Fernand Coudert - Fleurie Clos de La Roilette Tardive 2022 (Pre-arrival)

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100% Gamay. From the oldest vines,which are from 80 years on up, on heavy clay soils with relatively little granite and quite a lot of the iron-like mineral manganese. "Tardive" does not mean that the harvest is late, as is commonly believed, but rather is a reference to the wine's ability and need to age for years. The farming is sustainable or lutte raisonnée. All vineyard work is by hand, with the soils worked only superficially, at most twice per year, to protect the roots of these old vines. Vinification 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 lasts around 18 days for Tardive, 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.

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: 95 Points

Domaine Clos de la Roilette (Alain Coudert)) The 2022 Fleurie “Cuvée Tardive” from Alain Coudert is equally deep and sappy as the Clos de la Roilette regular bottling, but not quite as expressive aromatically right out of the blocks. The bouquet offers up scents of black plums, black cherries, a hint of pomegranate, bitter chocolate, dark soil tones, fresh thyme, woodsmoke, pigeon, beautifully discreet spice tones and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with great focus and grip, lovely mineral drive on the backend, ripe, buried tannins and a long, nascently complex, seamlessly balanced and still fairly tight-knit finish. This will be very long-lived and it will be a crime to open a bottle until the wine is at least seven or eight years of age. Its true apogee is probably fifteen years down the road!