Chateau des Capitans Julienas 2018 - Beaujolais, Burgundy France

93/100 James Suckling
91/100 Andrea Galloni
90/100 Wine Enthusiast
90/100 Wine Spectator

Silver - Vinalies Internationales (2015 Vintage)
Bronze - Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition (2015 Vintage)
Silver - Concours General Agricole Paris (2015 Vintage)
1 Star - Le Guide Hachette des Vins (2013 Vintage)
Gold - Vinalies Internationales (2011 Vintage)
Silver - Concours General Agricole Paris (2011 Vintage)
Bronze - Japan Wine Challenge (2009 Vintage)
Gold - Concours General Agricole Paris (2006 Vintage)
Silver - Concours General Agricole Paris (2005 Vintage)
Cité - Le Guide Hachette des Vins (2002 Vintage)

James Suckling "This is very compact and defined with beautiful length and focus. Medium body. Wonderful fruit with orange peel, berries and cherries. Subtle yet forceful and elegant at the same time. Clay soils keep the vineyards fresh in the vintage." 

Wine Spectator “This light-to-medium-bodied red packs some muscle, with brooding black cherry, currant and ripe raspberry flavors, interwoven with anise, floral and mineral accents.”

Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast “Old vines from a 74-acre vineyard provide the fruit for this softly textured wine. It has weight and good concentration, with blackberry flavors and juicy acidity. Balanced and developing quickly”

Andrea Galloni “Deep, brilliant ruby. A complex, expansive bouquet evokes fresh cherry and blackberry, along with building floral and earth notes. Stains the palate with sweet red/blue fruit, violet pastille and spice cake flavors that deepen steadily on the back half. Delivers an attractive combination of richness and energy and finishes very long and juicy, with dusty, even tannins and repeating florality.”

Drinks International "One of the “Ten Most Admired Wine Brands” in the world."

Wine Advocate “Georges Duboeuf is the #1 selling brand of Beaujolais in the world”

Château des Capitans is owned by the Duboeuf family. Grapes for this wine come from a single, undivided, vineyard. Vines are all over 50 years of age.

One of the oldest producing areas within the ten Beaujolais Cru appellations, Julienas is named after the Roman emperor Julius Caesar, the area has a 2000 year history of grape production. Its varied soil composition of sedimentary alluvial soils near the Saone River and the sandy granite of the sloping vineyards on the Beaujolais hills make for wines can range from light and fruity, to densely concentrated and powerful. The appellation has a continental climate with cool nights and warm days, and an extended ripening season thanks to the long summers providing optimum conditions for growing quality fruit. Typically Julienas wines are earthy and weighty, with a deep ruby-red colour and strawberry, violet, cinnamon, redcurrant and peony aromas. The wines can be powerful, and flavours of vanilla and spices can also emerge

This wine is produced by Les Vins Georges Duboeuf which is one of the largest wine producers in France founded by the late Georges Duboeuf who was affectionately known as 'le roi du Beaujolais' (the king of Beaujolais) or sometimes pape du Beaujolais (Pope of Beaujolais). Les Vins Georges Duboeuf produces a staggering 3 million cases of wine annually. The company is most well-known for its popularization and production of Beaujolais wines. In 2018 Georges’ passed control of his company to his son Franck Duboeuf, who is considered to be one of the key specialists in Beaujolais, its terroir and its wine, and has shifted production to focus more on Beaujolais Nouveau.

Beaujolais is an important wine region of eastern France in the southern part of Burgundy, famous for its vibrant, fruity red wines made from Gamay.  The widespread plantings of Gamay here make Beaujolais one of the few regions of the world to be so focused on a single grape variety.

In some vintages, Beaujolais produces more wine than the Burgundy wine regions of Chablis, Côte d'Or, Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais put together.

Gamay is a grape variety that is most famous for producing the light, fruit-driven red wines of Beaujolais. While the variety offers fresh, red-fruit and candied aromas, it typically delivers little in the way of flavor concentration and body weight, giving light, simple wines.