Indeed, as the wine warmed to what I considered lightly chilled, it grew more delicious. The flavors were of tart fruit and herbs, maybe a bit of anise, with a lingering bitterness that refreshed and cleaned the mouth.
Broc, like each of these producers, relies on ambient yeasts for fermentation and does not manipulate the wines or add anything except, maybe, a small amount of sulfur dioxide, a stabilizer and antioxidant.
Unlike the Broc, the other two bottles were not necessarily intended for immediate consumption. Yes, they are generally enjoyable young. But each of them possess the ability to age and improve for at least a few years.
They weren’t tannic, like young Bordeaux, Barolo or Burgundy, which are often made for the long haul, aging and improving for 20 years or more. But they had enough tannins that anything more than a light chill emphasized the astringency and effectively closed the wines down.
Paradoxically, the Brun Morgon, though a Beaujolais, was not made with carbonic or semicarbonic maceration. Jean-Paul Brun, the proprietor, is part of a small but growing group of producers in Beaujolais who believe the character of the vineyard is better expressed through a conventional fermentation, which in Beaujolais is often referred to as Burgundian style.
In addition, Mr. Brun allows the grapes, 100 percent gamay, to macerate with the skins for four to six weeks, giving the wine some structure before aging it in concrete vats or oak barrels. The Morgon, reticent after a half-hour out of the fridge, was much better with just the slightest chill, bright, lively and floral. It was very gently tannic, but that was enough for the wine, colder than a slight chill, to be adversely affected.
