Producer Michel Guignier

FRANCE, BEAUJOLAIS

Michel Guignier's winery is located in Villié Morgon, in the heart of the AOC Morgon appellation in Beaujolais. The Morgon denomination is characterized by decomposed granite soils and friable shales defined at regional level as "rotten rock". With him, we have reached the fourth generation of winemakers and are part of the famous "gang of four", namely Marcel Lapierre, Jean Foillard, Guy Breton and Jean-Paul Thévenet, who met in opposition to the "industrial wine" in Beaujolais, which follow a approach that limits interventions in the vineyard and in the cellar as much as possible, with the aim of producing authentic and natural wines. Dynamic and convincing exponent of a viticulture that refuses standardization, Michel Guignier focuses his energies on the cultivation of gamay, the variety at the base of all his labels, giving true enthusiasts wines shaped in character, mainly in the vineyard, marked by the climatic trend of the year and supported by the hands of the vigneron. Michel has a number of vineyards around Vauxrenard and others in Fleurie and Moulin a Vent. La Bonne Pioche is a delightful 7 hectare vineyard near Vauxrenard with thirty year old vines. He has another 4 hectares in Fleurie and Moulin in Vent, where the vines are over 75 years old. He owns a work horse called Bistere that grazes among the vineyards eating the grass that grows under the vines and between the rows, so as to add natural fertilizer to the vineyards. During the harvest the grapes are harvested entirely by hand and the rigorous selection is carried out both in the vineyard and in the cellar before the grapes go into cement tanks for winemaking. All its grapes are fermented in cement tanks following a traditional vinification called "Beaujolaise" without destemming and with only indigenous yeasts. The wines are macerated for 6-7 days for Beaujolais and up to 14-15 days for its best Morgon.