Brouilly
Styles
Principal grape varieties
Accessory grape varieties
Terroir
Natural factors
- The subsoil is composed mainly of acidic Palaeozoic formations, including granites that form, to the west of Mont Brouilly, hillsides with sandy, lean soils.
- To the south of Mont Brouilly, porphyries — massive metamorphic rocks — give rise to soils that are more clayey and more stony.
- To the east and north, recent alluvial deposits mask the bedrock, mixing porphyry debris and granitic arenes with a clay-siliceous matrix on the plateau de Briante and the côte de Pisse Vieille.
- The vineyard is sheltered from westerly winds by the Monts du Beaujolais and benefits from an overall easterly aspect with optimal sunshine from dawn.
- Planted between 250 and 400 metres in altitude, the hillside most often escapes the spring frosts and morning mists of the Saône plain, which lies at 175 metres.
Human factors
- In 1179 the Sires de Beaujeu donated vines located at the clos de Brouilly to the abbey of Belleville, which they had just founded.
- Gamay, a variety sensitive to late frost and prone to sunburn, is trained as gobelet vines with a high planting density and short spur pruning.
- The typically Beaujolais vinification draws on semi-carbonic maceration, with maceration periods frequently exceeding 10 days and extraction techniques such as grillage, punch-down, or pump-over.
Product characteristics
- The colour is generally ruby, more violet when the wine comes from vines planted on granitic formations, and deeper if sourced from the eastern part of the vineyard.
- The nose offers fruity aromas dominated by red fruits, while the palate combines suppleness, flesh, and finesse.
Terroir / wine link
- The barrier of the Monts du Beaujolais, reaching nearly 1,000 metres at its highest point to the west, shelters the vines from westerly winds and rain, creating a favourable mesoclimate.
- The morphology of the hillsides, between 250 and 400 metres in altitude, protects against spring frosts and the morning mists of the Saône plain, while ensuring optimal sunshine and rapid drainage of excess rainfall.
Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.
About this boundary
On the map, at overview zooms, this appellation is drawn as a silhouette of its vineyard generalised at 250 m from the INAO parcel delimitation; the parcels themselves appear as you zoom in.
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