Frederic Berne • Beaujolais Raised on a farm in Beaujolais, Berne’s parents hoped he would choose a career far away from a farm. On the first day of his internship with IBM, Frédéric Berne realized his destiny was not a suit and tie. What attracted him to wine was the local conviviality and thrill of harvest. After learning conventional winemaking for nine years with Robert Perroud in Brouilly, his outlook expanded when he worked with the Bret brothers at their biodynamic estate, Domaine de Soufrandière in Mâcon. “I discovered a completely different side of winemaking,” he says. Berne's time with the Bret brothers greatly inspired him, and he wanted to apply these thoughtful strategies on his home turf. Longtime family friends of the Berne family, Château des Vergers is a 17th century mansion with ancient cellars, dating back to 1604. It is located within the dot of a village, Latignié, which is home to less than 900 residents. Latignié is a unique kernel of terroir within the greater Régnié cru with soils of granite, quartz, fluorite and barite (Berne, also owns land here, and believes that Latignié will, someday, be the eleventh cru of Beaujolais). It is here, in the ancient cellars of Vergers, where Berne makes Gamay of extraordinary purity, timeless wines that erase the boxes of traditional or modern.

Beaujolais Lantignié "Granit Rose" 2016 Frederic’s Granit Rose bottling comes from a patch of pink granite on the hillside slopes of Lantignie. He presses the grapes whole cluster in an old screw press, thanks to the Chateau des Vergers where he makes the wine. Frederic then ferments on the skins in concrete, and after a brief stay in neutral oak, he bottles the wines unfiltered, unfined, and with minimal sulfur additions. There’s a smack of bright red cherry and strawberry as soon as you smell the wine, pink peppercorns and the unmistakable minerality of great terroir backing it all up.

Lantignié "Granit Rose" lieu dit biologique