rest of Beaujolais is where the serious wines are found. Aside from the wines simply labelled, Beaujolais, there are the Beaujolais-Villages wines, which must come from the hilly northern part of the region, and offer reasonable values with some gems among them. The superior sections are the cru vineyards coming from ten distinct communes: St-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Regnié, Brouilly, and Côte de Brouilly. Any cru Beajolais will have its commune name prominent on the label.