2013 Chateau Thivin Brouilly

Chateau Thivin is Beaujolais and Cote de Brouilly. It was founded in 1877 by Zaccharie Geoffray and it has been in the Geoffray family ever since. Thivin calls itself the oldest estae on Mount Brouilly and is today run by Claude Geoffray and his wife. The estate grows Gamay Noir and a small amount of Chardonnay. The estate produces both Beaujolais and Cote de Brouilly wines. In 2008 the estate began conversion to organic viticulture and it expects to be 100% organic by 2020.

Brouilly is the largest of the Beaujolais Cru appellations with 3,000 acres of vineyards. Unlike most of the other Beaujolais Crus, Brouilly is not a specific village. It surrounds the Côte de Brouilly appellation on three sides and in some years nearly 800,000 cases of wine are produced. The region is named for Mount Brouilly, an extinct volcano, and the name comes from “brûlé,” meaning burnt. As in virtually all of Beaujolais, the grape grown here is Gamay.

The Gamay grape produces a light, versatile and food-friendly wine. It is best known for making Beaujolais Nouveau, but it is also grown in Loire and Tours. Thankfully the 14th C. Duke of Burgundy’s degree to ban the grape did not spread through all of France.