When we talk about Beaujolais to wine lovers, as a critic, we expect three answers. The first one is Beaujolais Nouveau, because Beaujolais does exist only on the third Thursday of the month, after that we move on to something else. Well... The second one is natural wines, because Beaujolais is all about natural wines. Well, not only... The third one is the crus, because genuine Beaujolais is necessarily Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, etc. The remainder, no. Really? What is the remainder? Let's say it, it's the south of Beaujolais, more precisely the AOC Beaujolais which represents statistically the major part of the production of Beaujolais Nouveau. So not much interesting outside the 3rd Thursday of November...
However, if you look around a bit, you will quickly come across well-known names, such as Jean-Paul Brun or Pierre-Marie Chermette. In reality, if you look round a bit, you will discover a territory of 4800 ha, with an average altitude of 318m (with a peak at 450m) where, unique in the region, all the soils of Beaujolais are represented. From gneiss, bluestones and granites to more recent rocks, everything is there, to the point that some of them (the plagiogranites of Saint-Vérand for example) are only found in this AOC where limestone is the most important. If Beaujolais Nouveau finds its most important source of grapes in volume here, this region is nonetheless a breeding ground for good estates born on the stony and undulating hillsides of the Pierres Dorées.
Among these estates, the one of Odile and Serge Morel, who settled in Oingt in 1995 to create Domaine des Prévelières. Joined by their children Quentin and Gaëtan in 2010, they take advantage of this fresh and passionate workforce to prepare the future. 2017 is the first vintage of the young brothers, but also that of the parents who used to sell the whole production to the négociants. Following the death of their Uncle located in the neighboring village of Moire, the Morel family had to absorb an increasing surface in the vineyard. From 3ha when they arrived, the estate has grown to 30ha... Replanting (12ha out of 30), change of culture, the family does not dawdle: the father, however retired, is at the tractor, the brothers a little bit everywhere, finally everyone works in the vineyard to convert the whole production to organic farming in 2022. At the same time, the bottling must find markets. Here too, things are not dragging. From 0 bottles in 2017, the estate will go to 28,000 bottles sold in 2022!
In the cellar, each terroir is vinified separately with indigenous yeasts, followed by rather long macerations for the region (between 20 and 24 days). Depending on the cuvée, the wines are aged in vats and/or demi-muids for 6 to 12 months. If the whites, les-pierres-dorées and les-carrières, are distinguished by their tonic and lemony profiles, the reds play the card of depth and concentration, reminding us in passing that Beaujolais can be a quaffing wine with structure and typicity. To compare vigne-brun, mont-joli and rongefert is to appreciate the whole mosaic of soils, exposure and altitude which draws the surrounding landscapes of the domain. The results of our tasting will be online soon. In the meantime, don't hesitate to get lost on the hilly roads of the Pierres Dorées to meet Quentin and Gaëtan Morel from Domaine des Prévelières.
Domaine des Prévelières
986 Rte du Layet du Bas
69620 Val d'Oingt
d.prevelieres@live.fr
Quentin Morel : 06 89 40 85 33