Producer: Domaine de la Madone
Wine: 2023 Fleurie Cuvee Madone
Varietal: 100% Gamay
Tasting Notes: Cuvée Madone is a beautifully expressive Beaujolais made from 60 year-old Gamay vines. It offers ripe fruit, spice, and subtle toasted aromas. On the palate, it is fruit-forward, smooth and approachable with supple tannins and a velvety texture. Floral notes, red cherry, wild strawberry and blueberry blend with a hint of licorice, delivering freshness and elegance.
Food: The 2023 Fleurie, a floral and fruit-forward Beaujolais Cru, pairs beautifully with a wide range of dishes thanks to its light body and bright acidity. It complements poultry and lighter meats such as roasted chicken, grilled pork, duck confit, veal scaloppini, and even frog legs. This wine also shines alongside creamy pastas as well as quiche and Mediterranean-inspired salads. For cheese lovers, it’s a natural match with soft varieties like brie and goat cheese, or aged options like Comté and Gruyère. Fleurie also holds its own with charcuterie, pâtés, and even grilled or sauced red meats like beef, lamb, or duck, making it an impressively versatile table companion.
Cellaring: Drink now
DOMAINE DE LA MADONE
Fleurie
Domaine de la Madone is situated along the hillside of La Madone in the Beaujolais cru village of Fleurie.
Domaine de la Madone is owned and run by Arnaud Després who is the 6th generation of his family to tend to these famous hillside vineyards, taking their name from the Chapel of La Madone which was built in 1866 and is high atop the hill above the village of Fleurie.The estate’s 42 acres sit on pink granite and enjoy ideal growing conditions for the Gamay grape due to the exceptional amounts of sunlight it receives. Jean-Marc and Arnaud are very focused on nature and the biodiversity is plentiful with bees, crickets and butterflies amongst the vines.
The winery is built into the hillside and therefore, after manual harvesting, the grapes can be moved from picking baskets to tanks and then to barrels via gravity. The top cuvees are aged in oak barrels as well as some experimentation with concrete eggs.
Fleurie is one of the 10 Crus of Beaujolais located in the north and producing only red wine. Fleurie is 1312 feet above sea level known for red wines from the Gamay varietal.
The wines are some of the most highly regarded in the region, which is sometimes referred to as "The Queen of Beaujolais". Indeed, Fleurie appellation gets its elegance from being sheltered by the Avenas, Durbize and Labourons range.
A quick geology lesson to tell you about the unique landscape where Fleurie vines grow: at the end of the Tertiary Era, an exceptional tectonic and magmatic event changed the landscape forever. The land was thrust upwards and hills formed across the Beaujolais region that were shaped over the years by erosion.
La Madone stands at the highest point of these valleys at 1394 feet above sea level. This magnificent statue is the landmark for the Fleurie vines, which grow from the south-eastern side of the hill up to the Madone chapel.
Information by Beaujolais
