Michel Guignier 2007 Morgon vieilles vignes

Medium-dark ruby color.

Blackberry smell, strawberry, some alcohol warmth.

Blackberry and cherry and strawberry flavors, hints of oak in the finish.

Very good medium-bodied bottle, $17.00. A nice modern interpretation of Beaujolais.

Chateau Moulin-Favre 2009 Beaujolais-Villages Vieilles Vignes

Dark purple color.

Warm strawberry smell.

Intense fruity strawberry / cherry / banana flavors, some petillance on the tongue.

Very good $14.99 medium-bodied bottle, good acid finish.

Potel-Aviron 2004 Chenas Vieilles Vignes

Over the years I've enjoyed many bottles of wine from Georges Duboeuf, so it's with mixed feelings that I read that the makers of tonight's bottle, Nicolas Potel and Stephane Aviron, represent a sort of anti-Duboeuf.

Duboeuf will always be associated, fairly or not (*), with the great marketing success he made with Beaujolais Nouveau and the process of carbonic maceration fermentation. Burgundy vigneron and eleveur Potel uses, in Beaujolais, extended skin contact, traditional (yeast-mediated) fermentation, and a percentage of new oak barrels, techniques often thought of as 'new style' Beaujolais. Demonstrating that the old style still dominates the market is that the word 'Beaujolais' appears nowhere on the label of this wine.

I aerated this vigorously and let it rest briefly after opening.

Smell of blackberry and cherry, notes of talcum.

Blackberry and cherry flavors, gentle but firm tannins, well-integrated oak. Medium-to-full-bodied, matches well with steak and vegetables and with biscuit and cheddar.

A surprising Beaujolais wine, an excellent bottle for $16.99. I've not lost my appreciation for the Duboeuf style, but my eyes have been opened to another way.