2022 Domaine Les Garcons Beaujolais-Villages, Beaujolais, France

Loc Crispin and Fabien Pinguet are two friends who have taken over a portion of Locs familys vineyards within Brouilly. Having started in 2020, they converted all of their parcels to biodynamic farming, gaining Demeter certification in 2021. Actively engaging with agroforestry, planting trees and hedges in the vineyards to improve biodiversity, provide shade to the vines, and lower yields. They are implementing cover crops to help recolonize the fauna and flora in the soil and reduce the amount of tilling required.

They’ve inherited very old vines for their domaine, with an average around 45 years old, including a 1ha parcel planted in 1919 that goes into their spectacular Beaujolais-Villages. The vineyards in this section of Beaujolais sit on a complex terroir of clay, limestone, sand, and lots of marine fossil debris. It is a very cool micro-climate, with the east and northeast facing sites adding to the already crunchy nature of the wines. Only indigenous yeasts are used for fermentation and whole clusters with carbonic/semi-carbonic macerations are employed.

• Practicing biodynamic (certified in 2023)
• 100% Gamay
• From a 2.75 ha parcel in the lieu-dit Garanche in the village of Charentay, on the eastern edge of Brouilly
• East facing
• Clay and limestone terroir, with some sand
• 45+ year old vines, including a 1 ha parcel planted in 1919
• Indigenous yeast
• 100% whole cluster, carbonic maceration
• Aged in stainless steel