Do you know Julien Duport?
New vintages from Beaujolais winegrower Julien Duport -
Gamay from old vines made with minimal intervention
Dark-fruited, serious, and delicate
Julien works with a reverence for the land in anticipation of new expressions. From his hilly perch in Odenas the whole countryside is visible (Beaujolais fans, from Brouilly, Julien's Odenas winery looks down on the famed Chateau Thivin). Julien’s beautiful wines continue to reorient many a palate on the real complexity and nuance of the finest Gamay from the best terroir. (An E&R almost direct import.)
Beaujolais has always been about joyousness in wines made close to the earth. Gamay is perhaps too humble to compete with pinot noir, its princely cousin to the north. What’s beautiful about this moment in Beaujolais is its own expression of itself, emulating nothing but itself.
Julien’s new wines
Julien Duport Cote de Brouilly Sueur au Front 2020
A new wine from Julien! “I must eat by the sweat of my brow, but when I sweat, I am never hungry, but thirsty!” reads the label: a deeply Beaujoloise sentiment, a region whose winemakers are best described as ‘work-hard-play-hard’ & are able to consume an unbelievable quantity of wine that in turn feeds ceaseless vineyard work. I tasted this wine outside under an overhang during a huge rainstorm, and this wine’s arc too feels like gathering rainclouds, stormy purple mulberries, and STONE. From a heroically steep vineyard and fermented naturally. $44.00Julien Duport Brouilly “Les Balloquets” 2021
Julien adores this particular small part of his vines he'd been blending in his Brouilly bottling. And why not; they are old vines (80 years) on a scary-steep 45 degree slope of thin topsoil with roots growing nearly straight into volcanic and granite-based rock. The new Balloquets is essential to taste, the stony noted, dark fruit red from the world class Brouilly appellation is a beauty. As are all Julien’s wines arriving directly from his winery to our Oregon doors, the new Balloquets is absurdly affordable. $25.50
Julien Duport Cote de Brouilly "Lieu Dit Brouilly" 2021
The high slopes on Mount Brouilly make up the Côte du Brouilly appellation and are nearly surrounded by the larger rolling hills of the Brouilly appellation. Julien’s Côte du Brouilly comes from a plot of gamay planted 60 years ago, known itself simply as “Brouilly” — hence the confusing name. The Côte du Brouilly distinguishes itself with a dose of blue schist in the pink granite soils, which lend explosive pine-y aromatics to this lovely, dark Beaujolais. Fans of Northern Rhone wines should check this one out. Its elevage in cement and neutral oak for a year gives a structured, poised wine. $25.50Julien Duport Brouilly 'La Folie' 2022
La Folie, meaning madness, is because of the steep slope of Julien’s pure decomposed granite gravel vineyard in Brouilly. The soil beneath the 40-year old vines absorbs a lot of heat in the crystalline structure of the granite, so even after the sun goes down the vineyard holds heat and ripens slowly and gently. It’s a testament to terroir to taste this alongside the two the Brouilly wines above. Fermented in cement and aged in old barrels, La Folie is redolent of aromatics like cherries and almonds. Our kind of bottled madness. ~450 cases. $25.50Julien Duport Cote de Brouilly "Boucheratte" 2020
Julien’s vin de garde, from 100+ year old vines: serious and complex. Julien likens the tones this wine takes on with age to a Chambolle-Musigny. Capable of aging for many years. Named for a vineyard planted by his grandfather 100 years ago that was tended by horse up until 1985. And then, since Julien took over in 2003. Of his wines, this is the most serious and complex. The yields for this site are extremely low. The wine is aged 18 months in large barrique after fermentation in cement. Julien likens the tones this wine takes on with age to a Chambolle-Musigny (we agree - try it on day two or three and see if it fools you), but the wine has the body of a Northern Rhone syrah. La Boucheratte is like the spread laid for a feast at a castle, plump with aroma of olives and grilled meats. Capable of aging for many (Julien thinks 5-10) years. Very, limited. $34.00