Julien Sunier, beautiful natural wines from Beaujolais
Website: https://julien-sunier.com/
Julien Sunier’s story is an encouraging one. He didn’t come from a family with land, but trained as a winemaker in his native Bourgogne, where he worked with Nicolas Potel and Christophe Roumier. He discovered Beaujolais when he was sent their by Mommesin to start an operation for them in the region. Befriending some key natural folk – Lapierre, Thévenet and Métras – was an in for him in terms of getting some rented vineyards, and in 2008 he quit the day job to make his own wines.
Julien now has 7.5 hectares of organically farmed vines in Regnié, Fleurie and Morgon. When I first visited him in 2016, he emphasised how hard it is to work organically in Beaujolais, and just how back breaking the work can be. ‘We have opportunities to rent because people are getting old,’ says Julien, who talks much more than his younger brother. ‘Young people are beginning to arrive in Beaujolais. It’s pretty trendy and we have a good group of natural winemakers, but when you see the size of the vineyard, we need the young generation to come here.’
He says that organics is rare in Beaujolais because the vineyards are difficult to manage. The issue is manual weed control with the densely planted bush vines. ‘We are very proud to farm organically,’ he says. ‘It is almost double the cost in the vineyard but our price isn’t twice as much.’
In his small winery he works semi-carbonically (starting off fermentation carbonically but later pumping over and plunging as you would do in Burgundy), believing that full carbonic can risk losing the terroir. He only adds sulfur dioxide at bottling.
Julien’s wines are really elegant and expressive. They have purity and express their terroirs really well.
Julien Sunier Beaujolais Villages Wild Soul 2022 France
Lovely intense red cherry and raspberry fruit on the nose. Vivid and pure on the palate with structured, linear fruit. Fresh and vivid. 93/100
Julien Sunier Fleurie 2022 Beaujolais, France
Fresh, supple and elegant with lovely direct raspberry and cherry fruit. Really fine with nice tannin and intensity. 95/100
Julien Sunier Morgon 2021 Beaujolais
Vibrant, vivid and fresh with a lively, slightly wild red cherry nose. Juicy and elegant, fine and fresh on the palate. 94/100
Julien Sunier Régnié 2021 Beaujolais
Supple and refined with nice elegance, and a sappy edge to the red fruits. Such poise and elegance here. 94/100
