Brouilly

The Brouilly appellation d'origine contrôlée is a communal appellation recognized since 1938. Its vineyards cover some 1,300 hectares, or 20% of the surface area of the Beaujolais crus. Brouilly is the largest and most "southern" of them. The communes entitled to the appellation are Cercié, Saint-Lager, Charentay, Odenas, Saint-Etienne-la-Varenne and Quincié. A unique feature of the appellation is that none of the communes it covers bear its name. The largest and most southerly of the Beaujolais crus takes its name from Mont Brouilly, where Brulius, a lieutenant in the Roman army, once sat.

Made exclusively from Gamay noir grapes with white juice, Brouilly wines are obviously red wines. The terroir's soils are poor, acidic, dry and not very fertile. Depending on the appellation, the soils are characterized by pink granite, diorite, marl-limestone substrates, crystalline detritus and fine clay elements. In Cercié, a 22-hectare south-facing slope produces a wine entitled to the Pisse-Vieille appellation, the only recognized Brouilly climate. Seductive and pleasant, Brouilly is a bistro wine. Its success on Parisian counters bears witness to this: 20% of the cru's total production is sold in the Parisian C.H.R. network.

Pleasant as it is, Brouilly is no less a quality wine, as demonstrated by the products offered by Maison Coquard, Château de la Chaize, Domaine les Roches Bleues and Domaine du Vissoux.