Chateau des Bachelards Comtesse de Vazeilles Fleurie 2018

Created by the Benedictine monks of Cluny around the year 1100, Château des Bachelards’ vineyards have been long revered by locals, sommeliers, and wine critics alike. Run by the Platet family for over 200 years from 1793 to 2007, the estate is now managed by Alexandra de Vazeilles. Alexandra, the Comtesse de Vazeilles, who trained at Chateau Latour before taking on the domaine, has even surpassed the rigorous farming traditions upheld by both the Benedictine monks and the Platets, implementing organic and biodynamic techniques on top of next level additions like agroforestry in the vines, a permaculture vegetable garden, sheep for weed control and fertilization, naturally occurring bees, herbal medicine, horse-drawn soil cultivation, and more. This estate is widely considered to be making the best wines in its long and illustrious history and let me tell you, as someone with decades of experience in food and wine, this wine was a revelation.

The aromas explode from the bottle with supremely floral notes of fresh violets, peonies and crimson roses. The flavors abound with berry preserves and a surreal mineral note – like the struck flint found in certain Chablis wines, but rarely experienced in reds of any sort. The wine is liquid silk, with a seamless integration of flavors, textures, and acids all moving in perfect coordination – like a starling murmuration or a school of fish avoiding a predator. Concentration without heaviness, structure without grip, the wine is elegance manifested.

The old vines, massal selection clones, are 60-100+ years old, grown in the region’s famous pink granite soils. Formed of black mica, quartz, and feldspar, the minerality of these sloped vineyards are believed to be the driving force for the abundance of high-toned floral notes that the wines of Fleurie exhibit. Situated on the lower midpoints of the hillside slopes, just as the great grand crus of Burgundy, is where Château des Bachelards has their plots. This stands as the only monopole in all of Fleurie. The grapes here are harvested by hand in crates, with the winery gravity-fed, and only indigenous yeasts are used for fermentation. The maturing process is incredibly long for Beaujolais, with maturation occurring over 18-20 months.

The wine is extremely limited, and we are proud to have been the first to bring it to the states a few vintages back. This is a wine that will rock you to your core, make you question everything you thought you knew about wine and open up a world of vinous possibilities you never thought could exist. All that, for under $30? Exceptional!

PAIRING IDEAS: “True elegance needs little adornment.” Such is the case here, with Thomas Keller’s unbelievably simple Roast Chicken recipe making this wine shine just a little bit brighter.

MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: Whether one prefers Cat Stevens or Yusuf Islam, there is no mistaking the simply genius songwriting and supple melodies of the man. Case in point, “Lilywhite”.