The 2008 Chiroubles features juicy, bright red raspberry with lovely, wafting hints of peony and a tart, refreshing finish. Consistent in style and amazingly low in price, the myriad Beaujolais bottlings of George Duboeuf continue to represent outstanding values in the American marketplace. In April, I tasted nearly their entire range of 2008s, with few exceptions, already bottled. The overwhelming majority of these made my cut as value recommendations, including some – from among that wide range of domaines with which Duboeuf has long-standing commercial relationships – that might not show up in the U.S. market. The so-called “Selections Georges Duboeuf” cuvees continue to bear a variation on this negociant’s signature flower labels, but to save space in our print edition, please assume that any wine not otherwise designated refers to a member of that class. In general, I have preferred DuBoeuf’s Beaujolais bottlings in their youth, with a few of the domaine crus having exhibited with bottle age a complexity concomitant with the effort to cellar them, and where not otherwise noted, my recommendation is to enjoy the following wines over the next couple of years. The Duboeuf 2008 Beaujolais-Villages – at 30,000 cases, representing their largest single lot of wine, and twice the volume of their appellation Beaujolais – was a bit green and rustic by comparison, and multiple bottles of a Chateau des Vierres bottling were oddly inexpressive and drying on the occasion of my visit. Duboeuf’s flower label 2008 Fleurie is another of their wines of this vintage that is atypically austere, and in this instance a bit much so, and their 2008 Fleurie Domaine des Quatre Vents and Fleurie Chateau des Bachelards were a bit drying and rough under the influence both of its barrel component and its very recent bottling when I tasted it.Importer: William Deutsch & Son Ltd., White Plains, NY; tel. (914) 251-9463

Chiroubles, at the highest altitude of the Beaujolais cru villages, produces structured wines, and this is no exception. The tannins are bare bones under the textured flesh of plum skins and dried fruits. Mineral and austere at this stage, the wine needs aging.——R.V.(11/1/2009)—— 89