Winemaker Notes
This bottling from the celebrated climat of Corcelette is the first Desvignes wine from sourced, organically farmed fruit.
100% Gamay
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
Corcelette was hailed in 2022, though fortunately the only terroir to suffer chez Desvignes. Dark in colour and the bouquet is a bit rigid. Still excellent fruit but just a bit chunky behind and rougher tannins than one would expect. Barrel Sample: 89-90
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Morgon Corcelette originates from purchased grapes from a vineyard that sits at 430 meters in altitude on pure granite soil. Entirely destemmed due to hail damage, this has a fresh nose with aromas of elderberries, cherries, white petals, wet stone and brown spices. Medium-bodied, the structure is less defined, with talc-like tannins that daintily frame the fleshy fruit-driven core. Otherwise, the bright acidity uplifts the wine, while its wet-stone salinity becomes the driving force behind a lingering finish.
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Vinous
The 2022 Morgon Corcelette is made of purchased grapes from 60-year old vines. This parcel suffered hail in June, therefore it was completely de-stemmed. It has a very pure bouquet with dark cherries, iodine scents and hints of strawberry shortcake. The palate is medium-bodied with gentle grip and quite plush red fruit but there is structure here with a dash of clove and black pepper on the finish.
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.