Domaine de Colette "Coteaux de Colette" 2023 Rosé Beaujolais-Villages

750ml bottle

12.5% abv

This rosé of Gamay comes from steep pink granite vineyards with an average age of 45 years—but one of the plots, called Colette, is 80 years old. The grapes undergo carbonic maceration followed by a gentle pressing. A pleasant ruby-red color, this wine presents small red fruit aromas and flavors in its youth, but over time these evolve into surprisingly complex ripe, even jammy, fruit flavors. Excellent companion to charcuterie, red meat, or local cheeses.

Domaine de Colette is located in the small village of Lantignié, regarded as the top village in the cru of Regnié, and less than 1 kilometer from the border of Morgon. It is owned and run by the humble Jacky Gauthier (with his wife Evelyne), whose family has been making wine for several generations. It was his father René who officially created Domaine de Colette in 1953. Gauthier began studying enology in the late 1970’s at the tender age of 17, planning to work with his parents’ on their then 8 hectares of vineyards. Meanwhile, in 1980 he got an offer from an uncle to help him work his vineyard, which he gladly accepted, and in 1984 was able to buy that vineyard and make wine from both family vineyards. His father passed away a decade later and he created one domaine encompassing all the family vineyards. 

Gauthier has enlarged his property by nearly a third since we began working with him 15 years ago, having purchased additional vineyards in Fleurie and Moulin- à-Vent, thus bringing his total holdings to 14 hectares of vines. He now makes wines in Beaujolais-Villages as well as 4 crus (his home cru of Regnié, plus Morgon, Fleurie and Moulin-à-Vent). His son Alexandre appears to be waiting in the wings as the next generation, as he is currently studying viticulture and enology.

The soils at Colette are worked organically in an effort to promote healthy and vigorous root systems. Only vegetable-based fertilizers are used. They shallow-plow between the vines during plant dormancy to force the roots down into the subsoil (and thus hopefully take on more of the terroir characteristics of each cru). They limit vine treatments during the year and intervene only when completely necessary. A green harvest is performed to give more concentrated grapes. Harvest is by hand, and only healthy grape clusters are emptied into the tank.

Jacky works prudently, limiting yields in his vineyards with his old vines, spraying only when the health of the plants is at risk, using a pied de cuve to begin fermentation, and aging the wine in neutral, cement tanks.  

The result, with each and every wine, is a delicious mouthful of ripe Gamay, whose granite soils provide minerality and whose excellent exposure allows the burst of the Beaujolais fruit we know and love.