Beaujolais

Domaine du Crêt de Bine

François and Marie-Therèse Subrin, along with their daughter Florence and nephew Geoffroy, farm 5 hectares of land in the village of Sarcey, a village situated on a high plateau tucked between the Monts Beaujolais and the Monts Lyonnais in the southwest corner of the Beaujolais appellation. The Subrin’s vineyard is planted on granite soils with significant deposits of quartz and feldspar. On average, the vines are 40 years old. They farm organically and utilize principles of biodynamic agriculture. To ensure maximum health and ripeness for their grapes, they severely limit the yields (for the vintage 2010, yields were 32hl/h) and they are willing to harvest late into the growing season (as was the case with 2012, when they harvested between September 21 and October 03).

Domaine du Crêt de Bine challenges the hierarchical supposition that a wine from southern Beaujolais cannot achieve the same intensity and complexity as wines from the Crus Beaujolais.

Read Francois comments in the Beaujolais Vintage Reports

Nicolas Chemarin farms 5 hectares of land in the village of Marchampt and a few small plots in Brouilly, Regnié and Morgon. Marchampt is a tiny village secluded in the forested hills of western Beaujolais just past Quincié-en-Beaujolais, on the edge of the Massif Central. Nicolas is the fourth generation to farm the family property and the only male of his generation to stay in the village, a fact that has earned him the nickname “Petit Grobis” a local term of endearment having to do with small hollows in trees used by owls. It was Nicolas’ father, Lucien, who first moved the family farm away from polyculture to concentrate his activities on his vineyards and wine production.

Domaine de Foretal is situated in the small village of Vauxrenard, in the northern Beaujolais. Perched at 380 meters, the family home and vineyards face south-east and provide a beautiful panorama of Fleurie and Chenas. The Perrauds have grown grapes in Vauxrenard for five generations and today it is Jean-Yves Perraud who is responsable for the property. Estate bottling began in 1995 and since taking over in the year 2000, Jean-Yves has introduced a number of sustainable farming practices such as planting grass between the rows to prevent erosion and finding alternatives to pesticides. In 2019 the domain was certified “Terra Vitis”.

Read Jean-Yves’ comments in the Beaujolais Vintage Reports

Romuald Petit farms 7 hectares in the Maconnais and 5 hectares in Beaujolais. His Burgundy parcels are primarily in Saint-Verand with a small parcel in neighboring Pruzilly. The Beaujolais parcels are primarily in Morgon with smaller holdings in Chiroubles and Saint-Amour. Romuald’s parcels in the Maconnais are typically Burgundian, in that they differ with regards to their soils, rootstocks and the age of the vines. There are young vines (aged 5-15 years) planted by Romuald, and others that are over a hundred years old, planted just after the Phylloxera crisis. Because each parcel produces grapes with very different qualities, Romuald vinifies each separately, only assembling the wines (or not) before bottling. His aim is to create a wine that is both balanced and expressive. Romuald has always farmed without chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. In 2019, he officially began his conversion toward organic certification. All wines are harvested by hand and fermented with indigenous yeast.

Read Romuald’s comments in the Burgundy Vintage Reports