Georges Descombes is sometimes called the unofficial fifth member of Beaujolais' legendary Gang of Four, the group of growers who reshaped the region around natural winemaking. As a teenager he worked the vines with his vigneron father and moved between local cellars; the first time he tasted Marcel Lapierre's wine he was so struck by its purity that he resolved to make wine the same way.
Backstory
Georges took over the family estate in 1988 and immediately began moving it forward, adopting organic viticulture and stripping additives and manipulation out of the cellar. He is based in the hamlet of Vermont, within Villie-Morgon in the heart of cru Beaujolais.
The Region
The estate spans about 15.5 hectares across five appellations: 7.5 hectares in Morgon, 3.5 in Brouilly, 2 in Regnie, half a hectare in Chiroubles and 2 hectares of Beaujolais-Villages. Every parcel is planted to Gamay, the grape of Beaujolais.
Vineyards and Farming
Descombes farmed organically with Ecocert certification for many years and continues those practices today. Grapes are hand-harvested and old-vine cuvees are vinified separately to capture their depth.
Winemaking
Fruit is cooled in temperature-controlled containers before going into 60-hectolitre cement tanks for a traditional semi-carbonic maceration with ambient yeasts. The wines are aged in barrel for around six months and receive only a tiny addition of sulphur at bottling, less than a fraction of what certified organic growers are permitted. Descombes also releases his wines later than most of his peers, often up to a year behind.
The Wines
The range runs across his five crus, with standout old-vine selections and special bottlings such as Morgon Vermont. Together they show Gamay at its most transparent, perfumed and ageworthy.
