‘Magnificent’ buried Beaujolais tasted

Three barrels of Beaujolais that were buried in the soil of Mt Brouilly as part of an experiment have been dug up and the wines judged to be “magnificent”.

The three barrels were dug up on 16 October having lain for 554 days (18 months) underground since they were buried in April 2016.

The wines are all Brouilly wines from the 2015 vintage – one a Côte de Brouilly blend with wines from four producers, the other a Brouilly made by the Vignerons de Bel Air and the third from Château de Pierreux.

The barrels were unearthed from a spot at Mount Brouilly Belvedere early in the morning, an excavator digging down the two and a half metres to where the casks lay.

The various winemakers and others involved in the project were all on hand to see if the barrels were still intact and not affected by wood or mould and they proved to be in “perfect condition”.

The wines were all tasted alongside control samples of the same wine that has been in barrel above ground and if the exact effect of their time spent underground might be hard to define exactly, it certainly did not seem to have done them any harm.

The Côte de Brouilly was described as having “more finesse and elegance” than the control sample, the Brouilly is apparently full of “black fruit and fine spicy notes” and the Château Pierreux is, “dense, profound and spicy”.

Sommelier Christian Martray who was on hand to taste the wines said: “The experiment has been a positive one, there is intensity, juicy fruit, and the wine has kept all its freshness and youth; it reveals a new dimension, magnificent.”

The idea behind the experiment was apparently partly inspired by tales of ancient nomads who used to bury their wine and also to see if being enclosed in the area’s unique soil would affect the wine – presumably by completely cutting off its supply of oxygen.

In a similar vein, producers have previously experimented with ageing wine underwater after very old wine found on shipwrecks has – on occasion – been found to still be in drinkable condition.

Dubbed ‘Dormance 554’, the wines from the barrels are scheduled to be bottled on 24 November and available for sale from 6 December.

Available through the Espace de Brouilly for €50 a bottle, proceeds from the sale will be donated to the local Rotary Club project in aid of children in hospital.