JAUFRÉ MAS,VIELLES VIGNES, 2023

I was fortunate to first taste Jaufré’s wines at the Beysang/Hurtubise household in south Beaujolais, which a friend of Raphael's had brought straight from the cellar, bottled specially in one of their recycled litre bottle. It was a captivating introduction to a very exciting new producer, a Gamay d'Auvergne brimming with life that stayed fresh and delicious all day open (and into the next). Jaufré Mas, is a long time friend of Raphael & Emelie's from their time working in the Auvergne and his day job is spent working for Patrick Bouju running the cellar and working the vines.

He has now started his own project with the help of Patrick and other luminaries of the region, finding four small parcels spread across one hectare in total and building a very DIY cellar in a barn at the back of his house. The first money went on an expensive pump, every year he will add and improve, while still working for Patrick.

80-120 year old Gamay d'Auvergne from a plot planted on a limestone hillside terroir, facing south and aged between eighty and one hundred and twenty years. The grapes were destemmed and macerated for a month and a half, then aged in terracotta amphorae. The wine completed its fermentation in the spring, in its amphora, before being bottled in September. As you'd expect from the old vines this has a depth and concentration to it, but balanced with beautiful length. Cellar if you can, though it's already delicious!