Chermette's 2010 Beaujolais Vieilles Vignes Cuvee Traditionelle delivers copious fresh red raspberry and pomegranate accompanied by stimulating tartness and piquancy of their seeds as well as by hints of sage and horseradish. More intensely-and brightly-fruited as well as more invigorating than it's lesser sibling, this also offers an enhanced sense of creaminess that is deliciously paradoxical in the context of its vintage as well as of this wine's cut and vivacity. (Think of how a top-notch Riesling or Pinot Blanc can simultaneously deliver these virtues and you-ll get the idea.) The salinity of smoked meat serves for additional saliva inducement in this Beaujolais's long, buoyant, exuberant, chalk-tinged finish. Plan to enjoy this excellent value (of which, incidentally, there are some 40,000 bottles) over the next 2-3 years. Pierre Chermette - for more about whom, consult in particular my report in issue 184 - didn't start picking his 2010s until September 23rd, with Moulin-a-Vent and Fleurie Les Garants; and completed his harvest of the estate's majority Appellation Beaujolais vineyards on October 5. "Really, the quality was comparable to that of 2009," he asserts, "just at a full degree less alcohol and with higher acidity. Vinification was easy." Yields, he adds, were comparable, and only a slightly more stringent selection of fruit was required than in 2009.Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800

Chermette’s 2009 Beaujolais Vieilles Vignes Cuvee Traditionelle – whose 45 hectoliter per hectare represented, he said, about as high a yield as he ever gets – is loaded with ripe cherry and purple plum; laced with lip-smacking and invigorating salinity and cherry pit bitterness; and finishes with savory length, notes of iodine and chalk adding to a sense of minerality pronounced for its vintage (and highlighting the difference with the basic “Pierre Chermette” bottling, which incorporates purchased fruit). Soft and generous yet minerally diverse and refreshing, this should remain delightful for 18-24 months. Pierre Chermette – for more about whom, consult my report in issue 184 – picked his crus from September 7-15 and his vines in the South of Beaujolais the week following, managing to keep alcohols below 13.5%.Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800