DOMAINE CHARNAY BEAUJOLAIS, FRANCE

Thibault Charnay grew up surrounded by vineyards with his family history of growers based in Terres Dorees in the southern part of the Beaujolais. After creating and running his own construction company for nearly a decade, Thibault returned to the family domaine in 2012 to work in the vineyards around his hometown. He purchased a few additional hectares of vines, and today, farms 12 hectares of Gamay on the classic pierres dorées (golden limestone) around Anse in the southern part of the Beaujolais. For many years, thanks to his ready access to tractors and other machinery, Thibault helped his wife Emilie’s family carry out the organic treatments in their vineyards. Inspired and nudged by his brother in law Raphael at Domaine Saint Cyr, Thibault decided to convert his own domaine to organic farming in 2019, as well as vinify and bottle his own production (rather than sell it off to the négociants). As a real mentor, Raphael assisted Thibault for his first vintages offering the use of his own winery to make this happen. With some stunning fruit from his own vineyard, Thilbault made his first Beaujolais in 2019 and it was a massive success.