Château des Vergers Beaujolais-Lantignié "Aux Vergers" '20

Cosima Bassouls is a young, charismatic leader of the bucolic Beaujolais-Lantignié region, of which she is its most passionate advocate. Cosima has a vision for Lantignié, and it involves combining the strengths of the region’s long viticultural tradition with her progressive and innovative environmental plan. Her family property, Château des Vergers, dates to 1604 and is one of the grand, old properties of Beaujolais, historically producing both fruit and wine. It has a distinctly shaped roof, designed to resemble the hull of a boat, which is depicted on her labels.

Located just north of Brouilly, west of Régnié, and less than one kilometer from the border of Morgon, Beaujolais-Lantignié is a gem of a village that is a hot spot of (mostly) untapped potential. Lantignié has great geological complexity in the subsoils, with vineyards consisting of pink granite and volcanic blue schist (pierres bleues). Vineyards at Château des Vergers range from 300 meters to 450 meters at the highest point. 

Aux Vergers is Cosima’s favorite parcel. The area around it is very diverse, with creeks, trees, bushes, and lots of small hills and valleys. Gamay vines that are over 70 years old are planted on shallow, rocky pierres bleues. The wine is made by whole-cluster, semi-carbonic maceration (11 days), followed by a very gentle and slow pressing using the château’s centuries-old vertical press, which yields a naturally clear must that does not need to be filtered or clarified. The must is transferred into traditional cement tanks, where fermentation continues with native yeasts. After racking, the wine spends eight months in concrete tanks before being bottled. The Aux Vergers vineyard yields structured wines with spicy, forest floor aromatics, earthy minerality, excellent acidity, and the firm tannins of a fine cru Beaujolais built to age.