About this WINE
Domaine Julien Sunier
Born in Dijon to a non-winemaking family, Julien Sunier decided in his teens to pursue a career in wine. His interest was fostered by Christophe Roumier, a friend of his parents. After studying oenology and viticulture at university, Julien did work experience with Roumier and with Jasper Morris MW (the leading Burgundy specialist), in Jasper’s days running Morris & Verdin.
Julien settled in Beaujolais to work for the large Boisset group, but always intended to establish his own domaine. In 2007 his purchased two hectares in Fleurie, which he farmed organically from the outset. Today his domaine extends to a little over five hectares – a small but perfectly formed property, with holdings in Fleurie, Régnié and Morgon. As well as wines from the crus, he makes a fabulous Beaujolais-Villages – Wild Soul – from bought-in grapes, grown in Lantignié.
Julien’s approach in the winery is hands-off: he uses only natural yeast, minimal SO2 and rarely filters his wines, which are characterised by scintillating floral aromatics, great freshness, and a sense of place and energy. He is now well-established as one of the region’s star producers, part of a wave of talented, ambitious young winemakers (many of those dedicated to organic viticulture) who are today redefining how Beaujolais is perceived.
Gamay
A French variety planted predominately in Beaujolais where it is the grape behind everything from light and often acidic Beaujolais Nouveau through to the more serious and well-structured wines from the 10 cru villages. It takes its name from a hamlet just outside Chassagne-Montrachet and was at one stage widely planted on the Côte d`Or. However it was gradually phased out due to its poor yield and supposed poor quality of its wines.
The majority of Gamay wines in Beaujolais are labelled as Beaujolais or Beaujolais-Villages and are deliciously juicy, easy drinking, gulpable wines. Of more interest are the Cru wines from the 10 villages in the north of the region where the soil is predominantly granitic schist and where the vines are planted on gently undulating slopes. These can be well-structured, intensely perfumed wines, redolent of ripe black fruits and, while delicious young, will reward medium term cellaring.
Gamay is also grown in the Touraine region of the Loire where it produces soft, well-balanced, gluggable wines for drinking young.
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Description
Julien has 2.20ha of 30 year old Fleurie Beaujolais vines at 470m altitude, straight on the mother rock. (A further 0.65ha of 35 year old vines arrive in 2014, equally high but on plateau, lieu-dit La Tonne, not steep slope. Already hailed three times in 2014 in Fleurie, lost 25%.) Lovely pale red colour, with a superb delicacy to the nose, violets dominant. Really stylish, very fresh, light and lovely. Great length to it as well. Drink 2014-2017. Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Julien considers 2013 similar to 2012, another difficult year in the vineyards and very late season. He finished on 14th October with his high Fleurie vineyards, 34 hl ha in total, up from 31 in 2012, having worked hard to avoid mildew. The grapes came in at alcohol levels between 10.8 and 11.2% but were chaptalised only by 0.4%.
No sulphur was added until 10mg/l at bottling, none before. Julien espouses whole bunch fermentation, using one pied de cuve per appellation, but carefully controlled to avoid acetate or brettanomyces. He limited the wines to just 8 to 10 days cuvaison in 2012 and 2013 to suit the style of these two years, submerging the cap by the use of a grill for a steady, gentle extraction. The wine is taken out of tank into barrel while sugar remains and continues fermentation in barrel often up to Christmas. The wines are then matured in ten year old barrels throughout.
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