Lafarge Vial Fleurie La Joie du Palais 2020 1.5L

La Joie du Palais is the summit of Domaine Lafarge-Vial, the Beaujolais estate founded in 2014 by Frédéric and Chantal Lafarge of Volnay and farmed, like their home domaine, with certified organic and biodynamic methods. The lieu-dit sits high on Fleurie's slopes beside the famed La Madone: gobelet-trained vines planted in the 1950s dig into crumbly pink granite, and a third of the parcel pitches so steeply that only a horse can work it. These old vines yield notably small berries, hand-harvested, fermented with about 15 percent whole clusters on ambient yeasts in concrete with gentle extraction, then aged a year in used 228- and 350-liter barrels. In magnum, the format a wine like this asks for. Cru Beaujolais with the gravity of the Côte d'Or, made by people who would know.