2021 Lapierre Morgon Beaujolais

Lapierre is perhaps the one with the biggest name check factor, because of the importance of what Marcel Lapierre did for the region. The domaine was founded by their grandfather, who was one of the first to bottle in the area. It was their father Marcel, who died in 2010, who was largely responsible for the reputation Lapierre enjoys today. He took over in 1973, but in 1981 he met Jules Chauvet, the famous wine scientist, who's widely considered to be the father of the natural wine movement. Chauvet led Lapierre to work in a more natural direction. Lapierre was one of the gang of four, later five, who worked naturally and raised the reputation of the region, making wines that caused the world to sit up and take notice.

Winemaking here hasn't changed with the new generation. They make a selection on the vine so that they only bring into the winery clean, whole bunches, with no dried grapes and no unhealthy grapes. These are then put into wooden tronconic fermentation vats which take 4 tons each. Carbon dioxide is used to fill the remaining space and the weight of the grapes causes some juice to pool at the bottom.

Fermentation starts inside the grapes with an enzymatic transformation and after 2-3 days alcoholic fermentation starts at the bottom of the tank. Altogether, it takes around 3 weeks for fermentation to take place and pressing occurs in a vertical press. The wines are then matured in older oak without any additions at all.