2023 Domaine Marcel Lapierre Raisins Gaulois, Beaujolais, France
Regular price $26.00
Unit price per
100% Gamay
The methods at Lapierre are just as revolutionary as they are traditional; the detail and precision with which they work is striking and entirely different from the mass-produced majority of Beaujolais on the market today. Decomposed granite comprises most of their eleven hectares, and the vines are an average of 45 years of age. Grapes are picked at the last possible moment to obtain the ripest fruit, which is a trademark of the estate style. The Lapierres age their wines on fine lees for at least nine months in oak foudres and fûts ranging from three to thirteen years old. These wines are the essence of Morgon: bright, fleshy fruit with a palatable joie de vivre that was undoubtedly inherited from their creator. In the words of KLWM salesperson Sam Imel, “They are meant to be devoured.”
The name translates to something straightforward and entirely fitting: “Wine of France”– meaning, nothing fancy appellation-wise–even though most of its fruit grows firmly in the region’s illustrious cru of Morgon. And “Gallic Grapes,” a nickname inspired by their ancestors once inhabiting the region, the Gauls, who used to store whole bunches of grapes in stone vats before fermentation. This technique later evolved into today’s carbonic maceration, a fruit-enhancing practice for which the region is famous. To vinify this ultra lightweight red, siblings Camille and Mathieu let young vines grow freely in order to reach yields beyond the strict limits for the appellation, which unburdens them from intensity and concentration.
The 2023 vintage of “Raisins Gaulois” is as lively as any Lapierre has ever produced. It’s raised sulfur-free for just two months in cuve, which seems like barely enough time for fruit juice to become a wine– but that’s the whole point! Pure Gamay bottled unfiltered with a convenient screw cap and iconic label to boot. You can take it anywhere: the beach, a grassy field, a movie theater? It’s a wine for the present to keep parched palates hydrated with something raw and refreshing. Cheers to that.
(Jane Augustine)