2010 Chateau des Tours Brouilly

Château des Tours is owned and operated by the legendary Reynaud family, which purchased property in the Rhone Valley in 1880. Their first estate was Château Rayas. In the late 1930s the family purchased the property that would become the 100-acre Château des Tours, adding the 30-acre Chateau de Fonsalette in 1945. Four generations of Reynauds have operated the three estates turning their wines into gold standards for their appellations. Robert M. Parker Jr. has called Château Rayas “one of the mythical names of France” because of its outstanding winemaking. And Jeb Dunnuck has noted that Emmanuel Reynaud, current owner and winemaker, makes wines that “never lack for power or richness.” Château des Tours wines earn consistently complimentary reviews.

Brouilly is the largest of the Beaujolais Cru appellations with 3,000 acres of vineyards. Unlike most of the other Beaujolais Crus, Brouilly is not a specific village. It surrounds the Côte de Brouilly appellation on three sides and in some years nearly 800,000 cases of wine are produced. The region is named for Mount Brouilly, an extinct volcano, and the name comes from “brûlé,” meaning burnt. As in virtually all of Beaujolais, the grape grown here is Gamay.

The Gamay grape produces a light, versatile and food-friendly wine. It is best known for making Beaujolais Nouveau, but it is also grown in Loire and Tours. Thankfully the 14th C. Duke of Burgundy’s degree to ban the grape did not spread through all of France.