Grapes: Gamay
Region: Morgon, Beaujolais, France
Vintage: 2023
Viticulture: Organic
Soils: Grinitc gravel
Vinification: Semi-carbonic maceration without SO2, for 10-21 days
Aging: Fine lees in old Burgundy barrels
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: None
Notes from the Importer: Little would we know that when Marcel Lapierre took over the family domaine from his father in 1973, he was on the road to becoming a legend. Following the example of traditionalist Jules Chauvet, Marcel and three other local vignerons Jean Foillard, Jean-Paul Thévenet, and Guy Breton, soon hoisted the flag of Chauvet’s back-to-nature movement. Kermit dubbed this clan the Gang of Four, and the name has stuck ever since. The Gang called for a return to the old practices of viticulture and vinification. Sadly, the 2010 vintage was Marcel’s last. His children, Mathieu and Camille continue the great work that their father pioneered, introducing biodynamic vineyard practices and ensuring that Marcel's legacy lives on.
By now, with this thirty-fourth consecutive vintage of the domaine’s Morgon we’ve shipped to American shores, many are familiar with the significance of the name Lapierre on a wine label. Kermit summed it up concisely in 1992 when he wrote, “Lapierre is the Beaujolais renegade who does not chaptalize, does not add yeasts, and does not filter.” Marcel’s rejection of industrialized, production-oriented agriculture in favor of the labor-intensive traditional farming his father and grandfather practiced marked a turning point in the Beaujolais and beyond, as countless vignerons would later follow in his footsteps and embrace more natural ways of viticulture and winemaking.
One part of the story often left out is that a young Marcel Lapierre, back at the domaine following military service in the early ’70s, initially convinced his father to abandon the old-fashioned ways of working for the modern techniques he had just learned in winemaking school. Not only were the Lapierres assured a consistent crop from year to year, but they could wave good-bye to the laborious days spent tilling the vineyard soils when a quick pass spraying synthetic herbicides would easily do the job.
One little caveat, however: Marcel realized he couldn’t stand to drink his own wines, which he deemed insipid. He always found himself reaching for the bottles his late father had produced via those “archaic” methods. And so began, with the mentorship of an eccentric old biochemist named Jules Chauvet, a return to tradition: no more herbicides or chemical fertilizers, but also no more laboratory yeasts, massive doses of sulfur, acidification, chaptalization, or sterile filtration in the cellar. The 1978 vintage would be Marcel’s very first “natural wine.”
Forty-four harvests later, Marcel’s son, Mathieu, and daughter, Camille, manage the domaine with the same sense of humility that their father learned in his early days. They have taken his life’s work and elevated it in the face of new challenges, namely a capricious and changing climate. The wines remain as good as ever: this is Gamay in its purest form, from some of the very best terroirs in the Beaujolais region. The newly arrived 2022 is a pleasure bomb, chock-full of silky ripe fruit, earthy tones, and a stimulating juicy energy. Kermit wrote of Marcel’s 1990 Morgon, “It is one of the most delicious young reds we have ever sold.” From a comparable vintage, this latest release makes me feel the same.
