”Five different bottlings of Julienas is the record,” chuckles Duboeuf by way of commenting on the degree to which he thinks 2009 is an optimum vintage for this appellation; and speaking of degree, some lots of Julienas, he confirms, reached 16% natural alcohol – the house record – and even the basic Duboeuf 2009 Julienas breaks 14%. Dark and almost black-rimmed even by the unusual standards of its vintage, this mingles cherry liqueur and prune in an impressively voluminous but heat-free display of overwhelming fruit. Hints of mint, sage, and salt accent an almost powerful finish, and although – from tank at least – there is a touch of finishing roughness and no particular complexity, one cannot deny that this delivers bang for the buck. The vast and on the whole stylistically consistent range of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais bottlings – a majority issuing from individual domaines – represents a reliable source of value, and this has seldom been more true (nor has the range – most, but not all of which, I tasted – been more vast) than from 2009, which it is clear Duboeuf considers as fine a vintage as he has witnessed – although he notes, “It was very difficult this year to choose the date of bottling,” and many wines were still in tank awaiting that decision when I tasted in April. I continue to find as a general rule that Duboeuf’s wines are best drunk within two years of bottling, so in my notes I have made reference to aging potential only for any wines that I expect might be exceptions to that rule of thumb. (Wines identified solely by their appellation are so-called “Selections Georges Duboeuf” cuvees, labeled with his company’s signature flower labels. There are Regnie and Chenas selection bottlings that I did not taste, the latter being the sole bottling of its appellation this vintage, due to the ravages of hail.)Importer: William Deutsch & Son Ltd., White Plains, NY; tel. (914) 251-9463