The Duboeuf 2009 Brouilly favors ripe blueberry and blackberry with pleasant hints of tartness and bitterness reminiscent of berry skins and seeds that lend a sense of invigoration as well as of counterpoint to the sweetness of fruit. A faint hint of warmth and slight dry spot in the finish are minor blemishes (no doubt alcohol-related) to a wine of otherwise pure, generous fruit. The vast and on the whole stylistically consistent range of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais bottlings – a majority issuing from individual domaines – represents a reliable source of value, and this has seldom been more true (nor has the range – most, but not all of which, I tasted – been more vast) than from 2009, which it is clear Duboeuf considers as fine a vintage as he has witnessed – although he notes, “It was very difficult this year to choose the date of bottling,” and many wines were still in tank awaiting that decision when I tasted in April. I continue to find as a general rule that Duboeuf’s wines are best drunk within two years of bottling, so in my notes I have made reference to aging potential only for any wines that I expect might be exceptions to that rule of thumb. (Wines identified solely by their appellation are so-called “Selections Georges Duboeuf” cuvees, labeled with his company’s signature flower labels. There are Regnie and Chenas selection bottlings that I did not taste, the latter being the sole bottling of its appellation this vintage, due to the ravages of hail.)Importer: William Deutsch & Son Ltd., White Plains, NY; tel. (914) 251-9463

This is a soft, open wine, full of ripe berry fruits and red cherries. There is only the lightest tannin, along with bright acidity, a wine that is so ready to drink. ——R.V.(12/31/2010)—— 86