2014 Yvon Métras - Moulin-à-Vent (92 pts)

ℹ️ Yvon Métras is a modern day hermit wanting to spend his time with the vines and not dealing with exporters. He is less famous than the "Gang of Four" that were made famous by Kermit Lynch, but his wines have received a cult following nonetheless. His tenets include organic viticulture, harvest perfectly ripe old vine (up to 120 years old) Gamay, only ambient yeasts, extended semi-carbonic maceration, aging in neutral used oak barrels, and no fining or filtration. Minimal SO2 at bottling, but not before ·

👃 Medium intensity on the nose. Aromas of ripe crunch raspberry, strawberry, and red currant. Followed by licorice, sunflower seeds, stems, and copious amounts of wet rocks. Very mineral nose for a red wine ·

👄 The wine is dry, medium lively acidity, medium fine silky tannins, medium alcohol, and medium body. More intense on the palate, this wine just pops to life. Ripe yet tart red fruits. Then hit with this black tea flavor, black licorice, and then rocks. Slight pleasant bitter note on the mineral finish of medium+ length ·

🔔 This is super yummy right now. I am actually thinking how great this would be in 5-7 years, but oh the restraint that you would need to have to cellar these babies. In the past I have had some issues of a yeasty flavor from Métras's wines, but not this batch. Also, I think 2014 is a superior vintage to 2015 based on my tasting notes. These wines are really hard to find, but well worth the price of entry. This wine is very Pinot-esque and will continue to resemble high end Burgundy as it ages 👏 ·

 2014 Yvon Métras - Moulin-à-Vent (92 pts) #winereview @vins

Pierre-Marie Chermette - Beaujolais Tasting and Interview with Jean Étienne Chermette·

🎙 Join my Instagram Live interview with Jean Étienne Chermette

_chermette , ‪on Thursday, June 4th, at 9:00 am PST. We will be discussing natural winemaking from sustainable farming to minimal intervention in the cellar. We will also discuss long fermentation with whole clusters resulting in semi-carbonic maceration·

🍷 We will be tasting three wines from the 2018 vintage - Beaujolais Griottes,  Fleurie Poncié, and Moulin à Vent Les Trois Roches. Please join our Instagram Live and participate in the conversation. Don't forget to click the reminder in the stories·

 Pierre-Marie Chermette - Beaujolais Tasting and Interview

This interview features Jean Étienne Chermette, where we talked about his family’s domains and tasted through some of their wines. We talked about the Terroir of Beaujolais with the critical point of Granite soils. While most of the granite is in the North of Beaujolais, they have some around the town of Saint Veran in the south. We tasted three wines from the 2018 vintage: Beaujolais Griottes, Fleurie Poncié, and Moulin à Vent Les Trois Roches.

 This interview features Jean Étienne Chermette, where we

ℹ️ Fleurie may not have the historical pedigree of Moulin-à-Vent nor the stacked list of rock star producers like Morgon. It does have a great name and most importantly Yvon Métras. Fleurie is located between Moulin-à-Vent and Chiroubles. The Eastern side has sandy soils and is lighter and more floral like the wines of Chiroubles. The Western side the pink granitic soil contains trace amounts of Manganese like Moulin-à-Vent, which reduces grape yields and concentrates the berries ·

👁 Medium- ruby color, lighter than Moulin-à-Vent ·

👃Medium+ intensity on the nose. A little funk upon first opening. Aromas of soil, ripe raspberry, ripe cranberry, rose, rhubarb, and tomato leaf ·

👄 The wine is dry, medium acidity, medium- plush tannins, medium alcohol, and medium- body. Flavors are brieflyight red fruits, followed by some mineral rocky note. Then things get interesting with a florals. The medium+ length finish ends with what I can best describe as the water that you replaced from your Valentine's day rose bouquet 🥀 ·

🔔 This wine is super elegant, albeit lighter in style. It has a bit more complexity and intrigue than the Moulin-à-Vent. Tasted over 3 days and these just keep getting better and better each day. Highly recommend decanting them for full enjoyment. Now I want to try his Vieilles Vignes bottling 😰 if I can find it 🤷‍♂️ ·

 2014 Yvon Métras - Fleurie (93 pts) #winereview @vins

❓Which Beaujolais Cru is your favorite and why❓·

Tonight I am going to be reviewing the 2014 Yvon Métras Moulin-à-Vent and Fleurie. Please check out my story for more details ·

Moulin-à-Vent is regarded as the King of Beaujolais due to it's ability to age, structure, and power ·

Fleurie is regarded as the Queen of Beaujolais due it's beguiling floral aromatics and elegance ·

There are 8 others Crus, so I really want to know which is your favorite ❓·

 ❓Which Beaujolais Cru is your favorite and why❓· Tonight I

A follower of the father of the French natural wine movement, Jules Chauvet, Yvon Métras farms his 6 hectare estate using organic, low intervention methods.

His vineyards are in some of the best sites in Fleurie, on steep sunny hills with vine ages ranging from 20 to 120 years.

Grapes are from younger vines in Grille-Midi and La Madone crus, with sandy, pink granite soils.

Transparent garnet in colour, very aromatic, with black cherry, cranberry, date, roasted herbs, a whisper of Brothers Johnson funk, black pepper and forest floor.

Wild berries, bramble, trace of lavender, white pepper glide atop silky tannins and fresh acidity.

Black cherry, black currant and a pinch of cinnamon linger on the plush finish.

Yvon Métras ‘Le Printemps’ Fleurie 2017