Bouland Morgon Corcelette Beaujolais France Gamay

This wine is the first of three cuvées that focus on Corcelette’s sandy, granitic soils. This soil generates wines of great perfume and finer, rounder tannins than those of Morgon’s more schist-influenced terroirs. Bouland separates his so-called ‘younger’ vines in this area (60 years on average, so hardly young!) from his very oldest bush vines, which are bottled under the Vieilles Vignes label.

Like all Bouland’s wines, this was whole bunch fermented with indigenous yeasts, with the must foot trodden at the end to elongate the fermentation. This is a superb start to what are eight stunning Morgons from 2021. Of the octet, this is the prettiest and, in some ways, the most accessible to drink. Where the old vine cuvées below are raised in wooden foudre, this bottling is vinified in concrete tank.

The 2021 is a deliciously open, pretty, sappy and refreshing example of Morgon. Perfumed and juicy, it is remarkably ready for a young Bouland Morgon. Expect flowing red fruit, ink and peppery spice, and a fresh, mineral close that leaves you in little doubt as to the wine’s granitic origins. It’s a moreish and pure curtain-raiser that finishes with a panorama of flavour.