What to say about Jérôme Balmet! And what a wonderful meeting we had with him when we first met on a sunny afternoon in Vaux-en-Beaujolais in November of 2023. We came to him on the recommendation of fellow Vaux winemaker Cyrille Vuillod (as well as on that of my American friend Jeff!). His wines have been beloved for years in Parisian wine bars like La Chambre Noire, so we were excited to taste at his rather sprawling home on top of a towering hill just southwest of the Brouilly appellation. He lives and works in a former 18th Century building that he now owns. He labors over a small group of vines on the slopes of nearby Saint-Etienne-des-Ouillères, some of which he took over from his father and gradually expanded over the years to comprise a tiny but notable estate. In the wine profession, we often look to the high-altitude crus in the north of the region but rarely to the fabulous high-altitude granite terroirs that lie to the south. This is somewhat regrettable, as southern Beaujolais is home to a cluster of likeminded producers making singular expressions of gamay on equally dramatic slopes. Fortunately, the names of “le sud Bojo” (Romain des Grottes, Jean-Claude Lapalu, Raphaël Beysang & Emilie Hurtubise, Cyrille Vuillod, Maude Rochette) are becoming more familiar. The first generation of natural winemakers in Beaujolais often affectionately refer to many of these new-guard winemakers as “trolls”, implying something isolated and perhaps unclean about their work habits. But these “trolls” take much inspiration from the Lapierre group. After a wondering career that included studying kung-fu in China and Buddhism in Thailand, Balmet himself put in work with Domaine Marcel Lapierre as well as with his neighbor Jean-Claude Lapalu. Jérôme notes that these two really gave him the confidence he needed to start vinifying himself. After working with his father to produce a few non-commercial vintages, he finally gave it a professional go in 2016 to much success. Balmet’s wines are now enjoyed the world over, and we couldn’t be happier with the celebration of such a talented and joyful character.

In the vineyards Balmet refuses to use herbicides and doesn’t plow, preferring instead to mow and lay down grass and make use of herbal tisanes. This carries risk and reward - the 2024 harvest in Beaujolais was beset by hail and frost, and in vintages like these Balmet produces little to no wine. Fortunately, we were able to get our hands on a small supply of the 2023s which showcase amazing purity with remarkably long and lip-smacking finishes. The wines undergo short carbonic macerations without any pigeage or racking. The wines never see any fining, filtration, or sulfitage. Certainly wines to look out for!