Jules Desjourneys

It’s difficult to know where to begin in describing the wines of Fabien Duperray’s Jules Desjourneys estate in Beaujolais and Mâcon, and now the few bottles he is producing in Sancerre. Some producers—only a few—craft wines that, without any background, expectation, or buildup, make you physically understand immediately that you’ve entered another dimension. The Jules Desjourneys wines sit in that class.

Fabien’s journey as a winemaker began in 2007 when he decided to purchase land in Beaujolais. Today, he owns seven hectares of exceptional terroir in Beaujolais, with vines in the very best sectors of their appellations, none younger than 70 years of age and many over 100 years. He farms according to biodynamic principles and generally only works with organically farmed vineyards, making a massive investment in manual work in the vineyard that goes beyond what some of the most well-known and respected domaines in the Côte d’Or undertake. The agronomical work is at the heart of what he does: farming for low yields, using a horse instead of a tractor, picking dates extremely precisely, and sorting on the vine, on a table, and then using an optical sorting machine.

In the cellar, Fabien eschews the use of oak for his Beaujolais, preferring concrete tanks and glass. Everything is vinified with natural yeasts, and even after the long élevage, he has gradually moved to releasing the wines 5 or 6 years after harvest. The fact that the wines are half a decade old when you taste them is unusual in itself, but the intense aromatics, combination of energy and concentration, and complex textures set the wines apart. As Fabien says, he is looking for horizontality in Gamay.