Earlier this week I paired the following wine with a simply roasted bird from Greenwood Farms, some roasted fingerling potatoes from Yellow Wood Farms (both obtained through Fair Shares) and a fresh green salad:
2006 Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py ($24, Bon Vivant Wines): Deep, almost opaque purple. Slightly restrained nose of ripe, dark cherries and earth. The juicy acidity brightens the fruit, but there is plenty of structure here to support additional aging. The tannins are well-rounded by the fat of the chicken, making this more pleasurable with food than on its own at this stage of its development. This wine deserves a couple of more years in the cellar to fully blossom.
Morgon is one of 10 villages that qualify as "cru" Beaujolais. Essentially, these are areas that should yield higher quality wines, and the wines can be labeled with the name of the cru, instead of simply as "Beaujolais" or "Beaujolais-Villages." Morgon is one of the most age-worthy of the crus, and Desvignes makes wines that age beautifully. In many vintages they are more restrained and structured and do not offer the simple pleasure of most Beaujolais, but some time in the cellar reveals complexity that few other Beaujolais can match.
Dave Nelson is the author of the blog Beer, Wine and Whisky. He writes about wine for Gut Check every Tuesday.