Château de Pizay Morgon 2014

Morgon is not a big, brawny wine, but with just one sniff and a single sip, the 2014 Château de Pizay Morgon befriends the senses, confirming why Château de Pizay’s Morgon routinely receives 90 point ratings and high praise from critics and wine publications. Sporting a pretty crimson color, this scented, savory and silky smooth wine offers up a beautiful bouquet of raspberry and strawberry fruit with hints of minerality, cinnamon, and assorted other spices. The wine’s alluring olfactory faithfully carries through on the palate, delivered on a bed of satin-like tannins that flow effortlessly across the tongue. Although delightful to drink now, this top notch Morgon still has several years of development ahead, as the wines of Morgon are often the longest-lived Beaujolais crus. In an ideal world, one has a bottle of the 2014 Château de Pizay Morgon on the table and several additional bottles in the cellar. For optimal enjoyment we suggest serving the 2014 Château de Pizay Morgon cool (55º-60º F) after 5-10 minutes of aeration. Salut!

Château de Pizay’s 2014 Morgon needs no other accompaniment than a clean glass. Yet, traditional Burgundian cooking and other savory dishes from around the world provide wonderful accompaniments and will double the pleasure of this superb Morgon. Lightly flavored meats such as veal, ham, and pork provide excellent accompaniments to the finest cru Morgon, too, especially when the wine is young and in the full bloom of youth. Light game such as Cornish hens, quail, and squab make truly superb partners to the Château de Pizay Morgon. Coq au Vin, a Burgundian classic, is certainly one of the region’s signature dishes and a delightful companion to this wine. But what may come as a surprise is how well grilled or poached salmon pairs with this wine. Fine cheeses provide additional opportunities to enjoy Château de Pizay’s 2014 Morgon. Munster, Raclette, Fontina, and Port Salut are just a few of our favorite cheeses to pair with this exceptional cru Morgon. Bon Appétit!

The majestic Château de Pizay is one of the oldest and most illustrious estates of Beaujolais. It comprises 180 acres of vines from Regnie and Morgon, two of the ten great cru villages of Beaujolais. The oldest records regarding this eminent property date to 1030, and since the 14th century the imposing keep of Château de Pizay has stood atop the foothills of the Beaujolais Mountains of southern Burgundy. For centuries its wines have been admired by legions of connoisseurs and beloved by wine drinkers far and wide.

Under the dedicated tutelage of Pascal Dufaitre, the estate’s current director, winemaking at Château de Pizay combines tradition with the use of stainless steel, semi carbonic fermentation (a traditional form of whole berry fermentation) and modern temperature control methods to ensure preservation of the fruit and freshness in the wines. And indeed, the hallmarks of Château de Pizay’s splendid offerings are pure fruit flavors, elegance, freshness, and a depth of flavor rarely seen in most other Beaujolais wines. Today, Château de Pizay is not only one of Beaujolais’s premier wine estates; it is also a luxury hotel with a fine restaurant where guests are able to visit the magnificent old cellars that have hosted many famous banquets. The château and grounds are beautifully maintained, including classic formal 18th century gardens with sculpted hedges.

Beaujolais is situated in the extreme south of Burgundy. It is a vast region of nearly two hundred villages and communes spread out on varying subsoil and individual terroir. Unofficially, Beaujolais forms the dividing line between northern and southern France. Straddling the un-specified equivalent of the American Mason-Dixon Line, the wines of Beaujolais flow in copious quantities north to Paris and south to Lyon and beyond. In spite of inherent variations in quality, which reflect the differences in soil composition, altitude, and production volume among the region’s thousands of growers, one common denominator comes to fore: the Gamay grape, which provides the defining character and flavor of Beaujolais. Although wines bearing a Beaujolais or Beaujolais-Villages AOC can provide very pleasant drinking, the region’s ten cru villages of Brouilly, Côte de Brouilly, Chiroubles, St. Amour, Fleurie, Regnie, Chenas, Morgon, Julienas, and Moulin-à-Vent comprise the heart of Beaujolais and offer the consumer the finest Gamay wines in the world. Morgon, Julienas, and Moulin-à-Vent are widely acknowledged to be the finest, fullest and most Burgundy-like of the wines of Beaujolais, and they enjoy an enviable reputation for ageing up to five years or more in bottle with excellent results.