Line up a big Beaujolais tasting and Métras will stand out.
There's a texture, a range of flavor and an intangible something else that jumps out.
For some time, most of us here gravitated towards Métras' Fleurie VV and the rare Ultime. To sum both of the wines up, they're saturating in their complexity. They leap out at you.
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However, the recent bottles of Printemps that we've opened have been stunning. While there's no getting around the profundity of the Ultime and the VV bottlings, the Printemps is more incisive, more agile and more gulpable. We think of it as Métras walking on tiptoe.
2014 is the vintage to check out Printemps. The strength of the vintage took Printemps to a whole new level.
Printemps is Métras' young vine cuvée. Bear in mind that in Beaujolais, young vines aren't all that young. Printemps comes from vines which are the very respectable ages of 20-30 years old. There's no shortage of depth and complexity here.
Printemps comes from top sites in Fleurie: Grille-Midi and La Madone. They are prime, steep and very sunny climats 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."
Across the range, Métras' 2014s are beautiful. Generally, 2014 seems poised to be one of the most important vintages for Beaujolais in the past decade. Printemps drives home that '14 is an especially strong vintage for Métras. It possesses a vibrancy married to the undeniable impact of minerals, dark fruits and flowers. There's plenty of lift along with concentration and harmony.
It seems that word is out on 2014 Métras. Finding the wines has been especially hard. I'm sneaking this offer in on a Sunday because there's simply not much of the '14 Printemps to go around.
To order, please email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits