Grown just east of the Brouilly appellation, a Duboeuf 2010 Beaujolais-Villages Chateau du Grand Verney displays sweetly ripe, yet tart-edged blackberry tinged with tarragon and toasted nuts. It finishes with generous juiciness and attractive invigoration. And speaking of generous, there are 30,000 bottles. (A much smaller bottling of Beaujolais-Villages Chateau des Vierres from Lantignie displayed a more herbaceous and awkwardly sweet-sour personality.) George Duboeuf and his estate-collaborators – for further general comments on whom consult my issue 190 report – harvested from mid-September into the first week of October and pronounced themselves reasonably satisfied with the size of their crop as well as its quality. Most of the fruit came in at between 12-12.5% alcohol, with only a small share being chaptalized. And while the manner of extraction typically practiced chez Duboeuf strikes me as serving for rather uniformly deep colors, Duboeuf remarked that the 2010s colored with particular, and surprising, ease. The percentage of wines bottled at the time of my June visit was, predictably, considerably higher than had been the case for the 2009s at the same point on the calendar. Observing conventions established in the aforementioned previous report, I have made reference to aging potential only for any wines that I expect might be worth following for longer than a couple of years, and where I have identified a wine solely by appellation, it represents a so-called “Selections Georges Duboeuf” cuvee, adorned with his company’s signature flower labels. I also tasted on this occasion several late-released, wooded “prestige” bottlings – rendered in 1,000-2,500 volumes – which however were not destined to appear in U.S. markets.Importer: William Deutsch & Son Ltd., White Plains, NY; tel. (914) 251-9463

A 2009 Beaujolais-Villages Chateau du Grand Verney – from the eponymous village; a first-time offering from Duboeuf; and still in tank when I tasted it – is loaded with ripe cassis, blackberry, and blueberry; offers tart and faintly bitter suggestions of fruit seed that nicely complement its sweetness of fruit; and finishes with exuberance and invigoration even if simplicity. The vast and on the whole stylistically consistent range of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais bottlings – a majority issuing from individual domaines – represents a reliable source of value, and this has seldom been more true (nor has the range – most, but not all of which, I tasted – been more vast) than from 2009, which it is clear Duboeuf considers as fine a vintage as he has witnessed – although he notes, “It was very difficult this year to choose the date of bottling,” and many wines were still in tank awaiting that decision when I tasted in April. I continue to find as a general rule that Duboeuf’s wines are best drunk within two years of bottling, so in my notes I have made reference to aging potential only for any wines that I expect might be exceptions to that rule of thumb. (Wines identified solely by their appellation are so-called “Selections Georges Duboeuf” cuvees, labeled with his company’s signature flower labels. There are Regnie and Chenas selection bottlings that I did not taste, the latter being the sole bottling of its appellation this vintage, due to the ravages of hail.)Importer: William Deutsch & Son Ltd., White Plains, NY; tel. (914) 251-9463