Fernand Coudert - Fleurie Clos de La Roilette Griffe du Marquis 2022

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Fernand Coudert Description

The Clos de la Roilette, a lieu-dit in the village of Fleurie, covers nine hectares of one of the best slopes in the Beaujolais Crus. The clos has an eastern exposure, borders the Moulin-à-Vent appellation, and produces wines that are beautiful when young and have the capacity to age 5-10 years, depending on the vintage.

In the 1920’s, when the Fleurie appellation was first created, the former landowner was infuriated with losing the Moulin-à-Vent appellation under which the clos had previously been classified. He created a label, using a photograph of his racehorse Roilette, and used the name Clos de la Roilette without mentioning Fleurie. The owner vowed not to sell a drop of his wine on the French market and the production went to Switzerland, Germany and England.

By the mid-1960s, the owner’s heirs had lost interest in the clos and a large portion of the land had gone wild and untended. In 1967, Fernand Coudert bought this poorly maintained estate and replanted the vineyards. His son Alain joined him in 1984, and has been the winemaker since.

The Couderts say their particular terroir (mainly clay and manganese), and the age of their vines account for the richness of their wine. It has a deep blackcurrant color with a hint of purple, a restrained nose of crème de cassis, a rich, full mouth with aromas of cassis, black cherries, and a nutty character, and finishes with zesty acidity. This is a wine that ages gracefully and takes on the aromatic character of a Pinot Noir.

A View from the Cellar: 94 Points

The 2022 Fleurie “Griffe du Marquis” from Clos de la Roilette is a ripe wine in the style
of the vintage, coming in at fourteen percent alcohol and is quite structured out of the blocks. The
wine offers up a deep and superb, sappy nose of black cherries, plums, sweet dark berries, roasted
gamebird, dark soil tones, fresh thyme, coffee bean and a gentle touch of oak. On the palate the
wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and rock solid at the core, with impressive underlying minerality,
firm, chewy tannins, tangy acids and excellent balance on the long and chewy finish. By Beaujolais
standards, this is going to be a serious long-distance runner, but it will be excellent once it has
started to soften up its tannic undercarriage. It is a quite classic example of the very best wines to
come out of the drought vintage of 2022 and all it will need is patience.