Julien Sunier

Gravity at the hilltop cuvage

The grapes move by gravity at Julien Sunier, where Julien Sunier, winemaker, works in Avenas above the Beaujolais crus. The domaine has carried his name since 2008, when he began with 2.2 hectares and a farm rather than an inherited estate. Beaune gave him the foundation; work in the vineyards and cellar at Christophe Roumier put farming and cellar decisions inside the same discipline. He later worked with Nicolas Potel in Nuits and Jean-Claude Rateau in Beaune, then managed a large négociant at Mommessin in Beaujolais from 2003–2008. That last post gave him scale before he chose a smaller frame. The farm, la Ferme des Noisetiers, sits at 750m in Avenas, on meadows and woods above Morgon, Fleurie, and Régnié. Sunier has described the beginning plainly: “I had nothing when I started. My equipment and stocks are now in Villié-Morgon, but the fermentations and elevage is here.” The split still matters. Stocks and equipment sit elsewhere, while fermentation and élevage stay on the hill, where altitude, cold, and routine do part of the cellar work.

Whole clusters, old wood, slow élevage

The method here begins before the cellar. The domaine works certified organic vineyards, with no synthetic fertilizers or herbicides, and now farms 9 hectares across Morgon, Fleurie, and Régnié. Gamay arrives harvested by hand, sorted in the vineyard, and moved quickly in low, wide bins. The fruit goes into an anaerobic, carbonic rhythm, with native yeasts and whole clusters carrying the ferment. One account from the cellar describes carbonic maceration for about 12 days; the domaine’s own explanation gives a wider window of one to three weeks, depending on the cuvée. After that, Sunier uses a manual vertical press, then keeps the wines on fine lees for 8 to 10 months in 3,000-liter oak foudres and 228-liter barrels averaging around 10 years old. The cellar does not lean on new oak. Floraison Selections notes sulfur only at bottling, and Burgundy-Report records no chaptalization since 2011. The point is not absence for its own sake. It is a set of limits, chosen so granite soils, altitude, and Gamay keep their line.

A farm above the crus

The cellar at Avenas feels built around work rather than reception. It is a renovated farm, remote and high, with a custom space for foudres and barrels and an exterior cuvage where the climate slows the ferments. The quiet is functional. At this height, cool air protects freshness during vinification and élevage, and the distance from the villages below sharpens the sense that the domaine is a made thing, assembled one choice at a time. Tastings here, when they happen, belong to that working atmosphere: the cellar, the vineyard, the tasting room, and the road up from Villié-Morgon all read as parts of the same discipline. The room is not polished into theatre. It keeps close to bins, barrels, and the season.

Four names in Gamay

The range gives the place its clearest vocabulary: Wild Soul, Régnié, Fleurie, and Morgon, with Descente Libre also listed among current wines. Wild Soul carries the Beaujolais-Villages line; the crus speak more directly through their villages, including Morgon parcels such as Py, Charmes, and Corcelettes. Sunier’s next work is already inside that sequence, the spring blend, the late-spring or early-summer bottling, and the decision of how much altitude to leave in Fleurie.