As most of you who have been with us for a while know, we have been standard bearers for Beaujolais. We have brought you amazing values like some of the single-vineyard bottlings from Dubouef, promoted the classics like Thevanet, Lapierre, and Burgaud and chronicled the Cote d’Or invasion from the likes Girardin and Liger-Belair. For us, Beaujolais has always been important. In doing our research for the wines we were going to promote, we kept running across the name Jules Desjourneys. Not only were they some of the highest scoring Beaujolais we had ever seen, they were some of the most expensive by a fair bit.
When we finally had the opportunity to taste some of Desjourneys red Beaujolais, given their other worldly reputation, we were frankly disappointed. Yes the wines were unique and deeply colored, but they were also dense, impenetrable, and not really representative of the appellation. Yeah, we understand that being different will get you noticed, but we were certainly not as impressed as the pundits were. What did shock the heck out of us were how good the whites were, something that was not widely published.
That was the last time we saw anything from Desjourneys who, we were told by the importer at the time, wasn’t easy to deal with. Near as we can tell, he doesn’t have a national importer (only two stores have it on winesearcher). So when we saw some of these wines offered in Europe, remembering those stunning efforts from the 2015 vintage, we were all over them.
Now there is some buzz about the whites thanks to Wine Advocate’s Europe based reviewer William Kelly. His overview, “As I’ve written before, the irrepressible Fabien Duperray displays just as virtuosic talents in the vinification and élevage of his Mâconnais whites as he does with his Beaujolais reds, drawing on lessons learned in the company of the likes of Jean-François Coche, Arnaud Ente and Pierre Morey, producers he has represented in the French market for decades. In merely a handful of years, this project—a collaboration with Fuissé’s Domaine Thibert—has begun to consistently realize wines of genius that rank among the region’s élite…Whether this is the highest form of expression in wine, and whether a strong personal fingerprint is incompatible with or complementary to the articulation of nuances of site is a question for everyone to ponder; but Duperray appears to have arrived at his own answer.”
As a former sales arm of some of Burgundy’s elite estates, Duperray learned from the best. All of these are surprisingly expressive with driving underlying acidity. They knocked us out initially and this batch only served to prove our first impressions those years ago were not off base. We have modest quantities of these wines below, providing the reviews as well. But know that we could easily add a point or two just for the experience. Yes they are more expensive that typical Macons, but these are not ‘typical’ in any way.
Of the Jules Desjourneys Macon Fuissé Bois de la Croix 2018, Kelly wrote, “From a southeasterly exposed parcel characterized by schist soils, the 2018 Mâcon-Fuissé Bois de la Croix offers up notes of pear, orange oil and buttery pastry. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and muscular, it’s impressively structured and built to age for the vintage, with racy acids and chalky extract, concluding with a long finish. This already punches above its weight, and it will be even better with a bit of bottle age…92+ points.”
About the Jules Desjourneys Macon Verzé 2018, Kelly waxed, “From holdings at the top of the slope, exposed to the west, the 2018 Mâcon-Verzé unwinds in the glass with notes of pear, confit lemon, white flowers, warm bread and clear honey. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and enveloping, it’s fleshy and elegant, with a seamlessly layered mid-palate, bright acids and a saline finish…92 Points.”
On the Jules Desjourneys Macon Prissé en Chailloux 2018, we found no reference to the lieu dit En Chailloux anywhere in reviews. There were multiple reviews on something merely called Macon Prissé that certainly describes this wine, “The 2018 Mâcon-Prissé offers up aromas of clear honey, fresh pear, blanched almonds and citrus zest. Medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, it’s bright and precise, its lively spine of acidity cloaked in crisp but fleshy fruit…91 points.”
These are thrilling and distinctive wines that every white Burgundy lover should explore and their driving style should provide a structure for aging should that be your choice. But these are special wines that we don’t have access to on a regular basis, and they expand the expectations of what can be done in Macon.