Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2022 Château de Vaux
RELEASE DATE: Thursday, 17th November
I will remember the 2022 vintage in the Beaujolais region for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, this was my first full harvest working with my dear friend, Yannick de Vermont, at his family vineyard of Château de Vaux, high up in the hills of Vaux-en-Beaujolais, a.k.a. Clochemerle. Yannick and I started working together in 2010, when he joined the team at Château de Grandmont. He left us at Grandmont in 2014, to take over from his father, at Vaux and whilst I remained his consultant oenologist, I was not directly involved in the day-to-day wine making process. At the beginning of this year, Jean Brac de la Perrière, the owner of Château Grandmont, decided to sell the property, in which I had been involved since 2001, along with the fermage (lease) of our Brouilly, Château du Pavé, which I had also been making for him.
This suddenly created a brand new opportunity and Yannick asked me to join him, working especially on wines made from in-digenous yeasts and with no added sulfites (both of which are something of a speciality of mine). The twelve hectare domaine is operated using eco-friendly and sustainable viticultural methods – being certified as Terra Vitis and Level 3 HAUTE VALEUR ENVIRONNEMENTALE, since 2019. Over the past three years, Yannick has won numerous awards for his wines in the French national shows and competitions and now the aim is to go even further, developing his range of wines with terroir-specific (lieu-dit) bottlings. This is an exciting time for me as a wine-maker and really brings my Beaujolais wine-making career around full circle. Initially, my interest and passion in the region was sparked by reading, in 1975, Gabriel Chevalier’s socio-comedic nov-el “Clochemerle” (based on the life of Vaux-en-Beaujolais). Today, having spent many years making the wines of Château des Tours, Château du Pavé and Château de Grandmont, I am back working where it all started!
The 2022 vintage will also be remembered for being an exceptional year in the Beaujolais region. The summer was bone dry and very hot, resulting in perfectly healthy grapes but with a potentially high alcohol level. By the last week of August, the berries were small and concentrated and the pressure was on to start picking as soon as possible. Studying the French weather forecasts (generally a lot more accurate than the UK Met Office!), I persuaded Yannick to hold off picking the reds until 6th September, concentrating on getting the Chardonnay in for his Cremant, Bourgogne Blanc and Beaujolais-Villages Blanc. Then, the much hoped for rains came at the beginning of the following week, giving the parched Gamay grapes a re-freshing soaking, and also diluting some of the intense concentration.
This was a vintage that was a joy to vinify, with the resulting wines revealing an impressive depth of black-fruit colour, kirsch and spice aromas and a lovely fresh, crunchy blackberry fruitiness with gossamer-fine tannins. These are indeed very impressive primeurs.
We will be importing the Château de Vaux Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2022 which will be released on Thursday 17th November.
Prices for 2022 Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau - Château de Vaux
AVAILABLE IN STELVIN SCREW CAP
Between 12-47 bottles: £121.56/ doz. inc. VAT (£10.13/ bt. inc. VAT)
Between 48-119 bottles: £118.20/ doz. inc. VAT (£9.85/ bt. inc. VAT)
120 bottles or more: £113.52/ doz. inc. VAT (£9.46/ bt. inc. VAT)
Deliveries will be during the week beginning 14th November. Legally, the wine may not be opened until 00.01hrs. on Thursday, 17th November, 2020. All delivery charges are as per our web site or price list.
PLEASE EMAIL YOUR ORDER DIRECTLY TO
sales@christopherpiperwines.co.uk OR
ORDER ONLINE HERE
