Yann Bertrand Julienas . . . 100% 2022

From the very first sip we have been hooked on Yann's wines. Working alongside parents Guy and Annick he has taken the region by storm since returning to the family vineyards. Yann is mentored by Jacques Nauport who was Jules Chauvet's right hand man and is inspired by the movement that Jules and Jacques started.

 Yann is incredibly driven by his work in the vineyard, the Gamay vines are very old, and he works hard with manures to keep the vineyard healthy.  Whenever we've visited someone has to track him down in the vineyard somewhere. In the cellar the grapes are cooled before a very long cool slow carbonic maceration with no additions. 

It was heart breaking that in both 2016 and 2017 virtually every grape was lost to either frost or hail. Consequentially we have had to wait quite some time for Yann to have any wine for us but we are happy to be patient. When tasting with him in 2017 he wrote in the bottom of my notebook 'Le temps ne respecte pas ce qui se fait sans lui' which roughly translates to 'time does not respect what is done without him'.

Below you see the results of the patience on both our parts. Yann has a bright future and is one of the most thoughtful people in the world of wine. 

Julienas is the furthest north cru of the Beaujolais, and has a different terroir from the better known crus to the South.  Julienas . . . 100% is the result of a micro-negociant approach, with Yann bringing together passionate growers from the village, after a disastrous 2015 vintage, to support sustainable agriculture and promote this often overlooked region.