Punch Regional Release Asia Pacific 8-9-8 – Lagavulin 8-Year-Old - Chateau Thivin Beaujolais.
Okay, this one might be cheating a little. Well, perhaps not cheating – fudging.
It is not that long since we did this cigar on video (I am delighted/amazed that I remember it – perhaps the memory is not quite so poor), so I would encourage anyone interested to have a look as there was not much change. Also, as many might be aware, I think matching red wine and cigars would like pouring ice-cream over wagyu. Actually, I would prefer that.
So why? Why would I try something I know to be a trainwreck? Well, because I had a look through a range of absolutely cracking Beaujolais recently and had some left, so shoehorning them into this review allows me to expound on them. Didn’t want anyone missing out.
Right, first, the cigar. The Punch Regional Release Asia Pacific 8-9-8. Love the size and shape. A terrific dark oily wrapper. Looked great. A powerful start with some charcoal notes. Roast meats, dry herbs, dark coffee. After just around half an inch, nuts and nougat emerged. Hints of honey. A touch of pepper. A really nice cigar. Lots of evolution here as we moved throughout. There is a touch of the mongrel and gentleman farmer about it. Still youthful and one can expect even better ahead. But loved it now. 93.
In all honesty, I was in no rush to smoke this at this time, as I am certain they will age and improve. I picked it up in error. Cheating, fudging, errors. Perhaps not my finest moment.
The ideal match was definitely the Lagavulin 8-Year-Old Malt Whisky. A powerful cigar and a richly flavoured and muscular malt. Perfect. The Limited Edition 8-Year-Old was released as a one-off to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the distillery (or of it becoming legal, if you prefer), in 2016. Back in 1886, when this was a staple of production, the distillery was visited by one of the whisky experts of the day, Alfred Barnard, who described it as ‘exceptionally fine’. For this Limited Edition, Lagavulin have attempted to recreate that. It is very pale in colour and there is the peat, oysters and sea breeze notes one expects. Powerful, nicely balanced and with real length, it does not exhibit the refinement of some but this ruralness and fiery character will appeal to many. It is a bracing 48%.
Exactly! That ruralness and fiery character are ideal for the 8-9-8.
The red and cigar was not the total disaster that these two usually are. Beaujolais being a lighter, fresher style, lacking the firm tannins of some reds, is easier to take with a cigar, but still no picnic. And this cigar is definitely less red wine-friendly than most. But Chateau Thivin is a Beaujolais worth chasing. Not least because it looks like the 2018’s might just be the finest Beaujolais vintage for decades. And it is a vintage which can overcome the prejudices so often levelled against this region.
The main perception is that Beaujolais is a wine not designed for ageing, so why bother? On one hand, most wines from this region are intended for, and benefit by, early consumption. In Beaujolais’s defence, look to the Crus and you can find good examples which will age well. Good examples from 2011 or 2015, or perhaps 1990 or 1978, or even further back, the great years of 1959 and 1969, prove that these wines can age and improve. Sadly, very few ever get that chance.
In addition, Beaujolais was seen as Burgundy’s little sibling, thanks to style, location and history. Good stuff, but not something which would ever compete with the great wines from the revered Burgundian slopes. This was despite the two wines coming from different varieties – Pinot Noir for Burgundy and Gamay for Beaujolais. The wines are very different and should be seen as such.
The final perception which works to the detriment of Beaujolais is simply that they are not serious wines. Simple fun quaffers. Nothing wrong with fun quaffers, unless you are trying to make high-quality wine. Beaujolais only has itself to blame for this. Anyone around back in the '80s and ‘90’ could hardly forget the frenetic Nouveau Races which took place on the third Thursday of November (if memory serves).
This ‘tradition’ began back in 1970. These days, it is a far less chaotic occasion, held to the benefit of various charities, but in earlier days, the race was basically to get the first cases of newly released Beaujolais Nouveau to London (or New York or Tokyo or Sydney or wherever). It became so crazy that eventually the RAF got involved and delivered a case of Beaujolais to London by Harrier Fighter Jet. Reports of others parachuting into the City of London, to ‘win’ the race abounded.
What followed the race was every man and his dog piling into pubs to guzzle the new wine (remember that only a few weeks earlier, this wine was still grapes on the vines). Productivity was never stellar the following day.
This all began, as mentioned, in 1970. During a dinner at the Hotel Maritonnes in Beaujolais, London restaurateur, wine writer and wine distributor, Joseph Berkmann, and his friend, Clement Freud, UK Member of Parliament and wine writer, came up with an idea. A wager was made, a couple of cases of wine was piled into their respective cars and the race back to London was on. The pair repeated it for several years, with Berkmann a perennial winner. Word spread, not least through their respective columns. Another journo offered a bottle of champagne to the winner. And it was on. These days, it is a charity event and a little more sedate.
It was all great fun and wonderful publicity (and sales) for Beaujolais, but the downside was that many drinkers around the globe came to see Beaujolais as a simple slurper, not worth a second thought. Cheap party wine. By 1992, half of all Beaujolais was made as Nouveau. Less than a decade later, over a million cases were sent to distillation, as sales and interest declined. A local journo described it as ‘vin de merde’ and was promptly sued, not for defamation but for denigrating French products. The producers won, but the decision was overturned on appeal. Far more damaging to the producers was the poor press around the world.
All this was horribly unfair to those attempting to make a wine of quality.
This was also a time when one producer ruled and the quality of Beaujolais came down to his wines – Georges Duboeuf. M Duboeuf, who passed away a few months ago, ruled the region, to the extent that he was dubbed ‘the King of Beaujolais’. He was a force behind the Race and his bottles, with their floral labels, were instantly recognisable. In fact, in those days, if one ever came across another producer, it was almost a surprise, such was his dominance.
In recent years, we have seen numerous other winemakers emerge. They have had to work extremely hard to reverse these perceptions, but they are doing it in the best way they can – with their wines.
Beaujolais, as mentioned, is made from the Gamay grape. In 1395, Philippe the Bold had outlawed Gamay in Burgundy, believing it substandard – "a very bad and disloyal plant", and so it found its way south to Beaujolais. Sixty years later, Philippe the Good declared himself as one of the “lords of the best wines in Christendom” and confirmed the ban.
Beaujolais is a terrific food wine, especially for bistros, picnics and those who prefer a red on occasions when others might reach for the white.
There are 12 appellations for Beaujolais, which have been refined and added to over the years. Around half the production is simple Beaujolais AOC (this includes Nouveau). A step up is Beaujolais-Villages. The top classifications are the Crus. In Beaujolais, Cru refers to the entire sub-region, not individual plots. There are ten Crus – Morgon, Saint-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Régnié, Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly.
All have different characteristics. Brouilly, Chiroubles and Régnié are considered the lightest of all; Cote de Brouilly, Fleurie and St-Amour a step up in concentration; and the rest fuller again and the wines most likely to age, Morgon and Moulin-a-Vent especially.
As we are looking at the utterly delicious wines from Chateau Thivin, which is based in Cote be Brouilly, we won’t attempt to define the characters from all Crus. That is why books exist (and I suppose the internet).
2018 is already being talked about as legendary, heroic, special, brilliant, roll out whatever superlative you like. The best wines are full-bodied (again, everything is relative and they are perhaps not quite as full as those from 2015), richly flavoured, complex and yet elegant. Silky and velvety are two words that are heard regularly. The wines have great colour, are full of spice and slightly darker berries than usual. They are generally seen as fresher than the excellent 2015s, with brighter acidity and less alcohol.
Chateau Thivin are Cote de Brouilly specialists. This was a region originally planted by the Romans. Wine was made here by Benedictine monks. This Cru is on the slopes of the old volcano, Mont Brouilly (the wines are considered to be more intense and offering less of an earthy tone than neighbouring Brouilly, which is on the lower slopes). There are around 320 hectares planted in Cotes de Brouilly, with fifty producers. The soil is largely the blue stone of Brouilly, but the steep slopes, a grade of sometimes 48 to 50%, make work difficult.
Thivin is the oldest estate here, built in the 15th century. In 1877, it, and its accompanying two hectares, were purchased by a local farmer, Zaccharie Geoffray. Over the generations, the fifth and sixth generations are now running the show, the vineyards expanded. It has been a site often visited by the famous, everyone from Colette to Richard Olney.
The vines here average 50 years of age. No insecticides are used. Techniques have been implemented to avoid erosion, but it is a never-ending fight. Grapes and juice are transferred by gravity and each vintage will spend several months in large oak foudres before bottling. The estate has been transferring to organic viticulture since 2008. Fertiliser is all by way of natural composts.
The always perceptive and entertaining American importer, Kermit Lynch, has described the wines as resembling “a country squire who is not afraid to get his boots muddy. Handsome, virile, earthy, and an aristocrat.”
Anyone wanting tasting notes will find them on Quill and Pad, but be assured, if you must drink red/eat and smoke then try one of these bottles of joy, a plate of smoked meats and your favoured cigar.
KBG
