2014 Piron Beaujolais Chénas Quartz

Maison Piron

France / Beaujolais / Maison 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.

January, 2017

Jamie Goode

Jamie Goode's Wine Blog

95 points

From Dominique Piron. Very fresh red fruits nose with some peppery spiciness. Detailed and fresh with some raspberry too. Lovely elegance on the palate, which shows focused red cherry and raspberry fruit with some peppery detail. Floral, fresh and delicious.

August, 2016

Josh Raynolds

Vinous Media

92 points

Brilliant ruby-red. A sexy, highly perfumed bouquet evokes fresh red and dark berries, potpourri and smoky minerals, and a subtle hint of game emerges slowly. Juicy, impressively concentrated black raspberry, bitter cherry and violet pastille flavors tighten up and become spicier on the back half. Powerful but graceful, finishing very long, sappy and precise, with no rough edges and a repeating floral quality.

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About Maison Piron

The Piron family's history in Beaujolais spans more than four centuries, with its oldest known forebear born in Morgon in 1590. Since then, there have been 14 generations of winegrowers in the family. The domaine joined the portfolio with Dominique Piron in charge alongside Lantignié-born Julien Revillon. Together they realised a goal of raising characterful terroir wines that are fruity, subtle and elegant from sloping vineyards of fragmented granite and schist. They display depth, freshness and verve, with terroir-specific differences between the various crus - and Maison Piron's holdings across the best vineyards are second to none.

About

Julien Revillon was born in Lantignié, the village tipped to become the 11th cru of Beaujolais. He traces his vigneron vocation through family roots as winegrowers in Saint-Amour, his sommelier uncle as well as his grandfather, a starred chef in Belleville in the 1970s. Julien returned to the vineyards after a detour in finance where he looked after, of course, the accounts of winegrowers. After working at Jean-Luc Colombo in Cornas, he wanted to get even closer to his Beaujolais origins. In 2013, he joined forces with 14th-generation grower Dominique Piron. Their shared vision ensured that these wines celebrated the myriad charms of Gamay and the nuanced soils of the region's best vineyards. With Julien at the helm, this estate honours tradition alongside an open-minded dynamism that ensures it delivers all the joys of Beaujolais to its worldwide fans.