2021 Morgon

Part of the “Biojolais” movement, Antoine Sunier has followed in his older brother Julien's footsteps after starting a telecommunications career. (As an aside, I was fascinated to learn on Polaner Selections’ website that his mother was a hairdresser and cut the locks of no less than Christophe Roumier.) Inspired by both his sibling and winemaker Jean-Claude Lapalu, Sunier found organically-farmed parcels of vines in Régnié and Morgon. Of course, Sunier practices low intervention in both the vineyard and the winery, his vines certified for over a decade. Fermentations commence naturally, and in 2021, Sunier told me that he undertook a shorter maceration because of the mildew—nine days instead of twelve days—before aging mainly in used barrels and a little in concrete vat. My pick from three 2021s tasted is his Morgon, closely followed by the regular Régnié over the Montremond that erred a little too closely to Grenache for my own preference, though it remains a Beaujolais I would not refuse!