Santini Chiroubles 2022
We have 12 in stock (Inventory is live and accurate)
The Land
Chiroubles is the highest of the ten Beaujolais crus, and it is quietly shrinking. Vineyards climb toward the Col de Durbize at about 500 meters, almost entirely on pink granite, ranging from shallow soils over bare bedrock to deeper, free-draining granitic sand. Wind and altitude bring freshness, a real advantage as summers warm, but hail hits hard here, and growers can lose most of a crop in half an hour. Steep slopes and thin margins have pushed growers to abandon parcels, and the cru, already the second smallest by area, lost close to 15 percent of its vineyards over just two years. Every bottle of Chiroubles red wine comes from a landscape that is working to stay farmed.
The Wine
Santini Chiroubles 2022 is 100% Gamay from a vintage that ran hot across Beaujolais. In a year like that, Chiroubles' altitude and wind were an asset, keeping alcohol in check and holding onto freshness that lower, warmer sites struggled to keep. Expect the cru's signature profile: red cherry, raspberry, peony, and crushed pink granite, a light-to-medium body with fine, chalky tannin, and a bright, mineral finish. Chiroubles typically drinks closer in spirit to Volnay or Chambolle-Musigny than to the denser crus like Morgon or Moulin-à-Vent, with energy over weight. The wine definitely shows natural and is not for the faint hearted.
The People
Chiroubles has never had a famous name to lean on. The cru is farmed almost entirely by small family growers, and its steep granite terraces demand hand work that machines cannot do; as in every Beaujolais cru, the grapes must be picked by hand. The growers who stay are the reason the cru still exists, and every buyer who pays a fair price for their fruit helps keep a parcel from going back to scrub. Santini Chiroubles comes out of that small-grower world, a hand-harvested Gamay from the highest slopes in Beaujolais under a name few drinkers know yet. We bought it because it tastes like the place: high, cool and stony, the side of Beaujolais that wins over people who think they don't like Gamay.
Food Pairing
This is Gamay with lift, so lean into dishes with fat, salt, and acidity. A Lyonnaise salad of frisée, crisp lardons, and a poached egg is the hometown match, the wine's acidity standing up to the sherry-vinegar dressing. Seared duck breast with a quick sour cherry sauce echoes the fruit while the fine tannin trims the fat. Salmon roasted over French lentils with a Dijon vinaigrette works because the wine is light enough for fish and earthy enough for the lentils, and a wedge of Saint-Marcellin with crusty bread lets the minerality cut the cream. Bring it to the dinner party where you have no idea what the host is cooking.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Beaujolais stands on its own as a unique source of the world's greatest Gamay wines and one of the birthplaces of the natural wine movement. The 10 crus on the north side provide the most serious versions including Morgon and Moulin-a-Vent, but the more basic reds further south are vibrant and affordable. There's also a rare white made from Chardonnay.
Beaujolais
A red wine grape most associated with Beaujolais, Gamay makes fresh, fruity red wines with berry and violet aromas. It is grown around the world outside of France where it is often a darker and less tannic cousin to Pinot Noir in cool climate regions such as Oregon and Victoria.
