Wine Critic
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Frederic Cossard 'Fleurie' 2022
The 2022 Frédéric Cossard Fleurie shows a more fragrant and fine-boned side of Cossard’s work in Beaujolais. It is made from 100% Gamay grown on Fleurie’s granitic soils, where the combination of the grape and the site can produce wines defined less by weight than by perfume, freshness, and a certain deceptively gentle structure.
The fruit is hand-harvested and vinified as whole clusters through approximately 15 days of carbonic maceration, then aged for around a year in concrete eggs. The use of concrete is particularly well suited to this wine: it gives the fruit room to settle and gain texture while avoiding the woody imprint that can easily overwhelm Fleurie’s floral character. As with Cossard’s other wines, it is made naturally, without added sulfur.
In the glass, expect a bright, transparent red with aromas of raspberry, sour cherry, wild strawberry, violet, and a quiet peppery note. The palate is juicy and finely drawn, carrying the freshness of red berries alongside soft tannins, a mineral line from the granite soils, and a lightly savory finish. It has enough energy to be enjoyed lightly chilled, yet enough shape to prove that Fleurie is not simply a pretty wine.
The 2022 vintage adds a little more generosity than a cooler year would, but Cossard’s handling keeps the wine focused. It is the kind of bottle that can look almost effortless next to more formal Burgundy, then quietly disappear before anyone has had time to call it “just Beaujolais.”
