Bernard Vallette - 'Quatre Saisons' - Gamay - Lachassagne, Beaujolais, FR - 2020

Carbonic maceration; Hand harvested, natural yeast fermentations, no chaptalisation; no additional sulfites.

Key Points:
Demeter-certified biodynamic; from the southern distric of Beaujolais with volcanic soils

Domaine Bernard Vallette, comprised of 7 hectares of vineyards, is situated in the village of Lachassagne in the Beaujolais wine region between Lyon and Mâcon. Historically part of Burgundy, the vineyards were acquired by Bernard Vallette’s forbears 150 years ago from the Marquis de La Guiche.

There is no more committed and passionate practitioner of biodynamie than Bernard Vallette. He is demonstrably attuned to the holistic rhythms of the universe, as evidenced by his business card that portrays representations of the seven chakras as well as a graceful spiral form evocative of the golden ratio.

Vallette’s Beaujolais, fancifully called Quatre Saisons, is so resolutely non-interventionist that it easily qualifies for the sobriquet “natural”. Similarly, the Domaine’s sparkling rosé wine has been christened Née Bulleuse, which translates as “born bubbling.” But Née Bulleuse is also a word play, since the French word nébuleuse (pronounced in the same manner) evokes at once the clouds in the Earth’s sky as well as the interstellar clouds that give birth to stars.