# Fleurie 'Vieilles Vignes' (2024)

- **Producer:** Domaine Les Bertrand
- **Colour:** red
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Gamay
- **Region:** Beaujolais, France
- **Style:** Natural
- **Alcohol:** 12.0%
- **Average price:** €40
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** No
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 14–16 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** violet, rose, raspberry, cherry, redcurrant, plum

## About this wine

Domaine Les Bertrand is based in Villié-Morgon in Beaujolais. Returning to the family estate in 2012, Yann Bertrand joined his parents Guy and Annick after experiencing low-intervention wines in the French Alps. Mentored by Jacques Néauport, Yann transitioned the estate's organic vineyards to full biodynamic farming. The Fleurie Vieilles Vignes is sourced from old Gamay parcels in the Grand Pré lieu-dit planted on pink granitic soils.

## Interesting facts

- Vines for this cuvée range from 60 to over 100 years old, planted in decomposed pink granite sand.
- Yann Bertrand was mentored by Jacques Néauport, close associate of legendary natural oenologist Jules Chauvet.
- The wine undergoes extended cold carbonic maceration without mechanical extraction or added sulfites.

## Food pairing

The wine's high natural acidity and gentle, fine tannins make it versatile with food. It cleanly balances light poultry and pork while accentuating the earthy notes of wild mushrooms and creamy French cheeses.

## Wine making process

Grapes are harvested manually in small crates with rigorous sorting. Vinification features whole-cluster cold carbonic maceration at 10-12°C for 17 to 22 days without mechanical pumping or punch-downs. Fermentation is spontaneous with native yeasts and zero added sulfur. The wine is aged 7 to 9 months in neutral oak barrels and bottled by gravity without fining, filtration, or added sulfites.