Saburin 2021

• Fine-boned and granitic, so keep the food clean: itek tim or babi pongteh.
• Or rillettes, with bread that has a proper crust on it.

Nicolas Chemarin is the fourth generation of his family to farm at Marchampt, a village high in the western hills of Beaujolais where the slopes run steep and the granite sits close to the surface. His grandfather built the half-buried concrete vat room Nicolas still works in today. People from Marchampt are known locally as p'tits grobis, and Nicolas gave the name to his wines.

Before coming home he studied, worked in Pouilly-Fuissé, and ran the cellar for the natural producer Louis Tête. Since 2008 he has given himself entirely to the family vines, a handful of hectares that run from the hills above Marchampt down to small parcels in the crus of Brouilly, Régnié and Morgon. The vines are bush-trained, the slopes are too steep for machines, and everything is done by hand. He farms organically without certification and times the work to the lunar calendar.

In the cellar he keeps it simple. Whole bunches, native yeasts, concrete and old barrels, no sulphur during fermentation and at most a touch before bottling. Most of the wines go into bottle unfiltered.

Racine carries two of his crus. Saburin comes from a steep, south-facing lieu-dit in Brouilly on pink granite, and it is all bright red fruit and lift. La Haute Ronzé, from Régnié near the Morgon border, grows on deeper, clay-rich soil and gives a firmer, more structured Gamay that rewards a little patience. Both taste of the Beaujolais Nicolas grew up around: honest, unhurried, made to be drunk.