Notify me
2018 Chiroubles
Guy BretonUnlike Morgon or Côte-de-Brouilly, Chiroubles is not a Beaujolais cru that has been a fixture of our portfolio over the last five decades. Exceptional wines from here have proved elusive because, until recently, high-quality cru Beaujolais had not been popular enough to justify the backbreaking labor and financial investment involved in farming these incredibly steep slopes. We imported one in the ’90s, and then not again until the 2017 vintage, when Guy Breton decided to pursue Chiroubles and crafted one of our most beautiful Beaujolais of that vintage. He’s back with an equally perfumed and silky rendition that has a habit of vanishing quickly. Chiroubles sits in the middle of the vertical band of the ten Beaujolais crus and represents the highest-altitude cru. Its elevation and cooler temperatures mean that grapes ripen more slowly and often produce wines that are among the least concentrated of the region. Guy’s Chiroubles is floral and succulent, bursting with notes of little red berries, but it is also delicate and light on its feet. It serves as a phenomenal counterpoint to some of the more structured Gamays that we import from Beaujolais. Try this wine alongside some chicken salad or grilled fish.
—Tom Wolf
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2018 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Gamay |
Appellation: | Chiroubles |
Country: | France |
Region: | Beaujolais |
Producer: | Guy Breton |
Vineyard: | 1.2 ha, vines 60 years old |
Soil: | Sandy granite |
Farming: | Organic (practicing) |
Alcohol: | 13% |
More from this Producer or Region
2022 Beaujolais Rosé
France | Beaujolais
The result is a pretty, round, and versatile rosé full of notes of red fruit, melon, and rhubarb. It finishes with a subtle herbal note and foodfriendly acidity.
2021 Côte de Brouilly
France | Beaujolais
A relatively new addition to Guy Breton’s Beaujolais lineup, this exuberant Côte de Brouilly is flat-out delicious.
2022 Beaujolais-Villages “Cuvée Marylou”
France | Beaujolais
French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan says nostalgia is the longing for a past that never was. But, hand to god, this year's Cuvee Marylou tastes just like the raspberry thumbprint cookies my mother used to make for Christmas.
2021 Régnié
France | Beaujolais
Savor it while you can, because your glass will be empty before you know it, leaving you only with the spicy, mineral-laden aftertaste of a bottle that went down way too easily.
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
France | Beaujolais
If Beaujolais were Burgundy, we might consider Morgon to be Vosne-Romanée, with its haunting perfume and silky texture, the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove.
2021 Chiroubles “Cuvée Léa”
France | Beaujolais
Floral and succulent, bursting with notes of little red berries, but it is also delicate and light on its feet.
2022 Régnié “En Voiture Simone”
France | Beaujolais
The high-toned nose suggests an absolutely electric wine, full of delicate florals and tart berries, and the juice hits the palate like a dreamy cloud of Gamay.
2023 Beaujolais Villages Rosé
France | Beaujolais
Sourced from the pink granite terroir of Brouilly, this rosé is simply delicious, with good grip and notes of summery red berries.
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
France | Beaujolais
Leave it to Breton to take summer heat and turn it into a light summer breeze in a glass.
2022 Fleurie
France | Beaujolais
An opulent, mouth-filling expression of granitic terroir, this bottling has the delicate floral nuances and fine-grained tannin that differentiates Fleurie from the other crus.
About The Producer
Guy Breton
About The Region
Beaujolais
After years of the region’s reputation being co-opted by mass-produced Beaujolais Nouveau and the prevalence of industrial farming, the fortunes of vignerons from the Beaujolais have been on the rise in the past couple of decades. Much of this change is due to Jules Chauvet, a prominent Beaujolais producer who Kermit worked with in the 1980s and arguably the father of the natural wine movement, who advocated not using herbicides or pesticides in vineyards, not chaptalizing, fermenting with ambient yeasts, and vinifying without SO2. Chief among Chauvet’s followers was Marcel Lapierre and his three friends, Jean Foillard, Guy Breton, and Jean-Paul Thévenet—a group of Morgon producers who Kermit dubbed “the Gang of Four.” The espousal of Chauvet’s methods led to a dramatic change in quality of wines from Beaujolais and with that an increased interest and appreciation for the AOC crus, Villages, and regular Beaujolais bottlings.
The crus of Beaujolais are interpreted through the Gamay grape and each illuminate the variety of great terroirs available in the region. Distinguishing itself from the clay and limestone of Burgundy, Beaujolais soils are predominantly decomposed granite, with pockets of blue volcanic rock. The primary vinification method is carbonic maceration, where grapes are not crushed, but instead whole clusters are placed in a tank, thus allowing fermentation to take place inside each grape berry.
Much like the easy-going and friendly nature of many Beaujolais vignerons, the wines too have a lively and easy-drinking spirit. They are versatile at table but make particularly good matches with the local pork sausages and charcuterie. Though often considered a wine that must be drunk young, many of the top crus offer great aging potential.
More from Beaujolais or France
2021 Côte de Brouilly “Cuvée Zaccharie”
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2023 Beaujolais Villages Rosé
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2021 Côte de Brouilly
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2022 Beaujolais-Villages “Cuvée Marylou”
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2021 Côte de Brouilly HALF BOTTLE
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2021 Morgon “Charmes - Infusion”
Quentin Harel France | Beaujolais
2021 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2022 Moulin-à-Vent “Vieilles Vignes”
Bernard Diochon France | Beaujolais
2022 Beaujolais Blanc “Clos de Rochebonne”
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2021 Fleurie
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais
2021 Brouilly
Foillard, Alex France | Beaujolais
2022 Beaujolais Rosé
Domaine Dupeuble France | Beaujolais
2021 Côte de Brouilly “Cuvée Zaccharie”
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2023 Beaujolais Villages Rosé
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2021 Côte de Brouilly
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2022 Beaujolais-Villages “Cuvée Marylou”
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2021 Côte de Brouilly HALF BOTTLE
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2021 Morgon “Charmes - Infusion”
Quentin Harel France | Beaujolais
2021 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2022 Moulin-à-Vent “Vieilles Vignes”
Bernard Diochon France | Beaujolais
2022 Beaujolais Blanc “Clos de Rochebonne”
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2021 Fleurie
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais
2021 Brouilly
Foillard, Alex France | Beaujolais
2022 Beaujolais Rosé
Domaine Dupeuble France | Beaujolais
Where the newsletter started
Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch