2022 Karim Vionnet Beur Blanc

WINEMAKER: Karim Vionnet
REGION: Beaujolais, FR
VARIETY: Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Organic

Chardonnay from 63-year-old vines on limestone; old Chauvet vineyard; whole bunch fermented and raised for eight months in fibreglass.

Karim was born in Lyon, to Algerian parents. He was adopted by a family in Morgon, where he worked for 10 years as a vineyard-hand and winemaker for Beaujolais legends such as Guy Breton and Marcel Lapierre.

When he started his own operation, he was told that the use of his first name on labels would make sales difficult in modern-day France. So, he initially labelled his wines simply as ‘K. Vionnet.’ As time passed, Karim fully embraced his North African roots and wore the name ‘Karim’ with pride on his bottles, naming his Beaujolais Villages Cuvee “Du Beur Dans Les Pinards”. This loosely translates to “The Arab in your wine” derived from the French expression “du beurre dans les épinards“- something you say when you have some extra money in your pocket that would allow you to “add a bit of butter in your spinach.” Today he farms 5ha of land organically from different sites in Beaujolais with some of his bush vines being 40-60 years old.