Gilles Bonnefoy La Madone Gamay sur Volcan 2024

Nate will tell you I only bought this wine because I'm obsessed with the papyrus font on the label. That's maybe 10% true. The other 90% is that the wine is pretty damn delicious.

Gilles Bonnefoy started in 1997 with rented old vine plots. He and his team kept growing, planting on the slopes of a volcano called Volcan de la Madone. Organic since 2001, Demeter certified in 2009. Hand harvested, little to no sulphur. Natural wines at their best. Clean. Beautiful. Only 11 hectares, all revolving around that volcano. Upstream Loire, west of Beaujolais.

This is Côtes du Forez, Gamay from basalt soils. The volcanic rock gives it a saline, mineral finish that you don't get from the sandier, granitic soils of nearby Beaujolais. The nose is powerful red berries, then spicier notes as it opens. The amphora ageing softens the tannins so it's soft and delicate. A truly terroir-driven wine. You could cellar it for a while, but you probably won't.

Drink it with anything you'd drink Gamay with.