Jean Claude Lapalu

Jean-Claude’s personal journey started in 1996. His father and grand-father were viticulturists, who sold all their grapes to the local co-operatives. When Jean-Claude arrived at the estate in 1982, at first he simply carried on that tradition. In 1996 he decided to make his first wine by following all the usual rules, but discovered he hated it, it was Jean-Claude’s personal epiphany: the grapes which made the wine, he reasoned, had come from vineyards devoid of life with the over use of pesticides and herbicides. The wine had no expression, lacked any identity (it could have come from anywhere). The normal levels of sulphur he had used, further supressed the wine’s perfume and taste. Today, Jean-Claude has 12 hectares of vines, spread over many parcels and plots in the appellations of Beaujolais village, Brouilly and Cotes du Brouilly. We have had the privilege of many extraordinary tastings. The wines are remarkable and a testament to Jean-Claude’s belief and tenacity. His ‘journey’ to better understand both his wines and his vineyards using little more than belief in nature and a willingness to discover, is a lesson for anyone who loves and makes wines. He is regarded as ‘without-equal’, not only in Brouilly but throughout Beaujolais and is locally known as the ‘Boss of Brouilly’.