2018 Clos de la Roilette Fleurie
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Tasting notes
Fermented in concrete tanks and aged 6 months in oak foudres. The vineyard in Fleurie has an easterly exposure with heavy clay and granite soils, rich in manganese, requiring work to be done by hand. Alain Coudert farms sustainably and uses native yeasts for his semi-carbonic fermentations. Deep smudgy cherry red. Dark-red fruits and rather savoury on the nose, reminding me more of Moulin-à-Vent than of Fleurie. This is serious and incipiently delicious Gamay, with the stony rocky quality of the best vineyards giving a strong mineral character in addition to lovely fruit. Firm, dry and quite tannic at the moment, definitely a wine to cellar. Not classic Fleurie though I can see it might be on the border. Firm and chewy on the palate but with the freshness to make it a harmonious whole. I don't see the perfume of Fleurie at the moment but perhaps it will come with time. VGV (JH)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Shimmering violet. Highly perfumed dark berry and floral aromas are complemented by suggestions of exotic spices and minerals. Sweet and penetrating on the palate, offering black raspberry, cherry and floral pastille flavors that are given spine by a core of juicy acidity. In a seamless, energetic style, displaying a suave blend of richness and finesse and finishing gently sweet and impressively long, with well-knit tannins and lingering florality.
Mid crimson. Lovely silky texture and true polish and racy ripe Gamay flavours. Already quite approachable! Just the sort of wine you’d love to come across on a wine list. (JR)
The 2018 Fleurie from the Clos de la Roilette is showing very well, revealing an inviting bouquet of ripe cherries and cassis mingled with spices, violets and peonies. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, enveloping and layered, with fine-grained structuring tannins, ripe acids and a fleshy core of fruit. Gourmand and expressive, Coudert says the 2018 reminds him of his 2011, an analogy with which I concur.