Who doesn't love Beaujolais? This in-depth episode is all about this picturesque, hilly region and its geological and stylistic diversity. Recent cataloguing of the Beaujolais soils helped bring to light over 300 soil profiles that have been analyzed and described by geologists in tandem with growers, underscoring that diversity (be sure to check out the soil map, published on beaujolais.com.)
The Thieves welcome Mee Goddard to the round table, one of the newer voices in Beaujolais, who launched her Domaine in 2013 with three special bottlings of Morgon: Corcelette, Grand Cras, and Côte du Py. She focuses on “vins de garde”, wines meant to age, blending carbonic and non-carbonic techniques.
Cyril Chirouze is also on the program, Director of Winemaking and manager of Château des Jacques, owned by the venerable Maison Louis Jabot. Cyril made wine in the Côte d'Or before making the move to Beaujolais, yielding to the "siren call" of gamay, and the vast, untapped potential of the region. Today Cyril makes wines in the crus of Morgon and in Moulin-a-Vent.
Mathieu Lapierre is our third star guest at the table. Matthieu's father Marcel Lapierre was a pivotal player in the revival of Beaujolais, one of the "gang of four" who moved towards making wines with a bare minimum of intervention, what are currently often called “natural” wines. Mathieu sets the record straight on what is "traditional" winemaking in the region (spoiler: it's probably not what you think), and explains why gamay languished in northern Burgundy but flourished in the south.
John and Sara also attempt to sort out the status of the lieux-dits in Beaujolais and investigate the difference between a lieu-dit, a climat and a cru at the conclusion of the interview.
Join us as we dig beneath the multicoloured soils of Beaujolais to reveal the secrets of France's most affable wine. Santé!
This episode was produced in collaboration with the interprofessional association of Beaujolais.
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