2021 | Domaine Daniel Bouland | Morgon

The 2021 vintage boasts intense notes of dark cherries, blackberries and violets, complemented by excellent concentration and purity.

Producer Information

Suppose we posit 2018-2020 as a trio of southern vintages for Beaujolais that resulted in deliciously ripe and saturated Gamays. In that case, we should label 2021 as a northern year—a return to a cooler, brighter, lower-alcohol style to which William Kelley alludes in the quote above. And yet, unlike many, this is an address where the stylistic dial has not shifted to the extent that the broadly painted vintage reports would have us believe. Most of the domaine’s vines—sitting on the mid-slope sirloin of Morgon’s hillsides—escaped the worst of 2021’s frost, meaning yields here are not the headline issue they are across much of France. To give you some idea, our friends at Soufrandière, just 30 minutes to the north, lost two-thirds of their crop, primarily due to the April frost. And while the start of summer was fresh and rainy, the second half of August and early September were sufficiently dry and sunny to advance ripening. Bouland’s old vines did not have an issue ripening the smaller-than-average yields that this grower intentionally seeks. So, while the sugars were a touch lower (the wines average 12.5% abv) and the tannin less abundant than last year, Bouland’s crop came in perfectly ripe; à point, as the French might say. As for the wine’s themselves, 2021 is a year of finesse, fragrance and freshness—“plus classique” is how Bouland frames it. The wines are immediately approachable, beautifully perfumed and supple with finely integrated tannins adding a nip of structure. They are more agile and crunchy than the fabulous, profoundly cast 2020s. As you advance in vine age, the old-vine Morgon cuvées have more ballast and complexity, and Bouland recommends five years in bottle to allow the terroir to show in the wine’s sense of clarity and mineral nuance. Good luck with that, people. The meteoric (and thoroughly deserved) rise of this grower has enabled him to progress in both self-confidence and overall quality. Success breeds success, and Bouland now farms nine hectares of predominantly old vines, spread across three communes and has even taken on some help in the vineyards (more on this next time). Within these terroirs, he now vinifies different wines according to soil type, resulting in ten cuvées, eight of which hail from Morgon. Perhaps (we hope) reflecting that during our ten years working with Daniel Bouland we have become friends rather than simply customers, this release marks the first time we have been able to offer every wine in the portfolio. In doing so, we are delighted to showcase this meticulous, reference point grower in all its glory.

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