The Château des Bachelards – Comtesse de Vazeilles Fleurie 2019 is one of the most exciting avant-garde red wines of Beaujolais, a category whose time is coming fast. It is very concentrated with great flinty minerality, and it is just beginning a lifetime that will be measured in decades.
Although they have their own distinctive personalities, Beaujolais cru (de facto village) wines like this cost between a third and a quarter of the price of village wines from Burgundy to the north. That’s a rather new situation, because into the 1970s there was approximate price parity between the wines of Fleurie and, say, Gevrey-Chambertin.
Of course, that price difference is one of the things driving interest in them, but there are other factors. The gamay grape, from which all red Beaujolais wines are made, has a healthy natural acidity that doesn’t collapse during heat waves, as pinot noir can. This makes the region one of the winners of climate change, and the 2019 vintage is the perfect example of this.
The Chateau des Bachelards estate in Fleurie has more than 900 years of history, but in recent years it has become one of the most dynamic producers of the entire region thanks to the energy and vision of Alexandre de Vazeilles. She switched the 12 hectares of 60- to 100-year-old vineyards to biodynamic cultivation, a rarity in Beaujolais.
