Fleurie Vieilles Vignes, Reserve de Colonat

A charming and velvety smooth Fleurie showing lovely purity with vibrant floral notes, crushed raspberry and a delicate blueberry note on the finish.

Producer Note

Since 1828, Domaine de Colonat has been handed down from father to son, and today it is the seventh generation of winegrowers, Thomas Collonge who runs the estate along with his wife Julie. Since 2008, Thomas has been gradually taking over from his parents, bringing with him an eco-friendly approach to cultivating the 12- hectare estate, which covers seven appellations in the Beaujolais appellation, as well as sourcing grapes from long-term contracts with other growers. In 2017, he started the process of converting to organic cultivation and presently, one third of the estate is organic certified and the estate is sustainably cultivated and certified HVE. Thomas aims to express the very best of his distinctive Beaujolais terroir, and he succeeds, producing classy, award-winning, authentic, and elegant wines with a marked identity

Vineyard

The Gamay Noir vines grow at the foot of ‘La Madone’ hill at 425 metres elevation on a south-easterly facing slope. The plot is protected from northerly winds from the chain of the Avenas, Durbize, and Labourons mountains, creating an ideal microclimate. The soil is made of granite rock and sand which allows the Gamay fruit to ripen and develop good structure. The steep slopes are the best terroirs, but they are also the most difficult to cultivate as the layer of soil is very thin, sometimes only several centimetres of topsoil, so avoiding soil erosion is of paramount importance. The vineyard is certified HVE and they promote a balanced eco-system; herbicides and pesticides are not employed, and only small, light vehicles are used to climb the steep terrain, reducing the impact on the terroir. The grapes are hand-harvested. 

Winemaking

The grapes were manually sorted and 90% were de-stemmed, leaving a proportion of grapes with stems for complexity and structure. Temperature controlled fermentation took place in concrete tanks with selected local yeast, which has been selected from the Gamay grapes in the vineyard. A slow and gentle extraction of fine tannins took place, with a soft maceration with few pump-overs lasting around 10 days. The Fleurie was matured in concrete tanks on the fine lees for six months to retain the vibrancy and purity of fruit. 

Tasting Note

A charming and velvety smooth Fleurie showing lovely purity with vibrant floral notes, crushed raspberry and a delicate blueberry note on the finish.

Grape 

100% Gamay