Found in Cruzille in the Mâconnais, Clos des Vignes du Maynes is now in the hands of Julien Guillot. This is a particularly old, Burgundy domain that dates back to the 10th century, more specifically to the time when Cluny Abbey was founded by the Duke of Aquitaine. The domain then belonged to many generations of country people until it was bought by Pierre and Jeanna Guillot in 1952. They have never used chemicals, always working as naturally as possible. After passing the torch on to their son Alain, who has played an important role in the promotion of organics in France, his son Julien who joined the domain in 1998 represents the third generation of the family to work at the domain. The vineyard spans 7 hectares planted with Pinot Noir, Gamay and Chardonnay. The harvests are carried out by hand with careful selection. In the winery, everything is done naturally with very little intervention: fermentation occurs with indigenous yeasts, and no sulphur or additives are used. The red wines undergo semi-carbonic maceration with a mini-punching over and light stirring. They are matured in barrels and there is no filtering at the end. Julien Guillot wishes to make ‘sharing wines' and he succeeds wonderfully with his high-quality and uncommonly elegant cuvées

This 100% Gamay comes from massal selection. The vines are, on average, between 60 and 100 years old, and they grow in a chalky terroir. This vineyard is being reconverted to organics, all the domain’s other parcels already holding this certification.
After manual harvest and two sorting processes, semi-carbonic maceration takes 15 days. The wine is then matured for 12 months in oak casks and demi-muids. Bottling happens in March. This is a wine to be served with simple dishes like sausage or cheese, for example a Meaux Brie.