2020 Château Thivin Brouilly 'Reverdon'

Beaujolais, France

100% organic Gamay from 45-year-old vines. The Thivin estate has been managed by the Geoffray family since 1877 when Zaccharie Geoffray purchased the château with its two hectares of land at auction. They have been promoting the wines of Brouilly and making amazing wines ever since! Reverdon is a lieu-dit (single vineyard) on the pink granite lower slopes of the Côte de Brouilly—a far cry from the clay plains below where much of the Brouilly produced is grown. This terroir is more similar to top-flight Fleurie. (As such, a little-known fact is that its aging potential is roughly equal to the domaine’s storied Côte de Brouilly.) Precision, soaring floral aromatics, finely etched tannins, a ripe core of dense fruit, and a granitic crunch on the back end are the hallmarks of this momentous cuvée from the Geoffray family of Thivin.

91 points, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate. "The 2020 Brouilly Reverdon has turned out very nicely, bursting with aromas of wild plums, spices, berry fruit, violets and figs. Medium to full-bodied, rich and layered, with a concentrated core of fruit and impressively tangy acids, it's reminiscent of a livelier version of its 2018 counterpart. This historic estate continues to rank among the reference points for classical, age-worthy cru Beaujolais. As I wrote last year, the Geoffrays have banished herbicides and insecticides from their vineyards and number among the appellation's most conscientious farmers, working toward organic certification. They're also experimenting with a tiny planting of naturally disease-resistant hybrids that require no agrochemical interventions, and I blind tasted a micro-cuvée produced from these vines, which was impossible to identify. In the cellar, winemaking is traditional, with semi-carbonic maceration and élevage generally in foudre—though some small cuvées see a little new wood. A staple of France's best restaurants—and this writer's table—any readers who are not acquainted with these wines are warmly advised to seek them out. After the more delicate, ethereal 2019 vintage, the 2020s represent a return to the richer, more muscular register exemplified by 2018, 2017 and 2015, and they have turned out very well."