Henri Chauvet | Côtes d’Auvergne

Red wine
Gamay (d’Auvergne & Beaujolais)
Whole-bunches maceration in large stainless steel tanks
9 months ageing in old 300-L and 228-L barrels

A lifted, briary, slightly spicy dark berries nose with a touch of copper. Juicy with translucent flavours, with a creamy core, and an airy mouthfeel. There is a mineral drive and intensity that belie its open-knit structure, and the wine continues to put on flesh with air. Pretty, and far from simple. From predominantly red clay soils laden with iron oxide and limestone. Only 1.5 g/HL of SO2 added prior to bottling.

Red wine
Gamay
1-month long whole-bunch maceration
9 months ageing in old 300-L and 228-L barrels

A blend of all of Chauvet’s most beautiful gamay terroirs from the historic, very steep hillside of Boudes. Very deep nose and expansive. Unpacking it reveals smoke, a noble reduction, cassis, cherries, dried rose petals, pine needles and Sichuan peppercorns. Undefinably complex and intense, but also spherical and levitational, turning vaporous in the mouth as time goes by. A mind-bending Gamay and the class of the cellar with a magnificent cellaring upside. Basalt reigns supreme here with different types of marls, mostly blue. Only 1.5 g/HL of SO2 added prior to bottling. Wow!

Red wine
Pinot Noir
12-15 days whole-bunch maceration in steel
9 months ageing in new 500-L (35%) and old 228-L (65%) barrels

From two plots: a large plot in the heart of the historic hillside of the village with a dominant highly volcanic soil, and a small east-facing plot where there are traces of volcanoes and blue marl. Wetting the cap of the musts using buckets. Only 1.5 g/HL of SO2 added prior to bottling.