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: 6,000 to 10,000 vines/ha
Age of the vines: 42% of the plots are over 40 years old.
Pruning: gobelet & 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:

100% Gamay

With a deep and garnet-red color, this Brouilly gives us black cherry, wild strawberry aromas with a cocoa hint. The mouth, rich and aromatic, has a lot to offer. It reveals a nice smoothness, with a medium body from soft tannins. We can always feel that mineral hint which tells us we are well on a Brouilly from Pierreux terroir.

The grapes were 100% de-stemmed and placed in a concrete vat. The fermentation lasted 13 days and was followed by a 17-25 days Burgundy maceration. A 6-month ageing in large barrels to develop structure, soften tannins and allow a micro- oxygenation with a 26%-ageing in new oak of French origin because this 2015 vintage was strong enough to pair with new oak with keeping its original flavors.

4 to 7 years

A hot and concentrated vintage. The first trimester was quite normal, with a late bud breaking. After a hot April and a warm and dry month of May, the flowering came late in May. Very high temperatures of June make the flowering time shorter than usual. The bunch closure comes really quickly too. We reached the veraison time by middle of July. By this step, we were already 8 days ahead from an average vintage on the 22 past years! The drought made very small berries with very low yield. The harvest started on August 25th under hot and shiny sun.