The Wine: La Baleine Ivre Gamay 2020
La Dernière Goutte La Baleine Ivre Gamay is a red natural wine made from 100% Gamay farmed sustainably in Beaujolais, France. The grapes undergo maceration for 8 days, the wine is then aged for 5 months in oak barrels. La Baleine Ivre Gamay is made naturally with no added sulfites.
The Producer: La Dernière Goutte
Cyrille Vuillod is originally from the Haute-Alps, before his life making wine he worked in the mountains as a ski instructor. Every year, to make some money in the fall he would go down to Beaujolais and do the harvest. Cyrille found himself wanting to move to Beaujolais due to all the friendships he had made. He began working at Lapalu, one of the original Beaujolais natural producers, and in 2012 he started his own domain. Cyrille mostly uses concrete for fermentation and loves experimenting with egg shapes and amphora. All the wines go through some time of carbonic maceration and soon he is looking to plant some new white grapes in Beaujolais, which is the reason why he made a Riesling and a Chardonnay in 2018 – he scouting what to plant.
The Region: Beaujolais
The Beaujolais wine region is located south of Burgundy. It stretches for about 50km from the town of Mâcon and its characteristic rolling hills to the flatlands bordering the regional capital and world-renown culinary center Lyon on the north.
Beaujolais wine region is split in two by the Nizerand River. The north of the river is where we find the Crus and Beaujolais Villages, whereas south of the river is where Beaujolais and Beaujolais Nouveau are made.
Gamay is the dominant grape varietal of the region giving its best when grown on the granite and sandy clay soils north of the Nizerand River and made into Beaujolais Crus and Beaujolais Villages easy-drinking delicious wines.
There are ten Beaujolais Crus where the best Beaujolais are made: Brouilly, Chenas, Chiroubles, Cote de Brouilly, Fleurie, Julienas, Morgon, Moulin-a-Vent, Regnie, and Saint-Amour.