One of the original 'Gang of Four' that started the natural wine revolution in Beaujolais, Jean-Claude Chanudet aka Le Chat and the late Marcel Lapierre were close childhood friends; they used to spin a globe, pick a country and travel the world together, working their way wherever they went. Jean-Claude and his wife Geneviève have 5 hectares of vines in Morgon and half a hectare of 60 year old vines in Fleurie on the mythical slope of La Madone. The wines are vinified with stems through carbonic maceration and aged in a mix of foudres, fûts and stainless steel, whose proportions are adjusted every year according to the qualities of the fruit. They believe Gamay is not a grape suited to over extraction and make long-lived wines of great finesse, that are pale in colour with a wonderful texture and minerality.

This is La Madone, the most famous plot in Fleurie, and at 430m the highest of the appellation with a soil of pale pink decomposed granite, on a granite bedrock. Jean-Claude produces the most elegant expression possible from his wife Geneviève’s vines. It has a gentle colour, violet note on the nose, a wonderfully supple texture, and red and black fruits backed by a strong mineral character on the finish.