Domaine de Colonat Beaujolais-Villages 2023
A juicy and generously flavoured Gamay, with vibrant red fruits and a touch of sweet spice through to a silky and beautifully balanced palate and a soft, rounded finish.
The grapes come from vineyards within the Beaujolais-Villages appellation, which is made up of 38 villages in the northern Beaujolais region. The climate is continental with cold winters and warm summers, which allows the vines to rest during the winter and the grapes to reach good maturity in the summer. The vines are grown at 300 metres altitude in granitic soils, which provide good drainage and produce concentrated juice, bursting with flavour. The vines are sustainably cultivated and are certified HVE, which recognises the environmental performance of winegrowers, including biodiversity conservation, plant protection strategies, managed fertiliser use and water resource management. The grapes are manually harvested.
The grapes were carefully sorted and 90% were destemmed, leaving a small component for complexity and structure. Fermentation took place in concrete vats at controlled temperatures of 30°C with carefully selected Beaujolais yeasts. Minimal pumping over took place in order to obtain a gentle extraction, with supple tannins. Post-fermentation maceration lasted 14 days, before gentle pressing took place. The wine was aged for six months in concrete vats.
| RRP | £18.50 |
| Vintage | 2023 |
| Alcoholic strength | 13% |
| Country | France |
| Region | Beaujolais |
| Subregion | Beaujolais-Villages |
| Grapes | Gamay 100% |
| Body | B |
| Contains sulphites | Yes |
| Vegetarian | Yes |
| Vegan | Yes |
| Milk | No |
| Eggs | No |
| Organic | No |
| Biodynamic | No |
| Closure | Diam |
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.
