Domaine Chignard Les Moriers Fleurie 2024

Domaine Chignard is a fourth generation family domaine in Fleurie, with the Chignards having been established in the village since 1900. Michel Chignard handed management of the estate to his son Cédric in 2007, and Cédric continues the family’s quietly traditional approach today. Rather than chasing a particular natural wine aesthetic or following rigid protocols, the domaine emphasizes finesse, balance and allowing each vintage to determine how the wine is made. The estate covers about 10 hectares, including roughly 8 hectares of Fleurie, with much of its best fruit coming from Les Moriers.

Les Moriers is a particularly interesting site, sitting close to the border with Moulin à Vent. The name refers to the mulberry trees that once covered the slope when silkworm production was important in the region. The vineyard is about 7 hectares in one continuous parcel, with vines averaging around 60 years old. Its old, heavily weathered pink granite soils are particularly shallow, with the underlying rock close to the surface, giving the wines a combination of floral finesse and a surprisingly stony, structured character. It is this meeting of Fleurie’s perfume and elegance with some of the depth associated with Moulin à Vent that makes Les Moriers so compelling.

The domaine practices certified organic farming, with traditional short goblet pruning and exclusively hand harvested grapes. Chignard places considerable emphasis on the quality of the fruit and performs a selection in the vineyard. In the cellar, the approach remains traditional: whole clusters are fermented with indigenous yeasts, with roughly eight days of gentle maceration and very little pumping over or extraction. The goal is not maximum concentration, but rather a wine that retains the natural delicacy and aromatic character of Fleurie.

The 2024 Les Moriers is 100% gamay and was aged in a combination of very old 60 year foudres and concrete tanks, with the oak used for texture and integration rather than imparting an overt flavor. The resulting wine is beautifully poised between perfume and structure, showing red cherry, violet, hibiscus and dried floral notes, with a subtle stony quality underneath. There is plenty of ripe fruit, but the wine remains fresh and finely tannic, making it approachable now while also having the structure to develop with several years in bottle.