Domaine Metrat et Fils

Whole clusters in cement

Whole clusters go to cement vats before the cellar takes on its quiet rhythm. Bernard Métrat, winemaker at Domaine Métrat et Fils in Fleurie, works from La Roilette, the sector of the cru that has kept his family close to the same slope since 1884. He has owned and operated the domaine since 1999, after the generation of André Métrat, and the formal estate name followed in 2008. The line is not treated as a museum piece. Bernard keeps it active through decisions in the vineyard and cellar, with Gamay as the only grape and the Beaujolais crus as the frame.

The estate’s ground is specific: La Roilette sits near the Moulin-à-Vent border, toward the bottom of the slope, where clay lies beneath decomposed pink granite. Bernard owns a small half of the climat, a practical inheritance as much as a marker of place. The domaine also works vines in Chiroubles, giving the cellar a second register of altitude and cru character. Its public philosophy is plain: respect the fruit, refine the approach, preserve the house method. That is the discipline here, not novelty for its own sake.

Nine hectares, all Gamay

The domaine produces about 45,000 bottles a year from 9 hectares, all planted to Gamay, with a vine density of 9,000 vines per hectare. The average vine age is 40 years, while the old-vine parcels in Fleurie and Chiroubles run from 60 to more than 90 years. Harvest remains manual. In a region where speed can flatten difference, that choice keeps the first sorting close to the hands.

Farming follows a sustainable, Terra Vitis certified program, with the estate described as certified for over 12 years. For the last three years, Bernard has used bio-products for disease sprays and no chemical fertilizers, drawing on plant preparations from horsetail, nettle and comfrey. In 2019, horses returned to the exploitation for plowing in Chiroubles. In the cellar, native yeasts and whole clusters keep fermentation tied to the fruit that arrived from the rows. Most wines age in stainless steel; a small percentage spends a brief period in used barrels. The point is not oak. The point is Gamay with enough structure to take time.

The cellar and the tasting room

This is a working family estate before it is a tasting address. The atmosphere belongs to the cellar, the vineyard track, the tasting room bar and the practical objects of a Beaujolais domaine: tanks, barrels that have already given their first voice, bottles waiting under the estate name. The room is quiet in the way small cellars often are, with the work close enough that the glass never feels detached from the place that made it.

The portfolio keeps its focus on crus rather than range for its own sake. La Roilette anchors the Fleurie side, with Cuvée Vieilles Vignes carrying the old-vine register. La Scandaleuse gives Chiroubles its own line. Morgon Terre d'Alizarine 2023 extends the house vocabulary without loosening the method. If the close attention here has a shape, it is the distance between a whole cluster in cement and a bottle of La Roilette Cuvée Vieilles Vignes.