Burgundy’s Southern Frontier: Beaujolais’s Distinctive Crus, Chiseled Wines, and Domaine de Vernus’ Pursuit of Place and Precision – Six Bottles from the 2022 Vintage ($269)

In literature, a character study is a critical examination of a single character to understand not only their significance to a given narrative, but as a way of better understanding the work as a whole. This week, we will undertake a similar focus on a lone, but phenomenal Beaujolais winemaker (Guillaume Rouget of Domaine de Vernus) in order to see how a single talented vigneron can exemplify the moods, the changes, the whims of a region where a diverse terroir remains committed to a single grape variety, Gamay. We are offering a sample of winemaker Guillaume Rouget’s interpretation of the 2022 vintage in some of the region’s top Crus.

Rouget brings with him the proper pedigree: The grand-nephew of Henri Jayer (the Burgundian innovator known for making some of the most critically acclaimed and expensive Pinot Noirs in the world), he was trained to the vine from childhood, first by his father Emmanuel Rouget and then at the École des Vins de Bourgogne in Beaune. When Rouget decided to join forces with Domaine de Vernus owner Frédéric Jametton in Régnié-Durette, it was to pursue a shared goal: Producing elegant, racy wines that display the intense fruitiness of Gamay along with age-worthy structure that can develop complexity over time alongside the best Burgundies.

A true renaissance man in Beaujolais, Rouget’s handling of various top Crus may not be ‘Beaujolais Nouveau,’ but it is very much the new Beaujolais.

The 2022 vintage overcame a few unique challenges, and we urge you to compare and contrast these bottlings to their counterparts from the 2020 and 2019 vintage, also available from us outside the scope of this week’s 6-bottle package.

Guillaume Rouget with father Emmanuel Rouget, Domaine Emmanuel Rouget in Vosne-Romanée and Flagey-Echézeaux

Between 1960 and 1984, Beaujolais Nouveau grew from 5% of the appellation’s sales to 52%, leaving a generation of wine drinkers with the idea that term ‘Beaujolais’ was synonymous with bubblegum-scented mist rising from a glass of quaffable but desperately simple red wine. Despite the technicality of being an appendage of Burgundy, nothing could be less Burgundian than a candied-fruit, tannin-free gulp that is aggressively uniform from label to label and reaches its gustatory peak within a month of its release.

All this is result of a marketing coup wherein the fermentation technique that produces these identifying aromas (known to the wine world simply as ‘carbonic’) was used to promote a wine to enjoy without overthinking, an affordable and delicious (if not sumptuous) path to wine appreciation. Full carbonic is a modern process in which whole clusters of grapes are carefully put in tanks dosed with carbon dioxide and sealed up; over days, or at the most a few weeks, an anaerobic fermentation takes place inside each individual grape. In semi-carbonic (a method more typical for Beaujolais) CO2 is not pumped into the fermenter, but supplied by fermentation of crushed grapes at the bottom of the tank.

Although a new generation of winemaker is intent on moving away from the bubblegum bondage of the recent path, they are also confronting the existential question of what the public expects from a Beaujolais. How closely identified with ‘fruity and frivolous’ is the name, and of even more importance, what is the true nature of the Gamay grape when these floating and congenial aromas are left behind in the fermentation vessel?

Of course, true Beaujolais lovers never abandoned the Crus, and had no reason to be seduced by the parade of glug-glugs. And in response, a new generation of Beaujolais winemaker has a response, and that is to explore the potential of their pet grape when treated to techniques more in keeping with their cousins to the north in the Côte d’Or.

The ultimate challenge is to create wines that are less fruity, more structured, darker, denser and will improve with age without losing sight of the sheer joyousness that is Gamay’s most endearing characteristic.

Beaujolais Unearthed: Geological Riches

The biggest error a Beaujolais neophyte makes is an expectation of one-dimensional predictability. To be fair, the mistake easy to make based on the region’s reliance on Gamay, a grape that elsewhere may produce simple and often mediocre wine. In Beaujolais’ terroir, however, it thrives.

In fact, this terroir is so complex that it nearly defies description. But Inter-Beaujolais certainly tried: Between 2009 and 2018, they commissioned a colossal field study to establish a detailed cartography of the vineyards and to create a geological snapshot of the exceptional richness found throughout Beaujolais’s 12 appellations.

Beaujolais may not be geographically extensive, but geologically, it’s a different story. The region bears witness to 500 million years of complex interaction between the eastern edge of the Massif Central and the Alpine phenomenon of the Tertiary period, leaving one of the richest and most complex geologies in France. Over 300 distinct soil types have been identified. Fortunately, Gamay—the mainstay grape, accounting for 97% of plantings—flourishes throughout these myriad terroirs. In the south, the soil may be laden with clay, and sometimes chalk; the landscape is characterized by rolling hills. The north hosts sandy soils that are often granitic in origin. This is the starting point wherein each appellation, and indeed, each lieu-dit draws its individual character. There are ten crus, the top red wine regions of Beaujolais, all of them located in the hillier areas to the north, which offer freer-draining soils and better exposure, thereby helping the grapes to mature more fully.

The Landscape of Beaujolais: A Patchwork of Hills and a Palette of Ten Crus

Beaujolais is a painter’s dream, a patchwork of undulating hills and bucolic villages. It is also unique in that relatively inexpensive land has allowed a number of dynamic new wine producers to enter the business. In the flatter south, easy-drinking wines are generally made using technique known as carbonic maceration, an anaerobic form of closed-tank fermentation that imparts specific, recognizable flavors (notably, bubblegum and Concord grape). Often sold under the Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages appellations, such wines tend to be simple, high in acid and low in tannin, and are ideal for the local bistro fare. Beaujolais’ suppler wines generally come from the north, where the granite hills are filled with rich clay and limestone. These wines are age-worthy, and show much more complexity and depth. The top of Beaujolais’ classification pyramid is found in the north, especially in the appellations known as ‘Cru Beaujolais’: Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Côte de Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Régnié and Saint-Amour.

Each are distinct wines with definable characteristics and individual histories; what they have in common beyond Beaujolais real estate is that they are the pinnacle of Gamay’s glory in the world of wine.

From Thunder to Lilt: Beaujolais in Two Acts – The Structured 2020 and the Vibrant 2022

Beaujolais—like the rest of France—spent the 2020 growing season shaken by Covid. The weather remained relatively free of debility, however, beginning with a mild and frost-free spring that developed into a hot summer without hail or disease. The biggest worry producers encountered was drought, which cut yields. Even so, by harvest, the majority of grapes were in fine health with rich, ripe flavors. These low yields made concentrated, complex wines capable of improving with moderate cellar time, which means that they are likely peaking now.

2022, on the other hand, began with a chilly winter that saw some icy lows. April, especially, delivered harsh winter frosts. Fortunately, most of the nascent buds managed to skate through the frosts unscathed and May brought unusually warm, dry weather that ensured a successful flowering and fruit set. June presented Beaujolais with collection of violent storms, although considering the dry conditions of the previous month, this was not entirely unwelcome.

A fiercely hot and dry July then marked the beginning of rainless summer. Although there are plenty of advantages to a hot, dry summer (arid conditions keep vines berries clean from rot and disease and pushes the grapes to phenolic ripeness), yields were again—as in 2020—reduced. The quality of the fruit, however, was fantastic as the intense heat concentrated the juice, making for some very rich, flavorful wines.

Quantity is limited, and perhaps 2022’s biggest challenge for Beaujolais houses was producing enough wine to fill demand.

Domaine de Vernus

After thirty years in the prosaic world of insurance brokerage, Frédéric Jametton decided to do a rakehell turn on his career trajectory. Having been born in Dijon and lived in Burgundy for most of his life, he had become an enlightened wine lover. Not only that, but his former profession brought him in contact with numerous members of the wine community. At the end of 2017, he realized that the time had come to invest in a winery.

Initially looking in the south, he became convinced that the heat spikes brought on by climate change made it unsuitable for the long haul, and after discussions with his friend Guillaume Rouget of Flagey-Echézeaux (who agreed to come on board as a consultant) Jametton settled on Beaujolais, piecing together 30 acres of vineyards acquired from 12 different proprietors, and is gradually restructuring parcels with a view to more sustainable farming.

Winemaker Guillaume Rouget, left, with Frédéric Jametton, Domaine de Vernus

Thanks in part to Rouget’s influence, vinification is conducted along Burgundian lines, with around 70% of the grapes destemmed and fermented in stainless steel with élevage in recently-used, high-quality Burgundy barrels for some 10–11 months. Jametton’s ultimate goal, echoed by Rouget, is to offer a range of wines that brings out the best of the different terroirs while respecting the character and personality of each Cru and each plot.

With Rouget in charge of the vineyards and winemaking process, Frédéric remains at the management helm and spearheads marketing.

Régnié: A Cru of Contrasts, from Light and Lively to Structured and Age-Worthy

Many Beaujolais wines are best consumed in their youth, and this is a quality emphasized with gusto by Régnié, the youngest of the Beaujolais crus. In fact, it wasn’t until 1988 that a group of 120 wine growers lobbied to get the appellation officially recognized, pointing out the newcomer in the family has plenty to offer: Its favorable geographical location between its two brothers, Brouilly and Morgon, allows the production of wines of a unique fruitiness.

Often called the ‘Prince of the Crus’, Régnié’s terroir is distinguished by the pink granite soils found high in the Beaujolais hills. Here, at some of the highest altitudes in the region, vines are planted on coarse, sandy soils that are highly permeable and drain freely, an environment which is well suited to the Gamay grape variety.

Further down the slopes, higher proportions of clay with better water storage capabilities lead to a slightly more structured style of wine. The variation within the vineyard area allows growers to produce everything from fresh, light wines to heavier, more age-worthy examples of Régnié.

 1  Domaine de Vernus, 2022 Régnié ($35)
As a granitic Cru, Régnié wines are often distinguished by powerful and elegant floral notes. Vernus’ 2022 was crate-harvested from 42 year old vines, entirely destemmed and subject to alternating grape-treading, pump-over and délestage—a technique through which fermenting wine is drained from the skins and seeds into a separate vessel, then pumped back over the cap of the pomace; this process helps extract color, flavor, and tannins while also softening the wine by minimizing harsh tannins. Fermentation is on natural yeasts. The wine is resplendent with sour cherry, wild raspberry and underscored with earthiness.

5280 bottles made from 3.4-acre parcel.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Régnié ($34)
From vines with an average age of 40 years. 100% destemmed with three weeks of fermentation time on native yeasts followed by ten months maturation, half in oak barrels and half in stainless steel tanks. The wine has a lively acidity behind notes of sour cherry kirsch with hints of agave and pepper.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2019 Régnié ($80) 1.5 Liter
From the spectacular and intense 2019 vintage, this wine is in magnum, allowing for a slower maturation process in the cellar.

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Chiroubles: The Rooftops of Beaujolais

Granite is notorious for its strong erosion effects on soils and Chiroubles finds a perfect balance with light, sandy soils that remain moist throughout the summer; the climate tends to be oceanic, though with a Mediterranean and Continental touch.

Chiroubles is relatively tiny, with fewer than a thousand acres under vine, but it is a mouse that roars. This is due mostly to elevation: Chiroubles vineyards are the highest in Beaujolais, with some planted 1500 feet above the Saône River valley. Taking advantage of extreme diurnal shifts between the warm days and cold nights, the same soils that produce Fleurie to its immediate north here build wines that are lighter and fresher, often with pronounced floral characteristics.

 2  Domaine de Vernus, 2022 Chiroubles ($37)
From the highest-altitude vines in Beaujolais the Verbomet (63 years) and Châtenay (36 years), both featuring terroir built on shallow granitic soil. The back-breaking work required to harvest on the steep slopes of Chiroubles produces an airy, intensely perfumed wine with silky notes of black cherry, plum and raspberry with a pronounced minerality and electric acidity.

6960 bottles from 2.67 acres of vines.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2019 Chiroubles ($30)
From the highest, most granite-rich vines in Beaujolais; the altitude produces the kind of freshness sought by lovers of Beaujolais as these old vines rise above many of the effects of climate change. The wine is fermented 50% in oak barrels and 50% in stainless steel tanks for ten months and shows cassis, wild young raspberry, granitic minerality and a touch of smokiness.

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Fleurie: Pink Granite. Pure Grace.

Each of the Beaujolais crus wears its own face; where Morgon is bold and handsome and Saint-Amour is a fairyland of delicate beauty, Fleurie—covering an unbroken area of three square miles—represents Beaujolais’ elegance. The terroir is built around pinkish granite that is unique to this part of Beaujolais, with the higher elevations accounting for thinner, acidic soils that produce graceful and aromatic wines. Below the main village, the wines are grown in deeper, richer, clay-heavy soils and the wines themselves are richer and deeper and appropriate for the cellar. The technique known as gridding, which involves extracting more color and tannin from the skins of the grapes, is proprietary to Fleurie.

 3  Domaine de Vernus, 2022 Fleurie ($42)
From Fleurie’s classic 53-year-old vineyards that stretch over many hills and valleys, then slope gently down to the Saône plain. The grapes are 80% destemmed, then treated to alternating grape-treading, pump-overs and délestage before spending ten months in oak barrels, 6% are new. The wine is especially lively, charged with herbs, cranberry and strawberry above an earthy mid-palate with moss and undergrowth.

4730 bottles from 2.8 acres of vines.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Fleurie ($38)
From vines with an average age of 51 years. 80% destemmed with three weeks of fermentation on native yeasts followed by ten months maturation in oak barrels, 6% new. The wine shows soft-bodied fragrance with concentrated notes of strawberry and rose petal above a vivacious acidity.

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Morgon: Beaujolais’ Boldest Cru Expresses Its Unwelcome Terroir in Its All Intensity

Morgon, on the western side of the Saône, may only appear on the label of a Gamay-based red wine; even so, the appellation allows the addition of up to 15% white wine grapes: Chardonnay, Aligoté or Melon de Bourgogne. Nevertheless, the wines of Morgon wind up being among the most full-bodied in Beaujolais, with the potential to improve in the cellar so consistently that the French describe wines from other AOPs that display this quality by saying, “It Morgons …”

The largest of the Beaujolais crus, the terroir is largely built around ‘rotten rock’ made up of decomposed shale, giving the appellation’s wines aromas of sour cherries with notes of violet and kirsch with delicate tannins that  promise optimal aging.

 4  Domaine de Vernus, 2022 Morgon ($42)
Morgon is known for its intensity, often requiring a little time to open up; given this, it reveals notes of white flowers and undergrowth. From vines whose average age is 67 years, the wine was aged for ten months, 80% in oak barrels and 20% in stainless steel tanks. This beautifully structured wine shows black cherry, currant, and plum along with licorice and chalk minerality.

9670 bottles from 5 acres of vines.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2022 Morgon ($110) 1.5 Liter
Same wine in magnum, allowing for a slower maturation process in the cellar.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Morgon ($40)
From vines with an average age of 65 years. 80% destemmed with three weeks of fermentation on native yeasts followed by ten months maturation in 80% oak barrels and 20% in stainless steel tanks. This structured Morgon is a benchmark for the region, marked by intense pepper note, raspberry, peach and plum with a hint of garrigue and wood smoke.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Morgon ($96) 1.5 Liter
Same wine in magnum, allowing for a slower maturation process in the cellar.

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 5  Domaine de Vernus, 2022 Morgon ‘Grands Cras’ ($60)
Grands Cras is a south-southwest facing hillside lieu-dit whose terroir is built from  decomposed schist and granite soils, producing wines with a rustic character. With vines averaging 71 years old, Grands Cras produces wines easily capable of improving for a decade. The wine displays a creamy structure and a powerful palate with silky tannins, with aromas of blackberries, crisp Damson plum, wood-spice and stone on the finish.

14,220 bottles made from 6-acre parcel.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Morgon ‘Grands Cras’ ($53)
Grand Cras, ideally situated at the foot of the Côte du Py, ranks among the appellation’s most famous climats. The deep soil is made up of granitic alluvium that allows grapes to maintain Burgundy-level tannins while retaining the fruitiness typical of Beaujolais. With an average vine age of 71 years, the fruit is hand-harvested and 80% destemmed, following which the wine spends ten months in oak. A rich, cherry-driven profile with hints of kirsch, fresh tobacco and menthol.

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Moulin-à-Vent: Terroir Forged by Adversity

Moulin-à-Vent is to the ten crus of Beaujolais what Moulin Rouge is to Parisian cabarets: First among equals. Of course, that equality is a matter of taste—some consumers prefer floral Fleurie and charming Chiroubles to the full-bodied, tannic-structured Moulin-à-Vent and it’s no secret Georges Duboeuf sells a hundred thousand cases of Beaujolais Nouveau a year.

Forgetting the forgettable and concentrating on the myriad styles of Cru Beaujolais, nowhere is the evidence of terroir—the site-specific contributions of geology, sun-exposure and rainfall—more obvious than in Moulin-à-Vent. Although each appellation works with a single grape variety, Gamay, the results range from light, glorified rosé to densely layered, richly concentrate reds that rival Burgundian Pinot Noir cousins from the most storied estates.

Moulin-à-Vent is unusual for a number of reasons, and among them is the fact that there is no commune or village from which it takes its name. Like the Moulin Rouge, the appellation is named for the ‘moulin’—windmill—that sits atop the hill that overlooks the south- and southeast-facing vineyards. The most outrageous reality of the Cru, however, is that the wine owes its structure and quality to poison: Manganese, which runs in veins throughout the pink granite subsoil, is toxic to grapevines and results in sickly vines that struggle to leaf out and produce small clusters of tiny grapes. It is the concentration of the juice in these grapes that gives Moulin-à-Vent a characteristic intensity unknown in the other crus of Beaujolais, where manganese is not present. It also gives the wine the foundation of phenolic compounds required for age-worthiness; Moulin-à-Vent is among a very select few of Beaujolais wines that can improve for ten, and even twenty years in the bottle.

 6  Domaine de Vernus, 2022 Moulin-à-Vent ‘Les Vérillats’ ($83)
‘Les Vérillats’ stand at the very top of an old granitic mount at around 900 feet elevation where the topsoil is so thin that trellis stakes cannot always be fully anchored. Terroir is very specific here, known locally as ‘gorrhe’—a thin, acidic soil lacking in nitrogen but containing high concentrations of potassium, phosphorous and magnesium. The wine shows aromatic notes of puréed raspberry, dried hay and graphite with a subtle layer of dried herbs giving added dimension and complexity.

2650 bottles made from 1.4-acre parcel.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2022 Moulin-à-Vent ‘Les Vérillats’ ($210) 1.5 Liter
Same wine in magnum, allowing for a slower maturation process in the cellar.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Moulin-à-Vent ‘Les Vérillats’ ($71)
Les Vérillats is characterized by well-drained, sandy soils derived from pink granite, which are atypical for the Moulin-à-Vent appellation. These soils, along with the vineyard’s location in a corridor of drying winds, contribute to the wine’s concentration and structure.

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Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Moulin-à-Vent ‘Les Vérillats’ ($180) 1.5 Liter
Same wine in magnum, allowing for a slower maturation process in the cellar.

*click on image for more info

Notebook …

Is Beaujolais on a Path Towards Premier Cru Recognition?

Of all the ‘subdivisions’ in wine, lieux-dits (named places) are perhaps the most poetic. Having earned their reputation for quality, often over centuries, they are individual plots of exceptional terroir named with love and respect—after a family, a natural landscape feature or a historical event. Among more than six hundred recognized lieux-dits in Beaujolais is La Chapelle des Bois (The Chapel of the Woods), La Tour du Bief (The Tower of the Reach) and La Martingale—whose translation is self-evident.

As in the rest of France, these names have often appeared on Beaujolais wine labels, not necessarily as a legal indicator of quality, but as an informal nod to those in the know. It’s an optional honor, and although lieux-dits are registered, they do not have to conform to specified body of regulations such as crop yields and minimum sugar content. Those sorts of mandates belong to a separate system of classification, one that includes Premier and Grand Crus, the jewels of the Côte d’Or.

Lieux-dits of the “Beaujolais hillside” identified on the 1869 Budker map, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Beaujolais’ mosaic of soils was brought to light in 2018 when an unprecedented nine-year study revealed more than 300 types descended from fifteen geological formations. This is one of the reasons that Beaujolais wines are unique, not just from one AOP to another, but also from lieu-dit to lieu-dit.

Now a movement is afoot in Beaujolais to elevate the classification some of these revered plots beyond named-vineyard status to Premier Crus. As you might imagine, this is a monumental undertaking. First, a winegrower has to approach the National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO) with proof of the vineyard’s aspirations: Are there references to the lieu-dit in the historical archives? Does the wine display characteristics that are unique in the AOP, and does the winegrowers already mention the lieu-dit on their bottles in order to more finely define their terroir? If the answer is yes, the interested party then submits an application to the INAO and awaits their evaluation.

Growers in Fleurie, Brouilly, Moulin-à-Vent, Côte de Brouilly and Juliénas have already submitted such applications and data collection continues in the other Beaujolais Crus.

Patience is understood to be a virtue, as it often takes a decade or more for the upgrade in status to be approved… or not.

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Posted on 2025.07.12 in Fleurie, Beaujolais-Villages, Regnie, Chenas, Côte-de-Brouilly, Chirouble, Morgon, Cote de Brouilly, Saint-Amour, Moulin-à-Vent, France, Beaujolais, Wine-Aid Packages