Fleurie
Styles
Principal grape varieties
Accessory grape varieties
Terroir
Natural factors
- The parcels rest on a substrate of pink, porphyritic granite, low in micas, known as the 'granite de Fleurie'.
- Above the village, between 300 and 450 metres in altitude, steep slopes where the bedrock frequently breaks through the surface carry very sandy, poor soils.
- Below the village, the gradient eases down to 230 metres towards the Saône; the bedrock is masked by colluvium washed down from the slopes, and the soils deepen as they become enriched in clays, fine sands, and silts.
- The Roclaine millrace and the Presle stream, which tumble down the hillside towards the Saône, cut across this ensemble and diversify the aspects of the parcels.
- The semi-oceanic climate, with a mean annual temperature close to 11°C and approximately 750 millimetres of rainfall, is sheltered from westerly winds by the Monts du Beaujolais, the zone benefiting from a generally south-east-facing aspect on its slopes.
Human factors
- The presence of the vine on the Fleurie site is documented as early as 987 by a deed drawn up for the abbey of Arpayé, a dependency of Cluny, negotiating a curtil (smallholding with garden plots) including vines.
- To keep the vigour of Gamay in check, the vines are pruned short, to spurs, and trained in the gobelet system.
Product characteristics
- The colour is a purplish red that evolves over time towards garnet hues, while the nose frequently shows floral notes and red fruits that become more spicy with age.
- On the palate, the attack is clean and unaggressive, with restrained acidity, and this wine is often described as the most 'feminine' of the Beaujolais Crus by virtue of its lightness and finesse.
Terroir / wine link
- The steep slopes benefit from fine aspects that favour the production of wines showing attractive aromatic complexity.
- The openness towards the Saône plain ensures favourable light levels for the vine's photosynthetic activity, enhanced by the altitude and the predominantly south-east aspect, which together guarantee optimal and consistent grape ripeness.
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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