2016 Morgon Côte du Py

The Desvignes family’s vines were hit hard by the 2016 hailstorms and production, consequently, is way off for the vintage. That’s a shame for everybody because this was one of the strongest sets of wines that I tasted during my trip to Beaujolais in October. This family has been established in Villié-Morgon since 1722. Today the family’s 13 hectares of vines, all in Morgon with an average age of around 70 years, are under the leadership of the sister-and-brother team of Claude-Emmanuelle and Louis-Benoît. The wines are made via a semi-carbonic method, with mostly whole clusters and relatively long macerations followed by aging in concrete tanks. They are made with aging in mind and my experience says that they do deserve patience, even in more elegant years like 2016. In a vintage like 2015 they absolutely demand it, as recent bottles of 2010, 2009 and 2005 Javernières recently proved.