WTN: 2004 Jean-Paul Thévenet Morgon Vieilles Vignes

2004 Jean-Paul Thévenet Morgon Vieilles Vignes 13.0%
The cork was a bit stained, which made me worried, but the lovely smell of crushed raspberries emanating from the bottleneck made me relax.

In the glass, the wine was cloudy and unattractive, renewing my worries, but the raspberry and cherry aromas seemed normal, making me (almost) relax again (oh, this life of wine is stressful).

Initially it was somewhat muted, but while Marcia found it bitter, I liked the balance between sweet and sour. Though I am ambivalent about the candied finish often found in beaujolais, I found myself liking the mixture of elements more and more as the wine breathed. The fruit managed to be both serious and fun, an interesting kind of pleasure. I'm not sure to what extent it was compromised by the faulty cork but, if so, it was tasted soon enough so that the damage wasn't fatal (but perhaps it would have been delicious under screwcap).

[David M. Bueker]

Isn't Thévenet one of the low/no sulfur crowd? If so it could have been compromised by pretty much anything.

Isn't Thévenet one of the low/no sulfur crowd?

Maybe low sulfur.

Definitely a repeat offender on the brett front.

Oswaldo: Any staining at all of the cork constitutes a fault? Hooboy. I'm probably in trouble, then.

It doesn;t sound like you experienced brett here, though?

Oswaldo: Any staining at all of the cork constitutes a fault? Hooboy. I'm probably in trouble, then.

It doesn;t sound like you experienced brett here, though?

No brett! The staining, per se, wouldn't constitute a fault but it could be a sign of seepage/excessive oxygen ingress and definitely puts me on guard...

Isn't Thévenet one of the low/no sulfur crowd? If so it could have been compromised by pretty much anything.

Absolutely right. Found this about him:
http://www.vinography.com/archives/2008 ... ielle.html

2004 Jean-Paul Thévenet Morgon Vieilles Vignes 13.0%
The cork was a bit stained, which made me worried, but the lovely smell of crushed raspberries emanating from the bottleneck made me relax.

In the glass, the wine was cloudy and unattractive, renewing my worries, but the raspberry and cherry aromas seemed normal, making me (almost) relax again (oh, this life of wine is stressful).

Oswaldo, I find wines like this some times too, and have often wondered why they are in this condition. I have actually had this clarity change over the course of drinking the bottle. The first glass or two might be clear then the rest of the bottle is cloudy. Sometimes it might be that way from the beginning, but it is not a pretty sight. I have always just considered it to be a very fine settlement, but if it is, then I would expect it to drop out with time, (or at least improve) but it doesn't. The $64,000 question is what in the heck is it?

[David M. Bueker]

It's most likely some bacterial stuff going on.

Had the rest of the bottle last night and it was damn good. Possibly my favorite bojo of the last few years and a producer to look out for. Have two more bottles, so will be exploring bottle variability in the coming months, but this is definitely a producer to investigate.

this is definitely a producer to investigate.

I've been really happy with some of their wines although I may have been lucky because others have definitely complained of brett. I probably need to do more 'research' as well!