What's Pressoir Drinking?

Domaine Chapel Beaujolais Villages 2017

by Raj Vaidya
Tuesday, December 15th, 2020

Last week I recapped our Club Member dinner at Daniel featuring the wines of Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg. After the dinner, Chef Daniel was kind enough to invite Daniel, Edouard and myself to have a quick bite and to do a little raiding of the cellar I had the honor of building over the last eleven years. I immediately jumped on the opportunity to taste a bottle I have been thinking about all summer. This was the first vintage of Beaujolais Villages for the Domaine Chapel, a small winery founded in 2016 by David Chapel (son of famed Michelin starred Chef Alain Chapel) and his wife (and my dear friend) Michele Smith. Michele and I worked together at Thomas Keller’s Per Se back in the mid-2000’s and I’ve been buying the wines since the first vintage enthusiastically. This was a chance to taste a delicious, albeit humble wine from the Domaine which has had a chance to mature a bit. Typically Beaujolais Villages is all slurped up within the first year after release so this was a rare opportunity…

The wine had retained its juicy fruit forward mid-palate but had gained in complexity. The stony mineral character had really developed and the wine was distinctly more salty than it showed upon release. Cherry, spiced berries, and a hint of smoke on the palate rounded it out beautifully. And yet it remained true to Beaujolais, and extremely drinkable, as we polished it off in no time!

There are still a few bottles in the restaurant’s cellar, be sure to check them out next time you visit their outdoor (heated) cabanas!