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Franck Duboeuf

Have you heard that Beaujolais Cru is the hot new wine of 2010? Buzz started building with the 2009 vintage, and from today's tasting from Georges Duboeuf, the 2010 rock as well.

The official release of the 2010 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Crus took place at the very chic Millesime restaurant in New York City on May 24, 2011. The city's top sommeliers, trade, and press were escorted into a foyer where we could self-pour the 2010s, and in a bit, we were ushered into a formal seated tasting room with nine glasses and three different presentation of dishes.

The first flight included two whites, the Macon-Villages 2010 that was light, fresh, and minerally, and the Pouilly-Fuisse 2010, which had a fuller body and was aged in 50% old oak.  The last wine was the Beaujolais-Villages 2010 -- a very fresh wine with balance yet forceful tannins.

The second flight began with the Duboeuf Brouilly (Brouilly is the largest appelation in Beajolais) with jammy black fruit on the nose, and concentrated fruit on the palate. Next was the Morgon 2010, a noise of Kirsh and very full bodied with a dense texture from seven different Cru sites. Finally, the single vineyard Morgon, the Domaine Jean Descombes, which at $15.99 represented an incredible bargain for a single vineyard wine, very focused with excellent balance and concentration of fruit.

The last flight began with a very young Fleurie - just out of barrel, and then moved on to the top site for Julienas Chateau des Capitans, and finally ended with the mouth filling Moulin-a-Vent with spiced blackberry nose and palate.

The best pairing for the wines was the duck with spiced cherries (absolutely incredible in terms of matching the spice and cherry notes of the wines) and braised beef.

Very happy to see my fellow wine writer Mark Oldman, author of OLDMAN'S BRAVE NEW WORLD OF WINE, won the
2011 GEORGES DUBOEUF WINE BOOK OF THE YEAR.

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