VIGNES DE PARADIS

Haute Savoie, France

Coming from a long-standing family of wine growers from the village of Saint-Amour, I run the family business from our home at "En Paradis". My family has been in this business for five generations, since 1864. Covering a small area of 4.5 hectares of hillside vines, on a very human scale, I use the Gamay grape variety to make my Saint Amour and Beaujolais Villages wines. The Chardonnay grape is used for my Burgundy White.
The estate is situated at the heart of the village in Saint-Amour, with its evocative name dedicated to romance. It is the most northerly appellation wine in the Beaujolais region. It lies in close proximity to Burgundy, to the Saint-Vérand and Pouilly-Fuissé wines.

Working the land is a labour of love for me, and the fifteen plots making up the estate, sometimes almost 100 years old, are carefully tended like little individual gardens throughout the year.

Mastering the yield:

Pruning the vines, "a fundamental act" is limited to eight buds per vine stock and must be carried out in the best conditions in order to meet the regulation of the grapes, the balance and the continued existence of the vines, and to limit risks to the state of the crop.

Careful work on the vines during the vegetative cycle:

Manual de-budding and thinning for the most vigorous plots allow the grapes to reach the desired maturity and produce a healthy crop.

The grape harvest, that is carried out by hand, respects the body of the fruit as a whole and its selection, in order to undergo a sulphur-free wine making process, in accordance with Beaujolais tradition (semi-carbonic maceration and 8 to10 days of fermentation in vats).

The pressing of the grapes, upheld by our family for generations, is done with the help of a marmonier (a vertical wine press dating back to 1910) with each pressing lasting one day.

The maturing happens in vats on fine sediment whilst awaiting bottling around Easter

Website