2013 Piron Beaujolais Chénas Quartz

Domaine Dominique Piron

France / Beaujolais / Domaine Dominique Piron

Chénas is the smallest Beaujolais cru by surface area. This comes from a vineyard that Piron runs with the three Michelin-starred Lameloise restaurant in Chagny. The nine-hectare parcel comprises vines of more than 60 years of age on a steep, east-facing slope between 310 and 380 metres up. Soils of granite covered by quartz crystals lend a pronounced minerality. This to me is the most exciting wine of the entire tasting. A really quite full-on nose of spice, earth and prettiness is mirrored on a palate that seems to bring together notes of Cornas and Chambolle-Musigny. Supple, generous and vibrant, with graphite and deeply scented red fruits. A real stunner.

June, 2015

Gary Walsh

The Wine Front

93 points

Chénas the smallest of the Beaujolais Crus, should you be interested. Those that are, probably already know these things. Importer: Cellarhand.
Give this wine some time in the glass and it will surprise and delight. I moved it from a Chianti glass, to a Burgundy glass, and it was a good move. Ripe raspberry and roses, spice, wet earth and liquorice. Medium bodied, fine bones and slaty tannin, strawberry acidity, spicy red fruited flavours, long dusty almost chalky finish. Pretty and precise.

July, 2015

Rob McCulloch MW

Decanter

95 points

A very pepper-scented nose, with a deep-fruited core of black cherry. There’s a really attractive layering of fruit flavour and complexity to this wine too, with persistent flavours. The tannins are firm, as is typical for Chénas, but they’re supple too and balance the deep fruit nicely. For cru Beaujolais, this is grand cru.

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About Domaine Dominique Piron

Dominique Piron’s family history in Beaujolais spans more than four centuries, with his oldest known ancestor born in Morgon in 1590. Since then, there have been 14 generations of winegrowers in the family. Dominique seeks to create characterful terroir wines that are fruity, subtle and elegant from his sloping vineyards of fragmented granite and schist. These are wines that showed us what we’d long been looking for from Beaujolais but had almost given up hope of finding. They display extraordinary depth, freshness and verve, with real terroir-specific differences between the various crus. Morgon wines tend to be racy and elegant, and always have a slight hint of black cherry, bright spicy notes and great structure, which lends them great ageing potential. Dominique also makes wines from six other Beaujolais crus, alongside his excellent Beaujolais-Villages, sparkling and still Chardonnay and fresh, crunchy Gamay rosé.

About

“[Dominique Piron] has been one of the architects of the revival of Morgon, tackling with boundless energy the expression of wines of terroir, vinified in the pure tradition of Beaujolais,” declared Le Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France. And there it is; Beaujolais flows through this man's veins. Dominique Piron’s oldest known ancestor was born in Morgon in 1590. Since then, there have been 14 generations of winegrowers in the family. His own wine knowhow dates back 40 years. His philosophy revolves around sustainable winegrowing, observing the watchwords of natural balance and biodiversity as he works land strewn with broken-down granite and schist.