An iconic castle in Brouilly appellation, which range expresses
the richness, diversity and uniqueness of this terroir through parcel selection.
BROUILLY 2022
GRANDE RÉSERVE

click on one of the vintages below for further information

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The vineyards of the Beaujolais region are very hilly. They are delimited on one side by the foothills of France’s Massif Central mountain range and overlook the Saône River’s floodplain between Mâcon and Lyon. Nestled at the foot of Mont Brouilly, Château de Pierreux is one of the most beautiful residences in the Beaujolais region.

Several centuries of history have shaped this ancient 13th-century fortified house of which two towers still stand today. The castle was renovated several times over the centuries. Its vaulted cellars date back to the 17th century while the current building was erected in the 19th century.

Château de Pierreux’s 110 hectares of vines are planted in shallow, well-drained pink granitic, schistous, and siliceous soils which contain deposits of blue porphyry from the volcanic eruptions of Mont Brouilly that date back millions of years.

The estate was certified High Environmental Value (HVE) in 2020.

Planting density: 6,250 vines/ha
Age of the vines: 10 years
Yields: 25 hL.
Pruning: Cordon

Work philosophy: Growing methods are decided upon vineyard by vineyard according to lutte raisonnée, an environmentally friendly approach. Everything is analysed in detail: risk of disease, the number of harmful and beneficial insects that can be found in each vineyard, the size and number of bunches of grapes per vine, problems with weeds, the health of the vines’ leaves, etc.
Working of the soil: de-earthing, scraping, hoeing between the vines.

This philosophy has 3 objectives:
     - limiting the use of chemicals in the vineyards,
     - re-establishing the vines’ physiological balance,
     - protecting the environment.

100% Gamay

Color: deep garnet.
Nose: very intense, revealing aromas of jammy black fruit, with hints of iris, violets, dark chocolate and spices adding complexity to this aromatic panel.
Palate: fleshy and warm, powerful and suave. A palette of black fruits invades our senses to reveal a fine length.

The harvest is destemmed 100%. We applied a slow fermentation between 22 and 25°C and a maceration of 28 days. The juices were thundered.
This cuvée will age on fine lees, in the vaulted cellars of the castle, for 9 months.
6,650 bottles were bottled July 6, 2023.

Its concentration and elegance mean that it can be enjoyed young, but it is a wine that can be aged for 5 to 8 years or more.

The wine-growing season was characterised by a hot, dry spring. With the exception of June, which was very wet, beating the record set in 1964! July and August were very hot, very dry and very sunny. At the end of the summer, the sunshine in 2022 was the highest since 1991! The ripening of our Gamay developed very quickly. At the end of August, the water deficit since the start of the year was 109 mm, the equivalent of almost two months' missing rainfall...
Harvesting at Château de Pierreux began on 25 August.
The vintage was marked by great heterogeneity between each plot. Some plots couldn't cope with the extreme conditions and lost a lot of juice, while others held up superbly. A number of factors explain these differences: soil, exposure, age and vine yield. Although the harvest was expected to be high in the spring, the final yield was 35-40hl/ha. The berries had a rather thick bloom and the musts were extremely concentrated. All the conditions were in place to produce a rich, expressive Brouilly.