Camille Mélinand comes from a family of winegrowers in Fleurie, the center of the northernmost section of Beaujolais. He is a young, cult producer handcrafting small amounts of ultra-elegant and delicious Cru Beaujolais from estate vineyards utilizing natural farming and production methods. Presently, Camille farms two vineyards he owns in Fleurie and Chiroubles, vinifying the wines in traditional, large foudres at his family’s cellar in Fleurie, Domaine de Marrans, where he works with his brother Mathieu to make the domaine wine. 

Camille has 1.5ha of 60-year-old gamay vines in Fleurie in the La Chapelle des Bois lieu-dit planted on shallow, stony, pink granite soils. The pink granite found in his Fleurie vineyard is a little more decomposed than in Chiroubles. In this vineyard, which is planted at 300m, he is gradually training his vines up to cordon, where they can benefit from natural ventilation to combat disease.

Vinification – Whole bunches are handpicked in small crates and selected in the vineyard. A very gentle and slow pressing follows 15 days of whole-cluster carbonic maceration. The must is transferred into temperature-controlled cement tanks, where spontaneous alcoholic fermentation occurs with native yeasts. After racking, the wine spends twelve months in foudres before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. Sulfur is not used in the vinification process.

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