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Château de Grand Pré, Cru Beaujolais, Brouilly

Beaujolais, France 2016 (750mL)
$29.00
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Château de Grand Pré, Cru Beaujolais, Brouilly

When we discover an obscure producer and the first wine we try is one of their premier bottlings, it’s extremely hard to follow that up in subsequent tastings, but Château de Grand Pré did it effortlessly with the debut of their lupine-labeled (more on that below) Brouilly.
At the start of the year, we fell fast and hard for their all-organic “Cuvée Spaciale,” labeling it one of our favorite Beaujolais values on the site, and this new bottling from Brouilly is right in step with its predecessor. It hails from a tiny lieu-dit within the Cru village of Brouilly, yet is made exactly with the same organic care in the vineyard and natural process in the winery. It’s also Château de Grand Pré’s inaugural vintage of this wine and quantities are dangerously low: only 80-odd cases made it to the entire U.S.—400 total cases were produced, but the French market loved it so much, a large majority was kept in the country! If you previously enjoyed the magical “Cuvée Spaciale,” today’s offer is a no-brainer. The wine is on fire right now, but can also be stowed away for a few years. Either way, in terms of price-to-quality, this is an incredible wine that blows away much of its Cru competition.
In 1972, Louis and Renée Bertrand purchased the 18th century estate of Château de Grand Pré and its respective vineyards. After handing the domaine down to their children, Guy and Christine (along with their respective spouses), a major push toward environmental care began.  Within the last decade, Louis and Renée’s grandson, Romain, returned to Beaujolais after working at wineries across the world, and, starting in 2011, helped the estate become certified organic through ECOCERT. Romain has also built upon this eco-friendly mindset by implementing natural practices in the winery (little-to-no sulfite additions, natural yeasts, neutral barrels). The domaine owns just twenty acres in total, mostly located in the Crus of Fleurie (where they are headquartered) and neighboring Morgon, with some experimentation down in Brouilly, made apparent with the introduction of today’s wine!

Gamay grapes for this Brouilly were sourced from the lieu-dit “Gorge de Loup” (loup = wolf), near the northeastern reaches of Brouilly. These 40-year-old vines were managed by hand throughout the year without any use of chemicals and grapes were harvested at yields comparable to those of Grand Cru Burgundy. In the winery, they were sent into vats without any destemming, where they underwent a long maceration in a carbonic-rich environment. After completing their natural fermentation, they were gently transferred into neutral oak barrels and demi-muids for several months. The wine was bottled both unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulfite additions—in some vintages, they are eschewed altogether. 

In the glass, Grand Pré’s 2016 Brouilly displays a brightly colored light-ruby core with soft magenta hues at the rim. The perfumed nose delivers pure aromas of freshly picked red and purple flowers alongside crushed raspberries, wild strawberry, bing cherry, and blueberry coulis that commingles with damp herbs, grape stem, and waves of crunchy minerality. It smells fresh and bright and the palate confirms it: It’s a vibrant, medium-bodied style with supple berry textures and layers of minerality. Tannins are fine-grained and there’s the slightest prickle on the palate when the wine is first opened—give it at least 30 minutes in a decanter to settle down and express its full aromatic bouquet. Even better would be to hold it for another few years to enable it to integrate further: The choice is yours, just make sure to consume in Burgundy stems while maintaining a drinking temperature of 55-60 degrees—temperature is key! Pair with the the attached recipe and enjoy!
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Country
France
Region
Beaujolais
Sub-Region
FranceBrouilly
Soil
Schist & Sand
Farming
Certified Organic
Blend
Gamay Noir 100%
Alcohol
14.0
OAK
Large Neutral Barrels
TEMP.
55-60
Glassware
Burgundy Stem
Drinking
Now-2025
Decanting
30 Minutes

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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