Throughout all of Julien’s vineyard sites, each vine is chemically-untouched and tended to by hand—he’s adamant about farming organically with biodynamic principles. At Julien’s winery in Avenas, his Gamay bottlings are crafted slightly differently according to the vintage and terroir. Generally speaking, the “Crus” undergo a cold carbonic vinification with wild, airborne yeasts and zero sulfur additions. An old-fashioned wooden press is used for pressing and the juice is transferred into old barrels via gravity. An unfined and unfiltered bottling with trace amounts of sulfites occurs roughly one year after harvest.

Despite sharing a long border with world-famous Morgon, Régnié remains a severely underrepresented Cru that holds some of the best value for old-vine Cru Beaujolais. Sunier’s 2020 is sourced from two organic parcels averaging 60 years in age: “En Oeillat,” “Les Vergers,” and “Basse Ronze.” Each cluster is hand-harvested before a natural vinification and nine months of aging in a combination of neutral Burgundian barrels (50%), larger foudres (25%), and stainless steel (25%). Always Sunier’s most accessible Cru upon release, this offers up delicious notes of wild strawberry, ripe black cherry, licorice, forest floor, baking spice, rose petal, crushed stone, and red plum. Few things in life are more mouthwatering and flat-out enjoyable than this—it’s like eating smashed brambleberries off a cool granite countertop. Decant for 15 minutes and serve in Burgundy stems. Drink now or cellar for 2-5 years.