Juicy and concentrated cherry and ripe raspberry notes are licorice-tinged and cast with floral and spice accents in this plump red. Light tannins frame the finish. Drink now through 2024. 200 cases imported.??–GS??Region: France / Beaujolais / Morgon Select to Add

Balanced and fresh, this subtle red offers raspberry, peach, dried herb and floral notes. Lightly chewy tannins show on the mineral-tinged finish. Drink now through 2015. 150 cases imported.??–AN??Region: France / Beaujolais / Morgon Select to Add

Bouland’s 2010 Morgon Corcelette Vieilles Vignes offers scents of violet, wisteria, fresh cherry, red currant, and smoked meat. Sweetly-ripe yet vivacious fruit informs a silken-textured palate, while smokiness and salinity lend invigoration to a purely-persistent, downright vibrant finish. Look for 4-6 years of satisfaction. (A bottle open overnight was surprisingly unevolved.) Daniel Bouland achieved a 2010 crop similar in size to that of 2009, and said that effectively combating mildew was his toughest 2010 challenge. But somehow, it seems, this grower renders wines if anything more dynamic and ultimately more expressive in challenging vintages. Chiroubles was harvested at just under 12% potential alcohol and lightly-chaptalized; the other crus at 12.5-13% and unadjusted. Bouland owned-up to high levels of malic acid but reported problem-free lactic transformation. I had the opportunity to compare side-by-side freshly opened bottles of each wine with ones that had been open overnight and have commented on some of the differences in the course of my notes. (For further detail on this grower’s properties, consult my tasting notes in issue 190.)Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800

A plummy red, open and expressive. Juicy acidity drives the flavors of red cherry and boysenberry, with a hint of pencil shavings. Lightly grippy, with a touch of smoky hot stone on the finish. Drink now through 2014. 100 cases imported.??–AN??Region: France / Beaujolais / Morgon Select to Add

Bouland’s 2009 Morgon Corcelette Vieilles Vignes – from a single parcel near his winery – offers a striking combination of richness and lush texture with exuberant primary juiciness, elegance, buoyancy, and both animal and mineral complexity. Charred meat, musky peony perfume, toasted hickory; red and black raspberry tinged with nutmeg and cinnamon, and a suffusion of crushed stone, all add up to an amazing value and complex show that should be worth attending to for at least another 4-5 years. It’s clear by now that Daniel Bouland is one of Beaujolais’s major as well as most consistent talents, and it is encouraging to be witnessing the expansion of his domaine (now ten hectares). Most of Bouland’s vines are old, and his young parcels have been planted with selections massales from old vineyards. All of the 2009 cuvees – based on fruit not harvested before late in the first week in September and displaying deep, healthy color – came in at just over 14% alcohol, but none showed ill-effects. A couple of lots of Morgon were so late to go through malo that they were still gaseous when I visited in April, but Bouland’s four cuvees destined for the U.S. had just been bottled, from which they also appeared not to have suffered.Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800