Fleurie "Cuvée Christie"

France
Beaujolais
2022

100% Gamay. "Cuvée Christie" is an exception among Roilette estate wines in a few ways. It is the newest bottling, the first vintage having been in 1999. The vines are "young" for Roilette, mainly in the 30-40-year range. They are not part of the original Clos de la Roilette vineyard and thus, more crucially, have more typical Fleurie soils vs. the Roilette's, with more granite than clay or manganese. Because these two parcels are outside the Clos, the label is different as well, featuring the Coudert family name instead of "Clos de la Roilette". The wine's name originally was "Christal", a playful combination of Alain Coudert's kids' names (Alexis + Christie); it changed to today's "Cuvéee Christie" after a well-known Champagne house sued over the use of "Christal". 

All of that said, Cuvée Christie follows suit with the other Roilette wines. The farming is sustainable and all vineyard work is by handVinification is traditional, semi-carbonic Beaujolais style. The whole clusters are harvested by hand and fermented spontaneously with native yeasts in open-top concrete tank. Maceration is the shortest of all at around 10 days, with a submerged cap rather than punchdowns. Sulfur use is quite minimal. The wine is aged in large, old oak foudres for about 9 months before bottling.

92 points
"The Cuvée Christie made its debut in the Coudert family’s lineup in the 1999 vintage. It not actually labeled under the Clos de la Roilette label, as the vines for this bottling lie just outside of the original nine hectares on which the domaine was founded in the nineteenth century. The wine is made from younger vines and made for early drinking- in most vintages. The 2022 is a bit more structured than most years, as it offers up a bright and sappy bouquet of black berries, black cherries, granitic soil tones, woodsmoke, violets and coffee bean. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and really has some mid-palate stuffing in 2022, with fine focus and grip, a fair measure of ripe tannin and lovely length and grip on the complex and very nicely balanced finish. The depth of the 2022 vintage is very much in evidence here, as the Cuvée Christie is more structured than in most vintages and will certainly age long and gracefully- if one can keep from pulling corks early! 2023-2045. "
John Gilman,
View from the Cellar
January 2024

SKU/Code: 
DB0556-22
Product Line: 
Wine
Red
Varietal: 
Gamay
Farming Type: 
Sustainable