Jean-Louis Dutraive - Grand Cour

Photography and writing by Ted Vance.

This extremely humble and hard-working vigneron has unintentionally become (for me) an iconoclastic vigneron within Beaujolais. He has found his own unique style of winemaking and has pushed his wines to a place that knows no equal. He has abandoned conventional farming in favor of organic many years ago and has become at one with his vines and his wines. He has come to realize and practice that with near perfect work in the vineyard of a great terroir, one must observe more and react less.

Fleurie is perhaps one of Beaujolais’ most elegant appellations. It, like the other crus of Beaujolais, is scrunched up in the north half of Beaujolais and are dominated by more the more complex soils: schist and granite. At Jean-Louis’ Fleurie vines, the soil is granite; the exception being the Brouilly, which is on limestone. The vineyards in Fleurie are spread out with quite a different elevation between 250-500 meters. The vines of Dutraive are just a short walk from the town center, which sits around 300 meters.

The climate of Beaujolais is semi-continental and is warmer than the rest of Burgundy. In fact, it is one of the warmest places in France during the summer months. Thankfully, they are the eastern foothills of the Massif Central which helps the vineyards cool down at night following hot days.

Jean-Louis Dutraive - Grand Cour - 2023 Fleurie, Chapelle des Bois

Price: $51.00
Size: 750ml
Availability: 

24+ in stock

Type of Wine: Red
Grape(s): 100% Gamay
Style: Mineral, Elegant and Aromatic

GROWER OVERVIEW

It’s never too late for a renaissance. Nearing 60, the extremely humble and hard-working vigneron, Jean-Louis Dutraive unintentionally became one of Beaujolais’ iconoclastic vignerons. Between 2010-2016 (perhaps some years prior to those as well), Jean-Louis found his own uniquely elegant style that inspired an entire generation of local growers and extended well beyond Beaujolais and France into the global wine scene. Perhaps one of Beaujolais’ most elegant appellations, Fleurie is dominated by granite soils with a broad variation of altitudes and expositions. Jean-Louis’ Fleurie vines are on softer slopes at lower altitudes with deeper sandy soils than those at higher altitudes, which make for more elegant and aromatic wines. Jean-Louis’ Brouilly is a unique wine grown on limestone, which imparts more power, color and weight when compared to his range of Fleurie wines. All vineyards are farmed naturally with EU organic certification and most of the wines are bottled with little to no added sulfites. Jean-Louis’ offspring (Ophélie, Justin and Lucas) began to take greater stylistic control of the domaine in 2017, led by his daughter, Ophélie.

VINEYARD DETAILS

Dutraive’s 1.8-ha (~4.5-acre) plot in the Fleurie lieu-dit “La Chapelle des Bois” (a lieu-dit that has a variety of exposures and topsoil textures) is located at the bottom of the slope,. It’s the coldest parcel in their range, and consists of deep decomposed granite sand with vines planted between 1953 and 2003 at altitudes ranging from 250 to 500 meters, and a northwest exposure.

CELLAR NOTES

100% whole cluster, semi-carbonic, natural fermentation and maceration for 2-3 weeks and the wine aged in 50% steel and 50% 500 L old French oak. 10ppm (10mg/L) total added sulfites only at bottling, no fining nor filtration.

About The Wine

Inside the bottle: Jean-Louis’ “sans soufre” bottling immediately overflows with soft, beautiful exotic red and yellow fruits that comfortably rest on fresh, striking acidity. It is the most charming and perhaps the least serious wine in the range only due to its shorter drinking window. Jean-Louis is candid about the need to drink this wine within a 6-8 hour period as the wine has a wonderfully high peak of drinking. However, without SO2 the wines loses a good portion of its charm the next day. It is a rare and wonderful wine.

All of Jean-Louis’ wines are made with whole clusters, zero extraction and natural fermentations. They are made from a combination of nearly perfect farming and zen-like observation. The elevage of this wine is 60% in stainless steel and 40% in futs de chene (barrel).

Terroir: Just on the north side of the domaine, this vineyard is on a gentle slope facing north. The soil is decomposed granite that is slightly deeper than most sections of the Clos de la Coeur; in fact, it is the deepest soil in his roster of vines. It is also the coolest site, thus rendering wines with greater acidity. This combination of higher natural acidity and a cooler terroir is the reason why he chooses this site to bottle a wine completely free of Sulfur.