Gamay

This is Beaujolais-Villages at its best from our friend Alex Burgaud. Alex, a volunteer fireman in his spare time, kept his cool in the heatwave of summer 2018; harvesting early to capture as much freshness (acidity) as possible. The resulting wine is bright in colour and ebullient in nature, brimming with floral and red fruit aromas. There’s a touch of granitic grip to the palate, which adds gravitas. Drink it lightly chilled with anything from charcuterie to halloumi burgers. Drink now to 2020.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (summer 2019)

The 2017 is the best vintage I’ve tasted of Rocaillère’s old-vine Beaujolais. On the nose, expect aromas of summer pudding and violets, while the palate offers something more profound: grippy tannins and a pronounced mineral character, which speaks of the vineyard’s shallow, rocky (granitic) soils. This super wine is at its vivacious best served lightly chilled, as an accompaniment to charcuterie or hard cheeses.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (winter 2019)

Fifth-generation winemaker Raphaël oversees 27 hectares, planted primarily with Sauvignon Blanc. His holdings include a parcel in the littleknown appellation of Touraine Oisly, but Touraine Sauvignon is his bread and butter. The domaine is located in Chémery, some 65 kilometres east of the historic city of Tours.

Raphaël adds no sulphur to this fabulously fruity, aromatic Gamay – a wine that blew us away on a recent visit to the domaine. Its bouquet of red berries and violets is one to savour. The palate is exceptionally supple, pointing to 2018’s warm, dry growing season. It is named after Raphaël’s grandfather, Jean, who was a Gamay devotee. Drink now to 2020.

From the 2017 vintage, Alex’s Beaujolais Lantignié is made exclusively from his oldest and best-sited vines, primarily on blue granite, similar to that found on the Côte du Py (where Alex’s cousin Jean-Marc works his magic). It’s vinified in similar fashion to Alex’s Beaujolais Villages but with a slightly longer maceration, producing a more complex, concentrated wine, with an enchanting, lifted nose, reminiscent of a particularly fine Fleurie. Frankly, this puts most Cru Beaujolais in the shade, and fully endorses Lantignié’s fledgling bid for Cru status. Drink now or cellar for up to three years.  
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (autumn 2018)

Made from the fruit of Alex’s oldest vines on the kind of thin, rocky soils to which Gamay responds best, this is a touch more concentrated and complex than his excellent Beaujolais-Villages. Expect black as well as ripe red berry fruit on the nose, while there’s a refreshing herbaceous character to the palate –a hallmark of the vintage – which demands another sip. Drink now to 2022.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (summer 2019)

Chiroubles is the highest in altitude and perhaps most picturesque of the Beaujolais crus. Altitude – and the cool nights it engenders – is key in warm vintages such as 2018, and particularly for this wine, which hails from a sun-kissed south-facing slope, formerly known as Côte-Rôtie. The southerly aspect delivers ripe red-fruit aromas, with hints of cola and spice (a hallmark of this wine, Bernard notes), counterbalanced by refreshing acidity and an appetising cherry-stone minerality to the finish. Try it with tartare or carpaccio of beef or (more likely in my house) cold roast beef sandwiches. Drink now to 2022.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (October 2019)

Grown in the climat of Douby, which borders Fleurie, this combines Fleurie’s fresh, floral charm with the structure one expects from a Morgon (particularly from this fabled producer). The 2018 is particularly successful, with generous ripe red-fruit flavours wrapped around a cooling mineral core – a calling card of old-vine Gamay on granite slopes. Like all the Desvignes’s wines, La Voûte is made by semi-carbonic maceration in concrete vats, but the maceration is shorter than for the more extracted, long-lived Javernières or Les Impénitents. Drink it lightly chilled with anything porky or – a slightly less predictable pairing – chilli con carne. Drink now to 2022.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (October 2019)

Bernard Métrat remains as modest as ever, but his wines go from strength to strength. The 2018 Roilette has a complex bouquet of violets, red and black berry fruit, cola and a hint of black pepper which, Bernard points out, is characteristic of the eponymous vineyard. The 2018 vintage’s warm, dry summer has imbued this wine with exceptionally supple tannins, but it doesn’t lack for freshness – the 60-year-old vines here have roots deep enough to access water even in a drought. Try it with crispy duck pancakes (but go easy on the plum sauce). Drink now to 2023. 
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (summer 2019)

Jean-Marc’s vines at the top of the Côte du Py suffered from hail on May 19th, so his mid-slope south-facing vines – which, he says, are most expressive of the slope’s famous blue granite – had more of a say than usual in the final blend. While this has a hugely attractive bouquet of berry fruit and flowers, it’s the intense mineral character of the palate that makes a real impression. Expect mouth-watering acidity and firm, fine-grained tannins that soften with time in the glass or decanter. There’s plenty of ripe fruit too, courtesy of a relatively warm growing season. A brilliant wine from one of the finest terroirs in Beaujolais, not to mention one of the finest winemakers.
Will Heslop – Burgundy Buying Assistant

Less concentrated than the Montpelain, but more outgoing, this is a bright, juicy Morgon for early to medium-term drinking. It hails from a sandy, southeast-facing parcel at over 450 metres’ altitude, where the grapes retain plenty of acidity even in warmer vintages like 2018. It’s initially characterised by ripe red berry aromas and supple, easy-going tannins, but linger over the glass and subtle notes of blackcurrant leaf and grilled meat begin to emerge. Great with bangers and mash, it’s epic with saucisse lyonnaise cooked in the wine itself. Drink now to 2024.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (autumn 2019)

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As ever, this is Louis’s richest and most serious wine, displaying a nose of rich, black fruit and savoury spice. There is still wonderful purity, along with an enormous density of black cherry fruit at the core. The structure is equally dense and present, but is balanced by the softness in the mid-palate. Once again, the lingering impression is one of freshness and energy. A wine which needs significant time to realise its potential. Drink 2022-2030.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

The excellence of Cru Beaujolais is something I have held dear for some time, but its ageing potential was first brought to my attention when I was served two Moulin-à-Vent wines from 1961 and 1962 produced by Camille Giroud. The freshness and complexity of these wines was simply astonishing and I have since made it something of a personal mission to return these great wines to their rightful place in the cellars and on the tables of the most discerning wine drinkers. The wines in our offer cover a range of styles; whole-bunch, de-stemmed, oaked, unoaked, elegant and floral, dense and structured. This almost endless variety and versatility is what is most fascinating about Gamay grown on Beaujolais’s volcanic soils. What the wines have in common, however, is that they all offer excellent value for money and great drinking pleasure.

Having recently taken over from their father, brother and sister team Louis-Benoît and Claude- Emmanuelle Desvignes are making some of the most exciting wines in the village of Morgon, one of the top crus of Beaujolais. They make wines without using any oak, allowing the grapes and soil to express themselves.

Medium ruby in colour with vibrant purple highlights, the nose offers lifted, floral top notes and fresh raspberry fruit, while the palate is juicy, crunchy and energetic. There is a gentle sweetness to the red cherry fruit which marries seamlessly with the fine and chalky tannins. Drink now to 2024.

Montpelain hails from the eponymous vineyard, whose distinctive soil – rich in manganese – explains the difference between this wine and the equally excellent Corcelette. Both wines are made the same way, namely semi-carbonic maceration in open-top concrete vats, prior to six months’ ageing also in concrete. Montpelain, however, has a darker fruit profile, with aromas of dried flowers and an engaging herbaceous character to the finish. It’s a sure-fire hit with charcuterie, but also a useful match for meatier fish dishes such as poached halibut. Drink now to 2026.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (autumn 2019)

This complex, dramatic wine is a blend of fruit from seven separate parcels around the Côte de Brouilly. It is vinified in concrete, then aged for seven months in large oak vats (some over a century old). There are hints of black pepper and liquorice on the nose, while the palate is characterised by grippy tannins, cool red fruit flavours and fresh acidity, all of which speak of the vertiginous slopes; thin, sandy soils and blue granite emblematic of the appellation. Drink now to 2024.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (summer 2019)

The third vintage of Wild Soul is the first to be made exclusively from grapes grown in Lantignié, a commune renowned for its concentrated, age-worthy Beaujolais-Villages. It’s marginally fuller-bodied than its predecessors, but with the same explosive aromatics, fresh acidity and sheer buvabilité. Conceived for early-drinking, Wild Soul has no S02 added, but is bottled with a higher level of CO2 than Julien’s cru wines – this protects the wine (in the absence of SO2) and contributes a very subtle, energising spritz to the attack.This pairs brilliantly with quiche Lorraine. Expect to make short shrift of a bottle. Drink now to 2021.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (summer 2019)

Moulin-à-Vent was badly hailed in 2017, so Olivier did not make a bottling of his single-vineyard La Rochelle, instead blending the fruit into this single bottling. Théo looked after the vinification, de-stemming the fruit and using very gentle extraction to produce a gorgeous, pretty wine with rich red and black cherry, white pepper and a concentrated but fresh feel. Drink 2019-2025.

Olivier is taking many steps to counteract the warmer summers and earlier harvests; managing the canopy to protect grapes from sunburn, using late-ripening rootstocks, reducing the amount of new oak he uses to keep the wines feeling fresher, and bringing harvest dates forward to retain acidity. The 2017 crop is around 15 percent down due to the dry summer which stressed the grapes. Picking began on 27th August and Olivier feels the wines are a little richer than 2016, but still with very good balance and well-integrated oak.

This is the second vintage of Claire’s fabulous Gamay, made from grapes grown by her friends in the Allier département (Auvergne). So pleased was Claire with the 2016 – born of necessity when her vines in the Hautes-Côtes were severely frosted – that she repeated the experiment. In our view, the ’17 is even better. It’s slightly hazy in the glass and brick red in colour. The nose is intensely varietal, with red berry and floral aromas to the fore. As for the palate, it’s ever so slightly spritzy, but clean as a whistle. This isn’t a wine for laying down, or one to savour over consecutive nights – no, it’s an exceptionally expressive, energetic wine to drink with great gusto but minimal ceremony. Drink now to 2020.
Adam Bruntlett, Buyer (summer 2019) 

Even in its infancy, the 2018 Griottes is exceptionally complex, with a gamut of aromas including ripe red and blue berries, cola, black pepper and liquorice. The eponymous vineyard’s southerly aspect results in a relatively ripe, concentrated wine, yet its thin, rocky blue soils – emblematic of the Côte de Brouilly – contribute a cool, mineral character to the palate. The 2018 vintage will drink well right out of the blocks, but don’t hesitate to tuck away a few bottles, to marvel at just how well it ages. Drink now to 2024.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (summer 2019) 

Julien’s 2018 Régnié is as expressive, open and downright fun as he is. It is blended from four well-sited parcels of old vines on sandy soils, with pockets of clay (seldom seen in neighbouring Fleurie) and frequent protrusions of pink granite. Julien chose to age 40% of the blend in concrete eggs, which have added a touch more weight and texture compared to previous editions, without detracting from the finesse and energy that are this wine’s hallmark. A versatile food wine, but I can bare happy witness to its compatibility with tomates farcies. Drink now to 2023.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (summer 2019)

This powerful, concentrated Moulin-à-Vent is distinctly Burgundian in style. The grapes are 100% de-stemmed, and the wine raised in 500-litre barrels (around 10% new). Expect aromas of juicy dark fruit, savoury spice and cola. The tannins are more supple than in the equally excellent Brussellions, suggesting this will be ready to drink a little earlier. Drink now to 2024.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (spring 2019)

This is a powerful, voluptuous Morgon from clay-rich soils at the foot of the Côte du Py. For all its concentration, the 2018 is approachable now – its supple tannins and ripe fruit profile are characteristic of the warm, dry ’18 vintage. There are subtle hints of black fruit and spice here, but ripe red fruit aromas take centre stage for the time being. But this is categorically a wine that will pinote or Morgonne (come to resemble Pinot rather than Gamay) over time. Have no qualms about cellaring it for eight to 10 years. Drink now to 2028.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (summer 2019)

Julien’s Fleurie is, in our minds, his finest wine. Raised in old oak barrels from a very famous address in Chambolle-Musigny, this is a classic Fleurie; seductive, perfumed and ethereal. Julien’s winemaking style – using minimal sulphur and intervening as little as possible – ensures that this is a wine which constantly evolves in the glass, morphing from red fruit to black, from brambles to irises and rose petals. A truly complex wine which is rich yet refreshing.

Since it was first produced in 2009, Les Impénitents has rapidly become one of the most celebrated wines from Beaujolais. It is made from the domaine’s oldest vines, some planted in 1914, in the heav y clay and iron-oxide soils of the lieu-dit Javernières, at the foot of the Côte du Py. Yields here are never greater than 25hl/ha, resulting in a wine of exceptional concentration. The 2016 is relatively open at present – with spice and ripe red, black and blue fruit aromas – but may well tighten up for a year or two before revealing the full extent of its majesty. The palate is voluminous, yet alive with bright acidity. The black sheep on the label is an homage to Louis Claude Desvignes, father of Louis-Benoît and Claude-Emmanuelle, who was a vocal opponent of the industrial methods – notably thermovinification – prevalent in Beaujolais in the 1980s. Accordingly, this cuvée is made in the traditional méthode beaujolaise: semi-carbonic maceration, prior to long maturation (16 months) in large concrete vats. Drink 2020-2030.
Will Heslop, Wine Buyer

The excellence of Cru Beaujolais is something I have held dear for some time, but its ageing potential was first brought to my attention when I was served two Moulin-à-Vent wines from 1961 and 1962 produced by Camille Giroud. The freshness and complexity of these wines was simply astonishing and I have since made it something of a personal mission to return these great wines to their rightful place in the cellars and on the tables of the most discerning wine drinkers. The wines in our offer cover a range of styles; whole-bunch, de-stemmed, oaked, unoaked, elegant and floral, dense and structured. This almost endless variety and versatility is what is most fascinating about Gamay grown on Beaujolais’s volcanic soils. What the wines have in common, however, is that they all offer excellent value for money and great drinking pleasure.

From a parcel totalling 0.66 hectares, these 55-yearold vines are planted on blue granite soil on the Mont de Brouilly. A quarter was whole-bunch fermented. The nose has rich, almost black fruit and a touch of garrigue spice, while the palate is stony with meaty black cherry and a firm, mineral texture. Drink 2021-2028.

Michel Lafarge (b. 1928) and his son Frédéric make use of their combined experience to produce some of the greatest wines in Volnay. There is nothing modern in their winemaking, though the meticulous care of their biodynamically farmed vineyards puts the domaine at the forefront of viticultural practices. When they are working on a patch of vines they are usually accompanied by their hens who eat up any lurking pests. The grapes are de-stemmed, vinified traditionally and very little new oak is used in the cellar. In 2014, they purchased vineyards in the Beaujolais which are farmed using the same biodynamic practices as employed in the Côte de Beaune.

Frédéric was keen to highlight the solidarity shown between vignerons at the end of April, as they mobilised to put in place measures to prevent a repeat of the frosts of 2016. Burning dampened straw bales at strategic locations, they succeeded in creating cloud cover which saved the vast majority of the vineyards. He also stressed the importance of “fractional harvesting” – waiting until each parcel is fully ripe before picking – and feels that the domaine’s biodynamic practices allow the grapes to achieve even ripening and balance, a real boon in early vintages such as 2017. For those with long memories, 90-year-old Michel compares 2017 to 1947 and 1964

Julien’s Fleurie is his signature cuvée – and is one of our favourite wines from all Beaujolais. It’s made from grapes grown in two organic-certified parcels on steep slopes in the lieux-dits of La Tonne and Grand Prés. Ageing takes place in oak barrels that are around 10 years old. The resulting wine is intensely aromatic, with an ever-changing bouquet including summer pudding and violets. While the nose becomes more expressive with time in the glass, the palate seems to become more precise: there’s a cool, mineral thread beneath this wine’s voluptuous exterior. Served lightly chilled, it’s a fabulous accompaniment to cold or barbecued meats. Drink now to 2022.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (summer 2019)