2023 Jane Eyre Fleurie Les Labourons

JANE EYRE’S NOTE: The Fleurie this year goes back to the original blend of fruit coming predominately from Labourons with a small percentage (10%) of La Madone. The warm, dry year led to my decision to use 60% whole clusters in the fermentation. The Labourons vineyard is coming up to 100 years of age and produces wonderfully aromatic fruit from small bunches. La Madone is the most well-known site in Fleurie. The vines are slightly younger here but the quality of the terroir shines through. The grapes were in tank for 20 days. During this time, it was pumped over and we carried out gentle pigeage (by foot) several times. The skins were pressed, and the wine aged in 500L older barrels, tank and a Clayver. The Clayver is a stoneware oval tank and has helped add an extra complexity to the wine. This year I bottled the wine in May, earlier than usual but the wine was ready. Every year the wines show differently and I adjust the bottling dates as a function of the wines. The elevation of the vineyards keeps a great freshness in the wine in hotter years. The variety is suited to a rocky soil that gives the wine a freshness and offers energetic tannins. A true cru Beaujolais. Medium purple colour, this is packed with crunchy red fruits along with floral aromas of rose with a hint of spice. Good acidity on the palate. The wine has good weight without being heavy and finishes with fine tannins, intense but not dramatically weighty. A more accessible wine than the 2022.The barrel aging has given the wine an edge more usually associated with Pinot than Gamay. This wine can be drunk now or enjoy watching the evolution as it ages and changes in the cellar. Drink 2025-2035. 380 CASES PRODUCED. JASPER MORRIS MW - SCORE 4 STARS & 90: The Labourons cuvée gets a longer, more classical vinification, with 60% whole bunches. Bottled in June. The pinker side of purple. A little bit of strawberry bubble-gum but much more depth of fruit and still some pepper. Fine length Drink from 2025-2028. JANCIS ROBINSON 16.5/20: Eyre has been making wine from this vineyard since 2016. 100-year-old vines on pink sand. Hand-picked. 60% whole bunch, 4 weeks on skins. Malolactic conversion in tank, then sulphured (to take no risks with brett) and moved to 500-litre old barrels, one 400-litre Clayver, and a little bit in tank. Lightish smudgy crimson. Fragrant sour-cherry and dark-red fruit. Lovely delicate note of stems and pepper. Finest of tannins, juicy and elegant – and still joyful. (Julia Harding MW). Drink 2027-2032.