Robin Goutallier
Quincié-en-Beaujolais, Beaujolais, France
Formerly a physics teacher, Robin Goutallier and his family made a move to the countryside from the city in search of a slower pace of life. Robin purchased a house in Quincié-en-Beaujolais which had a small vineyard attached where he began to tend to the vines organically. He soon after met vignerons Hervé Ravera and Romain des Grottes who mentored him in his first few years vinifying his own wine. He only farms 1 hectare of Gamay along with 30 bee hives so production of both his wine and honey are extremely small (we are looking forward to eating his honey in France sometime soon). All of Robin’s wines are made wines without any inputs and as he jokes, “except grapes”.
2019 60% de Velours
2019 60% de Velours comes from a 30 year old parcel in conversion to organics planted on Pierre Bleue (a type of blue granite) and is Robin’s most recent parcel. Vinification is quite classic in style – semi-carbonic maceration for one week before being pressed in an old wooden basket press (also common in the Beaujolais) into fibreglass tanks for élevage. The wine jumps with beautiful fruit intensity and a touch of herbaceous spice. The palate has a velvety texture (as the name suggests), is elegant and is easy drinking but also deeply contemplative. 2019 was an incredible growing season for Robin and fermentations were very happy, clean and stable which is clear in this delicious wine.