2020 Les Bertrand Juliénas ... 100%

VARIETAL: Gamay
REGION: Beaujolais, FR
VITICULTURE: Organic 
WINEMAKER: Yann Bertrand

Sourced from one a hectare lieu-dit “Le Riziere”. 55 year old vines on white clay with crumbly schist and sandstone. Elevage in used barriques of 5+ years of age.

Fruit and minerality, terroir focused with beautiful freshness. Integrated, the fruit is long, crunchy red apples. As it opens more fruit and florals, a chameleon. Serious with structure, yet a soft edge. To decant or not, it sings either way.

Yann Bertrand’s philosophy is simple; attain the most beautiful balance possible for the soil, as a soil with good equilibrium will produce a grape that represents the terroir where it is grown.

Established in the 1950’s by Louis Bertrand, Les Bertrand is located in a special part of Beaujolais called ‘Grand-pré’. A section that straddles the crus of both Fleurie and Morgon, rich in sandy granitic soil. The estate wines from these appellations are uniquely different even though all the vines are in the same area. The complexity found in the vineyard is demonstrated through these different cuvees. Since 2016 Yann has been working with Pascal Guignet, a grower in Julienas for cuvee Julienas…100%, the only non estate wine in this release.

The fruit is manually harvested and sorted. In the cellar vinification is cold carbonic maceration at 10-12 degrees with natural yeasts in large concrete vats. Bottling is done in Spring according to the moon, the bottling date listed on each bottle. All wines are un-fined and unfiltered.