Gilles Bonnefoy: Vineyards
Gilles Bonnefoy new cellars are located above Champdieu, at the side of the road which climbs up out of the village. Here we find not only his winemaking facilities, but also his family home, and a small gite the family rent out to lucky tourists. There is one parcel of vines here, the others are scattered around the immediate region.
He currently has 11 hectares to his name, planted with various Gamays, not just the Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc we all know from Beaujolais and Touraine but also the Teinturier varieties including Gamay de Bouze and Gamay de Chaudenay, as well as Gamaret (a cross between Gamay Noir and Reichensteiner created in Switzerland in 1970). Alongside these he has a small surface area dedicated to white varieties, in this case a mix of Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Roussanne.
Underfoot the soils are those typical of the region, being derived from the two main rock types of the Massif Central, these being granite and basalt. Given the co-existence of these two, it is difficult to accept that there is not rhyolite and gabbro here as well, but the vignerons of Forez rarely mention them, if ever. One alternative that Gilles does mention is migmatite, a rock which has been taken to the point of melting before cooling again, on which I provide a little more geological detail further down the page.
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