Pink Bulles, this bubbly pale pink Gamay is relentlessly cheerful with delicious ripe strawberry flavours and mouth-cleansing acidity. Off-dry, it merits the cliché “summer in a glass”.
JEAN MAUPERTUIS, Saint-Georges-sur-Allier Organic, naturalJean Maupertuis tends 3.8 hectares of vines in the commune of Saint-Georges-sur-Allier and La Roche Noir in Auvergne. He works principally with a local version of Gamay referred to as “Gamay d’Auvergne”, but also owns a little bit of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a tiny amount of Noirfleurien, an ancient local varietal found only in his neighboring village of Mirefleurs. Most of his vines are on the venerable side, ranging from 40 to 100 + years.
A former computer scientist, Jean always loved wine, and to that end he bought a small parcel for fun in 1992, before finally leaving his job to study oenology in Mâcon. Jean was drawn to natural wine through Marcel Lapierre of Beaujolais, although it took some time for him to familiarise himself with this approach to winemaking. He then visited Pierre Overnoy and Jean Thevenet and decided he wanted to emulate them. Setting up such an undertaking in Auvergne was certainly an uphill battle at first. The wines of this region were completely unknown and on the verge of disappearing