Julien Sunier has shot to the top rank of Cru Beaujolais producers, joining the likes of icons/exemplars such as Marcel Lapierre and Jean Foillard. Fleurie is known not only for some of the most structured Beaujolais reds but for its concentration of big-name producers. His source for this bottling, named “Niagara,” is a small, 2.4-hectare parcel of 40-year-old vines that grow out of Fleurie’s famous roche-mère (“mother rock”) of granite. The high-elevation site—which, at nearly 600 meters, is a good 300 meters higher than his Régnié vineyard—is framed by forests and forms a steep, magnificent amphitheater that demands manual viticulture and harvest. Sunier wouldn’t have it any other way: His vineyards have been farmed organically since the domaine’s inception. The wines are exceptionally perfumed and focused, with terrific mineral drive and a very ‘Burgundian’ personality.