Domaine Marcel Lapierre ‘Le Beaujolais’ 2025

There are wineries, and then there is Domaine Marcel Lapierre. Marcel took over the family domaine in 1973, and in 1981 he met Jules Chauvet, a chemist and winemaker who had been warning people about chemical fertilizers since the 1950s. Chauvet talked about going back to the old ways. No herbicides, no pesticides, minimal sulphites, no chaptalization. Three other local guys followed along and did the same. Kermit Lynch started calling them the Gang of Four, and the name stuck. Together, they changed what people thought Beaujolais could be: serious, age-worthy wines from Cru Beaujolais. 

Marcel passed away at the end of harvest in 2010, which feels almost too poetic. His son Mathieu and daughter Camille run things now the same way Marcel did.

Le Beaujolais comes from parcels in Lancié, right next to the domaine's home in Villié-Morgon. The vineyards are 50 to 80 years old, and the plot isn't bigger than 2.5 hectares. This is a lighter, more direct expression of Lapierre because it's simply aged in tanks for six months. It's a pivot toward a fresher expression of Morgon. Lots of crunchy red fruit, silky violets, and an immediate "oh my, this is delicious" without losing its connection to place. It tastes like top-class Morgon, with loads of bright cherry and silky violets.