Domaine de la Madone Beaujolais Villages is a seductively soft and harmonious wine with ripe red berry fruit, cherry and dark strawberry notes. It’s medium body weight and silky texture make it a perfect everyday wine, but it is a brilliant choice to wash down some cheese and charcuterie. Great length, fruit concentration and balance.
Domaine de la Madone, located in the Beaujolais Cru of Fleurie, is owned and run by Arnaud Despres. Arnaud is the 6th generation of his family to farm these famous hillside vineyards that take their name from the chapel which sits on top of the hill above the village of Fleurie. Arnaud’s 17 hectares, which sit on pink granite, enjoy some of the best growing conditions in the area and are blessed with exceptional amounts of sunlight - perfect for cultivating the Gamay grape. Arnaud now also makes a white wine from Viognier and there was talk of planting some Marsanne in the not-too-distant future. It should also be noted that the winery has a restaurant attached to it which is fantastic.
Picking is done manually, and the wines are fermented in whole bunches in concrete tanks to retain the freshness and terroir of the individual plots. The winery is built into the hillside so the wine can be moved from picking baskets to tanks and then to barrels via gravity. Some of the top cuvees are aged in oak barrels and there is some experimenting with concrete eggs. Filtration is very light and a small amount of sulphur is used.
