The dark-stone and flinty aromas on the nose are very striking and the aromas of dark fruit and graphite carry to the palate with smoothly rendered tannins. Powerful and soulful wine.
93 points, JamesSuckling.com (January 2019)
Brilliant magenta. Intense, highly perfumed raspberry, cherry liqueur and floral pastille aromas show outstanding clarity, and a smoky mineral topnote builds in the glass. Sappy and sharply focused in the mouth, offering concentrated yet nervy red/blue fruit and spicecake flavors that slowly put on weight as the wine stretches out. Silky, pure and precise, finishing with outstanding persistence; smooth, harmonious tannins lend subtle grip.
With its classy bouquet of dark fruits, smoke and licorice and its medium to full-bodied, concentrated palate, the 2016 Chiroubles Vieilles Vignes is especially promising, displaying considerable depth and concentration, balanced by fine tannins and juicy acids.
92 points, Wine Advocate (September 2018)
“Today, after a period of being the pariahs of the wine world, they are once again worthy objects of interest for serious wine lovers. This is all due to the magic combination of the Gamay grape and the particular characteristics of the best villages in the region, including the famous ‘crus’ Beaujolais.” Jancis Robinson MW
This cru has vineyards at some of the highest altitudes among the Cru Beaujolais and is noted for producing perfumed wines with aromas of violets.
Damien Coquelet is part of a generation breathing new life into Beaujolais; now one of the most dynamic and exciting wine regions in France. Coquelet started young, working in the cellars of his stepfather, Georges Descombes, from the age of ten before starting his own domaine in 2007 when he was just twenty years old. Descombes, who is based in Morgon and makes excellent Beaujolais himself was a disciple of the late great Marcel Lapierre - one of the original, Beaujolais Gang of Four – and was inspired by Lapierre's philosophy of organic viticulture, hand harvesting, native yeasts, zero intervention in the cellar and little if any sulphur at bottling.
Working alongside his stepfather and brother, Kevin Descombes, under the one roof of their cellar in the tiny village of Villié Morgon, Coquelet now farms 9 ha of vines (he owns 2.5) in Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages, Chiroubles and Morgon and that are farmed along biodynamic principals. In the winery, Coquelet is totally non-interventionist allowing natural yeasts to ferment whole bunches without temperature control or protection, and no sulphur during élevage and little if any at bottling. These pure and energetic natural wines can be enjoyed young or with 4-5 cellaring.
