Domaine Thillardon

Paul-Henri Thillardon grew up in the southern part of Beaujolais, where his father grew grapes for a local cooperative. Thillardon is now based in Chénas, not all that far from his origins as the crow flies, but a million miles away from his cooperative roots in terms of ethos. Bulk-produced entry-level wines are a distant memory, and Thillardon produces some of the most iconic wines in Chénas as well as some white Vins de France. The 14 or so hectares of vineyards, many of them steeply sloping and ploughed by horse, are farmed organically or biodynamically. The winemaking is just as hands-on as the viticulture here.

Although Thillardon began making his wines in the Burgundian style, with partially de-stemmed bunches and rigorous extraction, back in the early years of the domaine, he’s since changed his approach. Inspired by influential ‘natural’ producers like Jean-Louis Dutraive and Yvon Métras, Thillardon went back to Beaujolais basics. The Thillardons now make wines in as minimalistic a way as possible, chilling the grapes right down before tipping the whole bunches into a tank under a blanket of CO2 for a fermentation that comes as close to full carbonic maceration as possible, with no tannins extracted by means of punch-downs or pump-overs. Like many hands-off winemakers in the region, Thillardon works with indigenous yeasts, and keeps sulphite use to a minimum, with a trace added just prior to bottling to ensure that the wines retain the bright, approachable fruit that he hopes to showcase. This isn’t to say that the wines lack complexity – far from it – but the emphasis for these single-vineyard wines is on gorgeous, juicy red fruits and supple, approachable tannins.