Georges Duboeuf Chénas 2003 Tasting Notes

You find this wine has personality first off, with a nose that is hardly shy. Black cherry, dried cherry, and even notes of candied cherry, plum and prune come first, but right behind them are aromas of chocolate, baking spice, and violets. It is all tied together with a sensation of earth (the French call it terroir, but I am on a campaign to use that good old English word “dirt”). The nose isn't the entire wine in this case, but it leads the kind of aromatic experience that makes you enjoy a few unhurried swirls and sniffs before you tilt the glass back. The nose perceives extraction, and it is not wrong.

The Chénas is a touch over medium in body, bringing considerable mouthfeel without abandoning that Beaujolais lightness. The triple-cherry theme continues in the mouth, with plum and cranberry, the violet again, and dried smoked leaves mixed with earth. An initial sensation of cocoa becomes a richer chocolate on the mid-palate. Both the acidity, which approaches racy, and the confident tannins combine nicely with the fullness of flavor in the wine's strong finish.