{"product_id":"gregoire-hoppenot-origines-fleurie-beaujolais-france-2023","title":"Grégoire Hoppenot, \"Origines\", Fleurie, Beaujolais, France 2023","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEvery so often, a relatively new wine becomes a classic almost before anyone has time to notice. Grégoire Hoppenot’s superb Fleurie “Origines” is a perfect example. Hoppenot’s first vintage was only 2018, yet over the last six to seven years, this bottle has quietly become one of the reference-point wines of Fleurie, praised by a consensus of critics, sommeliers and serious Beaujolais drinkers on both sides of the Atlantic. It reminds me of present-day icons Lapierre and Foillard when I was younger: wines and producers that began as insider favorites, then quickly became essential learning for any serious wine student. “Origines” now occupies similar territory. This is reference-point Fleurie, especially in the superlative 2023 vintage. If you want to understand why Fleurie is different from Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent or Brouilly, and why the best examples can be so hauntingly floral, silky and weightless without sacrificing depth, my advice is: start here.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHoppenot arrived at his own Domaine unusually well prepared. Before establishing himself in Fleurie, he spent years traveling throughout Beaujolais as a négociant and later worked in senior roles at Maison Trénel, giving him an intimate familiarity with the region’s growers, vineyards and remarkably varied geology. In 2018, he finally stepped away to farm his own vines, taking over roughly ten hectares centered on an enviable collection of Fleurie parcels. The critical response was almost immediate: his debut wines attracted international attention, and just three vintages later La Revue du Vin de France named him its “Discovery of the Year.” Hoppenot’s cellar work explains some of the excitement. Fermentations are conducted with indigenous yeasts and largely whole clusters; extraction is deliberately gentle; temperatures are kept low; and élevage takes place in concrete, foudre and seasoned barrels rather than flashy new oak. Nothing in the process is designed to make the wine bigger than the vineyard.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Origines” is especially interesting because it functions almost like a primer on Fleurie itself. The cuvée draws from parcels including Les Roches, La Roilette and Les Garants, bringing together younger vines that contribute brightness with older material that supplies depth and structure. These are classic Fleurie soils: shallow, poor granitic sands resting directly over decomposed pink granite, sometimes shot through with quartz. Fleurie is perhaps the purest granitic cru in Beaujolais, with more than 90% of the appellation derived from pink granite. Its best hillside sites produce a remarkably distinctive expression of Gamay: less muscular than Moulin-à-Vent and less earthy than Morgon, but extraordinarily perfumed, fine-textured and transparent. Hoppenot understands that delicacy is not the same thing as simplicity. Origines has plenty of substance; it simply carries that substance with almost no apparent weight.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eServe the 2023 around 58°F in a Burgundy stem. The color is vivid, translucent ruby with purple highlights, immediately suggesting freshness rather than extraction. The nose is quintessential Fleurie: raspberry, sour cherry and wild strawberry wrapped in peony, violet and dried rose, with subtler notes of orange peel, pink pepper, black tea and crushed granite emerging with air. On the palate, the wine is supple and energetic, with remarkably pure red fruit, gentle acidity and a fine dusting of powdery tannin that gives the wine shape without ever interrupting its flow. There is plenty of 2023 generosity through the middle, but the finish remains lifted, floral and faintly stony. Saucisson à cuire au Beaujolais is exactly the sort of rustic regional dish this wine was born to accompany: a Lyonnais-style cooking sausage slowly simmered with Beaujolais, onions, mushrooms and potatoes. The Gamay’s acidity and perfume lighten the richness of the sausage, while its savory fruit slips naturally into the wine-based sauce and earthy mushrooms. It is unpretentious food paired with a remarkably refined wine, and a wonderful demonstration of why Fleurie’s particular kind of elegance has become so difficult to resist.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Transparent","offers":[{"title":"750ml","offer_id":47559758479516,"sku":"CAUB2609-HOPP23FLEUR-750","price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0694\/6937\/2572\/files\/GregoireHoppenot_Origines_Fleurie_Beaujolais_France2023WEB.png?v=1788963939","url":"https:\/\/thecaubleist.com\/products\/gregoire-hoppenot-origines-fleurie-beaujolais-france-2023","provider":"The Caubleist","version":"1.0","type":"link"}