No Printemps, No Ultime - Just VV
2012 Yvon Métras Fleurie
Vieilles Vignes MAGNUMS
Like in Burgundy, you can expect two things from 2012 Beaujolais: great wines and super-limited quantities.
Almost two weeks ago, we sent out an offer on Metras' 2012 Fleurie VV. It sold out in less than 24 hours.
You can read the recent offer for the 750s below, but I should mention that most producers in Beaujolais saw yields that were down by 50% or more. Métras did not bottle his young vine cuvée, Printemps, or the Ultime, his prestige cuvée. The choicest parcels and grapes that would normally go into Ultime went into the Fleurie.
Métras has vines, some 100 years old, in the Grille-Midi and La Madone, two of Fleurie's best lieux-dits. The quality of the sites and the age of the vines produced really impressive wines in 2012. The wines show a beautiful combination of energy, rigor and intensity.
Yvon Métras' Beaujolais are some of the more elusive wines on this side of the Atlantic. He makes great wines, but hates paperwork. His wines were only imported into the U.S. for a short period. These days (with an exception or two) you have to travel overseas to score a bottle of Métras.
This is a shame. Métras is the king of Fleurie. His wines have a level of texture, of complexity, that's rarely seen in Beaujolais. The 2012 Fleurie VV offers a gorgeously perfumed nose of violets, crushed rock, smoke, and a combination of red and purple fruits.
We've been working with Métras wines since the 06 vintage and the '12 vintage very much seems like it will be one of our favorites to date, which is all the more reason to pick up mags.
Please give us your ideal order and we'll try our best. To place your order, please reply to offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits
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Offer from July 29th...
Like in Burgundy, you can expect two things from 2012 Beaujolais: great wines and super-limited quantities.
Métras' line-up in 2012 dramatizes this. There's no Ultime or Printemps. From Fleurie, there's just Fleurie VV and not a ton of that.
The deal with Yvon Métras is simple: he makes benchmark Beaujolais and he hates paperwork. Numerous U.S. importers have tried to convince Métras to indulge in the paperwork necessary for importation, but to no avail.
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This makes his wines nearly impossible to find this side of the Atlantic. When wine geeks land in Paris, they immediately seek out Métras, Houillon/Overnoy and a couple of others.
For those of you who haven't experienced Métras, the wines are incredibly, uniquely impressive. In terms of younger Beaujolais, say in their first three or five years, Métras has given me more impressive and delicious bottles than anyone else. (Foillard would be second and Roilette demands some patience.)
Métras' wines are all about their suave texture and the beautifully expressive mix of granite, flowers and dark fruits. Many people have mentioned that the textural element in Métras wines' is reminiscent of the wines of the late and great Henri Jayer.
When you taste Métras' wines, you sense an extra level of complexity and a mysterious dimension of meaty and savory notes that the majority of Beaujolais simply doesn't have. Métras' Fleuries feel like archetypes of the appellation, but at the same time they're elevated to a plane where they have few peers.
In Fleurie, Métras farms the Grille-Midi and La Madone: both are top sites in prime, steep and very sunny climats. They are situated in the sandy, pink granite soils that yield a very classically feminine style of Fleurie that's earned the title "the Queen of Beaujolais."
His Fleurie VV is sourced from both of these vineyards, from vines ranging from 70-100 years of age. It offers a gorgeously perfumed nose of violets, crushed rock, smoke, and a combination of red and purple fruits.
2012, quantities notwithstanding, was a stellar vintage for Métras. The wines hit a simple, but elusive, equation: there's concentration, clarity and length. Métras' 2012 Fleurie VV shows incredible energy and rigor with a saturating intensity,
It's worth repeating: 2012 Métras Fleurie VV is extremely limited. Please give us your maximum order and we'll do our best.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits