Marcel Lapierre Cuvee Marcel Lapierre 2024
Marcel Lapierre Cuvee Marcel Lapierre 2024 – alternate view 2
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Marcel Lapierre Cuvee Marcel Lapierre 2024

Marcel Lapierre
$74.00

Grape: Gamay
Vintage: 2024
Type: Red

This rare red wine is an artisanal "cuvée spéciale" crafted from centenarian gamay vines over one hundred years old on Morgon’s Côte du Py. Mathieu and Camille Lapierre carry on their father’s low-intervention principles, practicing organic and biodynamic viticulture across these historical slopes. The hand-harvested fruit undergoes a spontaneous native fermentation with no additives inside traditional neutral vats. The liquid matures in seasoned barrels and is bottled completely unfiltered to protect its structural identity.

It pours a deep ruby color, opening with complex aromatics of wild raspberry, dark cherry, damp earth, and potting soil. On the palate, the medium-bodied framework balances a rich fruit concentration with an unmanipulated, juicy energy. The signature velvety mouthfeel coats the tongue smoothly, delivering substance and flesh with total finesse. Fine-grained, soft tannins provide a gentle grip across the mid-palate volume without feeling heavy. It finishes long, dry, and clean, leaving a lingering mineral trail.

Winery

Domaine Marcel Lapierre is a family estate in Villié-Morgon whose history reaches back to 1909. Marcel became an influential figure in Beaujolais through an approach that returned attention to healthy vineyards, ripe grapes and fermentation with their own yeasts. His family continues that work today. Gamay is at the center of the domaine, with the holdings concentrated in Morgon and additional parcels elsewhere in Beaujolais. The region’s decomposed rock and sandy surface soils provide the foundation for wines with clear fruit and a strong local identity.

Organic cultivation, hand harvesting and careful selection carry through into carbonic maceration and patient aging in old barrels. The goal is to preserve the grapes’ character without unnecessary cellar additions or a heavy oak imprint. Morgon anchors the range, joined by wines such as Raisins Gaulois and the more concentrated Cuvée Marcel Lapierre. The estate’s significance is both practical and historical: it helped demonstrate that an attentive, less manipulated approach to Gamay could make wines of depth and aging potential while retaining the generous appeal of Beaujolais.