Domaine Daniel Bouland Morgon Corcelette 2023 (12 Bottles) Beaujolais, France

This wine is the first of three cuvées focusing on Corcelette’s sandy and granitic soils. This soil generates wines of great perfume and finer, rounder tannins than you find in 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 oldest bush vines, which are bottled under the Vieilles Vignes label.

Like all Bouland’s wines, this fermented as whole bunches with indigenous yeasts, with the must foot trodden at the end to prolong the fermentation. A fine start to the trio of 2023 Corcelette-labelled cuvées, it’s more red-fruited, savoury and floral than the wines above. Revelling in the depth of the year, there is sheer pleasure in the brightness of the aromatics and the palate and so much refreshment in the smoky, vibrant close. Great focus and drive. There is enough stuffing and powdery tannin to justify cellaring for at least 3-5 years.