Though not nearly as famous as peers like Lalou Bize-Leroy or Ghislaine Barthod, Nicole Chanrion has been working in the vineyards and cellar since the early 1970s. She officially took over as the 6th generation... Read More

Though not nearly as famous as peers like Lalou Bize-Leroy or Ghislaine Barthod, Nicole Chanrion has been working in the vineyards and cellar since the early 1970s. She officially took over as the 6th generation winemaker for her family's domaine in 1988, but it wasn’t easy. Even her mother was skeptical of women as winemakers, and certainly many of her neighbors were as well.

But she kept working, and quietly and persistently began making some of the best Cru Beaujolais in her appellation. Nicole tends to the vineyards almost entirely by herself, working in a lutte raisonée philosophy (sustainable with organic practices) she spends long days with her vines.

In the cellar she is gentle and hands off. The whole clusters are fermented with wild yeasts and undergo a fully carbonic maceration. The malolactic fermentations take place in neutral foudres, and they are aged for 9 months or more in the same barrels. This gentle process creates wines of precision, elegance and charming complexity.

And they can age very well. Nicole is one of the few in her region that keeps back a fair amount of wine for library selections. We snap these up whenever we can.