Le Rose Beaujolais-Villages 2023, Chateau de Vaux

Pale salmon-pink colour, aromatics of spring flowers and ripe red berries and crisp, lifted strawberry fruit on the palate which lingers for a long time. Perfect summertime drinking made from the Gamay grape.

YANNICK DE VERMONT and CHRIS PIPER

Yannick de Vermont’s collaboration with Chris Piper started back in 2009 when Yannick joined the team at Château de Grandmont as vineyard manager. For the next five years, they worked together on converting the estate’s vineyards to eco-friendly production and finally achieving organic certification. Yannick come from a post as cellar master at the Hospices de Beaujeu and also a begun a close involvement in his family’s property, Château de Vaux.

In 2014, Yannick decided to return to his family roots and took over the running of the estate from his father, Jacques. A year later, Chris began to act as consultant oenologist and the ‘dream team’ was back in business, only interrupted by the pandemic in 2020. Yannick is a hands-on winemaker, very much open to new ideas but is not against incorporating these with some more traditional concepts. Working with indigenous yeasts, zero or low levels of SO₂, little filtration and naturally low yields, the end results are a collection of exceptional wines which have won numerous awards and commendations in le Guide Hachette, Bourgogne Aujourd’hui, le Point, Concours International du Gamay, The Burgundy Report (Bill Nanson) and Wine Pages (Tom Cannavan). Yannick de Vermont is very much one of the rising stars of the Beaujolais region.