The Wine: Morgon 2019
The Beaujolais red natural wine Morgon from renowned farm Château De Grand Pre is a truly terroir-driven and vibrantly dynamic treasure. It’s 100% Gamay from organically farmed 50 years old vines on schist and decomposed rock soils, spontaneously fermented with carbonic maceration, so as to extract maximum freshness and elegance of fruit. It ages 3-5 months in old barrels and is bottled with no fining, filtration, and at times only the tiniest amount of added SO2. Alive with complexity and finesse, it gently deflagrates on the palate with crushed violets, licorice, and smoked pomegranate.
The Producer: Château De Grand Pre
Château De Grand Pre is a tiny jewel of a family-run natural winery located near Burgundy’s prestigious area of Morgon, near the communes of Fleurie and Villié-Morgon, also known as Beaujolais. The husband and wife team of Louis and Renée Bertrand acquired the estate in 1972, with their children becoming curious and then enamored with low intervention winemaking in the ’90s, subsequently fully embracing natural practices, as well as being certified organic since 2012. Their grandson Romaine, who worked with Jura legend Ganevat, is now at the helm and, vintage after vintage, gives birth to vibrant, nuanced, and supremely elegant natural wines.
The Region: Beaujolais
The Beaujolais wine region is located south of Burgundy. It stretches for about 50km from the town of Mâcon and its characteristic rolling hills to the flatlands bordering the regional capital and world-renown culinary center Lyon on the north.
Beaujolais wine region is split in two by the Nizerand River. The north of the river is where we find the Crus and Beaujolais Villages, whereas south of the river is where Beaujolais and Beaujolais Nouveau are made.
Gamay is the dominant grape varietal of the region giving its best when grown on the granite and sandy clay soils north of the Nizerand River and made into Beaujolais Crus and Beaujolais Villages easy-drinking delicious wines.
There are ten Beaujolais Crus where the best Beaujolais are made: Brouilly, Chenas, Chiroubles, Cote de Brouilly, Fleurie, Julienas, Morgon, Moulin-a-Vent, Regnie, and Saint-Amour.
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