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2020 Régnié “Grain & Granit”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet

Jean-Paul and Charly Thévenet
The son of “gang of four” Morgon producer Jean-Paul Thévenet, Charly had early exposure to the world of organic farming and natural winemaking. Passionate about the family business, he struck out on his own as soon as the opportunity presented itself, purchasing a parcel of ninety-year-old vines in the neighboring cru of Régnié. Today, he works side by side with his father, collaborating in the production of all the family’s cuvées. As with the Morgon, Charly’s Régnié grapes are harvested when fully ripe, by hand, then vinified via whole-cluster fermentation, in typical Beaujolais fashion. The wine is aged in concrete tanks before bottling without fining or filtration. The 2020 vintage gives us a rich, bold Régnié, saturated with luscious fruit and earthy spice. Serve it with grilled sausages, or let it sit in your cellar for three or four more years before uncorking.
—Anthony Lynch
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2020 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Gamay |
Appellation: | Régnié |
Country: | France |
Region: | Beaujolais |
Producer: | Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet |
Winemaker: | Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet |
Vineyard: | Planted in 1932 and 1946, 3 ha |
Soil: | Granite |
Aging: | Aged in concrete tanks, no fining or filtration |
Farming: | Biodynamic (practicing) |
Alcohol: | 14% |
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About The Producer
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet
Jean-Paul Thévenet is the third generation to produce wine at his family estate in Morgon, but as a young man he took the domaine in an unexpected direction. In the early 1980s Beaujolais was flooded with commercialized wine, pushing winemaker and viticultural prophet Jules Chauvet to invoke a return to more traditional practices. Jean-Paul and three other local vignerons, Marcel Lapierre, Guy Breton, and Jean Foillard, soon took up the torch of this “natural wine” movement.
Known as “Paul-Po” among friends, Jean-Paul is reserved yet fun-loving. He farms his small five-hectare domaine with his son, Charly, and since 2008 the two have taken the domaine to the next level by adopting organic and biodynamic viticultural practices.
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.
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Kermit once said...

Kermit once said...
Let the brett nerds retire into protective bubbles, and whenever they thirst for wine it can be passed in to them through a sterile filter. Those of us on the outside can continue to enjoy complex, natural, living wines.
Inspiring Thirst, page 236