Domaine de la Grand Cour Brouilly Cuvee Vieilles Vignes Magnum 2023

Domaine de la Grand Cour Brouilly Cuvee Vieilles Vignes Magnum 2023

Jean-Louis Dutraive
$105.00

Grape: Gamay
Vintage: 2023
Type: Red

Presented in a magnum format for slow development, this red wine comes from centenarian gamay vines in Brouilly. Jean-Louis Dutraive utilizes low-intervention practices, relying on traditional whole-cluster native yeast fermentations without temperature adjustments or synthetic corrections. The wine undergoes a natural aging process in old neutral oak barrels to build structural complexity while completely avoiding wood makeup. It receives a tiny dose of ten parts per million of sulfur only at the final bottling.

It displays a deep ruby hue, releasing a perfumed nose of dried purple flowers, red rose, scorched earth, and wild game. On the palate, the medium-bodied framework balances a sappy weight with an intense line of mineral acidity. Savory flavors of graphite, blood, and iron dominate the textured mouthfeel across the mid-palate. The fine-grained, gravelly tannins provide a smooth texture that frames the fruit cleanly. It finishes dry and persistent, leaving a mouthwatering mineral trace.

Jean-Louis Dutraive is the fourth-generation vigneron behind Domaine de la Grand'Cour in Fleurie, one of the benchmark estates for naturally made Beaujolais. His family holdings include old vines in Fleurie, Brouilly and Brouilly's neighboring crus, with the core of the domaine centered on organically farmed vineyards around the Grand'Cour property. Dutraive's wines are made with native yeasts, whole clusters, long semi-carbonic fermentations and very little sulfur, giving them the lifted aromatics and silky structure that make Fleurie feel both delicate and complete. They are transparent wines, but never fragile, full of red fruit, flowers and granite energy.