Bonnet Cotton Côte de Brouilly 2023

Bonnet Cotton Côte de Brouilly is a natural, single-variety Gamay from Pierre Cotton, a young vigneron who farms around five hectares in Beaujolais and vinifies with his family in an eighteenth-century cellar. Côte de Brouilly is one of the ten Beaujolais crus, taking in the slopes of Mont Brouilly, whose blue volcanic and granitic soils give wines more structure and mineral drive than the lighter villages below. The vineyard for this wine is a single hectare on these slopes. As a natural wine it is made with minimal intervention, typically through carbonic or semi-carbonic maceration, where whole bunches ferment from the inside in a closed, carbon-dioxide-rich environment; this extracts colour and bright fruit with little tannin and produces the floral, fresh character typical of good Gamay. A spell in barrel adds texture without obvious oak. The colour is bright, translucent ruby. The nose leads with raspberry, red cherry and violet over a peppery, stony note. The palate is light bodied, juicy and fresh, with low tannin, lively acidity and a mineral finish. Serve cool at 13 to 14 degrees. It is at home with charcuterie and roast poultry.