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Domaine de la Pirolette

3.9/5View all 139 reviews

Perched atop a hill, facing the church of the famous Beaujolais village of Saint-Amour, the Domaine de la Pirolette is writing its own remarkable story. Taken over in 2013 by Virginie Barbet—a former sales representative in the cooperage industry—and her husband Grégory, along with a group of co-owners, the estate has since become one of the appellation’s leading names. Housed in a building dating back to 1600, the Domaine de la Pirolette owes its name to a pretty white flower: the Pirole. Spanning a 15-hectare vineyard with plots across various terroirs—featuring stony soils of sandstone and blue stone, as well as deep, weathered clay and pink granite—the lieux-dits Le Carjot, La Poulette, and La Pirolette take center stage and form the estate’s wine lineup.

Here, the Gamay grape reigns supreme, vinified as whole clusters in the Beaujolais tradition, but also destemmed according to Burgundian tradition. The wines of Domaine de La Pirolette are produced using gentle extraction to preserve the terroir’s distinctive character. This time-honored technique is called “chapeau grillé”: a wooden grid keeps the “cap” (the solid parts of the grape) submerged, allowing for all possible methods of pumping over and racking. The winery features traditional concrete tanks, as well as oval tanks for aging the La Poulette cuvée.

La Pirolette’s wines are elegant, full of vitality, and are expected to continue evolving to reach the pinnacle of Saint-Amour appellation wines! A winery to watch very, very closely...

For more information, visit the website at Pirolette

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