Supremely drinkable, with a nose of carbo bubblegum and crushed peppercorn spice, followed by some deep black cherry fruit and a lick of acidity, all underpinned with stony minerals. True to a scorching 2022 vintage in the region, with drought followed by long-awaited rains in mid-August, it shows more density and ripeness this time around, but certainly does not lack that supreme delicacy and fine-grained tannic structure we know and love. A lip-smacking wine of immediate pleasure.
100% Gamay from a rented parcel outside of the family domaine, further south in Quincié, that has now completed organic conversion. Planted over soils of blue schist, sandy granite and limestone, the vines are around 50 years old. In concrete tanks the grapes undergo carbonic maceration in whole bunches with no pigéage or pumping over, then are pressed off after 8 days, before being returned to concrete for 6 months to come to rest. Racked with the turn of the moon, it was bottled in mid-February 2023.
Unlike many of the better-known dynasties of natural winemakers in Beaujolais, Elisa Guerin is not being passed the baton of established family tradition, she is forging a new path. The Guerins, based in Chénas, farm 4 hectares of vines across the Moulin-à-Vent and Chiroubles appellations that have been in the family since the early 1900s. Elisa, a trained agronomist, is the first generation to break out to pursue her vision of chemical-free viticulture over these sites and natural methods in the cellar. Very much at the beginning of what promises to be a fascinating journey, in 2019 Elisa began the long process of converting the land, with the long-term goal being to have the estate completely turned over to organics. With a strong focus on environmental impact, the plan extends to diversifying the landscape and encouraging biodiversity with the planting of hedgerows and fruit trees, and to experiment with new methods of fertilisation, using plant-based extracts and treatments. There will also be some white grapes popping up alongside all that Gamay, with plantings of Aligoté and Melon de Bourgogne. She has begun with a small production of Beaujolais-Villages, from 50 year-old vines in conversion - the first to be bottled under her own name - as well as a couple of other cuvées from a mixture of small parcels in Moulin-à-Vent, plus a wine from the higher elevation cru of Chiroubles. As the reins are, piece by piece, handed over from her father, Philippe, Elisa is also changing the way the wines are vinified; fermenting only with native yeasts, raising the wines in concrete rather than barrels and scrupulously minimising any additions, seeking to create expressions of Gamay that reflect this varied terroir of granite, limestone and schist. The wines themselves are a real labour of love and make for compelling representations of the region; a precise balance of elegance, concentration and purity of fruit, with an underlying mineral aspect. They are, above all, a real pleasure to drink and we’re so happy to be bringing them all to the UK for the first time. We can’t help but feel Elisa is destined for great things.
