2019 Famille Dutraive Chénas en Papolet
WINEMAKER: Jean-Louis Dutraive
REGION: Beaujolais, FR
VARIETAL: Gamay
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
"Soft deep cherry red still youthful with sparkling rubies. The extra year’s complexity compared to the rest of the release sets this beauty off. Raspberry and pistachio croissant, baking spice, old French polish, cherry pit, earth and ripe berry fruits. Light on its feet there is a vein of powerful acidity adding a tart almost red citrus edge to the concentrated red berry and cherry fruits. Acidity dries the tannins a little but plenty of stuffing here. Huge potential. Decant and/or big glasses. A meagre 12% alcohol." - Tim Stock
The Beaujolais of the Dutraive family, Domaine de la Grand’Cour/Jean-Louis Dutraive in particular, are now as sought after as Metras, Foillard and Lapierre - though much harder to find. The micro-negoce Famille Dutraive was created in 2017 after 2 consecutive years’ of devasting hail losses to Domaine de la Grand’Cour. To relieve the financial stress on the family Jean-Louis teamed up with his children Ophélie, Justin and Lucas. It has quickly evolved as a family project constant; an aside from the other more individual projects and domaines.