This is our second allocation of Bouland’s Corcelette Vieilles Vignes Cailloux, which is drawn from the domaine’s Corcelette vines rooted in this lieu-dit’s rockier soils. The vines here are only a little younger than the centurion beasts that go in the Sable version of this wine. It’s a terroir that gives a slightly more structured Morgon than the Sable cuvée. To be honest, we have never really had a preference between the two since they were differentiated on the labels starting with the 2019 vintage: both wines are stunning examples of Corcelette.

This wine used to come to us simply as Morgon Vieilles Vignes without the name of the vineyard or lieu-dit (it is now labelled Morgon Les Délys Vignes plantées en 1926). It comes from a single hectare of 100-year-old vines located on the Morgon-Chiroubles border at the end of the Corcelette valley—a terroir historically known as Délys. The old, gnarled vines sit on a southeast-facing slope, planted at 10,000 vines per hectare. Humming like an idling V8 engine, it’s always deep and chewy when young—built for long aging in the cellar. The 2023 is saturated with blue and wild berry fruits underscored by cracked pepper and cardamom spice, liquorice root and forest floor complexity. The palate is infused with unstoppable velvety fruitiness and length of flavour rare for the region. Bouland admits that if he could find the grafting materials he needs, he would start to replant this ancient parcel—it yields too little juice for his liking. Just as well he can’t: this is one of the greatest single-vineyard wines in all of Beaujolais.

The lieu-dit Les Délys is part of the Corcelette climat located downslope from Bellevue and right behind Bouland’s residence and winery. Délys is Bouland’s back garden if you like. Again, Bouland splits his vines into two cuvées: an old vine cuvée raised in foudre and this younger-vine version raised in concrete. The vines were planted in 1978 and 1980 in the deep granitic sand typical of Les Délys, which brings roundness and Burgundian-like texture to the wines. It’s another super refined and comprehensively delicious Morgon, redolent of succulent wild berry and nettle spice, topped off by a vibrant, racy close with just a hint of tannin.

Most of Daniel Bouland’s old bush vines are rooted in the Morgon climat of Corcelette, in hilly Haut-Morgon to the northwest of the appellation. Within this area, there are several lieux-dits that Bouland now bottles separately, and Bellevue is one of these. It’s a particularly stony (cailloux means stones) southeast-facing site, with plenty of schist running through the granitic, sandy base soil, much like in Côte du Py. The plethora of rock on the surface traps and radiates warmth, and, as a result, this is typically Bouland’s earliest-ripening site. The vines were planted in three stages in 1937, 1951 and 1967. This cuvée is largely made the same way as the Bellevue Sable wine—natural, whole-bunch ferment and no fining—though the vines are on different rootstocks (420A rootstock in this case, specifically designed for terroirs that are very stony and have no topsoil). Also, the vines are a touch older than in the Sable cuvée below. It’s another deep, inky expression of Morgon with layers of creamy red cherry and blue fruit flecked by blue flowers, graphite and the earthy spice of the vintage. It has more pucker and tightening tannin at this stage than the broader Sable cuvée below.

As mentioned, Bouland’s Bellevue soils are split into two cuvées—one for the sand (Sable) and one for the stones (Cailloux). These two parcels are only separated by a small track, yet, as Bouland points out, the soil is completely different. Terroir! Not only does the weathered sandy granite differ from the Cailloux parcel, but the slope is steeper, and the 40- to 50-year-old vines are on a specific low-yielding rootstock called Vialla—a stock well adapted to sandy, granitic or deep argilo-siliceous soils. Tasted side-by-side, the Sable cuvée is the more yielding of the two wines, with a greater width and juicier tannins than the Cailloux bottling. Regardless, the wine retains superb, juicy drive and finishes with superb, pour-me-another-glass intensity.

An intense colour that fluctuates between deep ruby and dark garnet. The Moulin-à-Vent reveals floral and fruity aromas dominated by violets and supported by a hint of cherry. Tannic, fleshy and subtly spicy, the Moulin-à-Vent develops complex flavours that combine finesse and harmony. We recommend to taste this wine at 15-16 °C.