If you haven’t heard of the Côtes du Forez, then you’re in good company. At less than 170 hectares, the vineyard area is tiny and almost entirely unknown—even in France itself! The appellation lies on an ancient geological fault-line near the source of the Loire River in France’s Massif Central, about a one and a half hour drive west of Beaujolais. Despite its proximity to both Beaujolais and the Rhône, it’s part of the upper Loire, within the Auvergne subregion. The vineyards run north to south in a thin cordon on the slopes of the Monts du Forez about 20 kilometres west of the Loire River. The area is known for its old volcanoes, and evidence of their activity can be seen throughout the area.
The Gamay grape thrives in the volcanic and granite soils here, and it is this potential that Gilles Bonnefoy began to exploit in the mid-1990s. The Vins de la Madone estate originated with Bonnefoy renting a few plots of old vines and has grown to today’s cultivation of 11 hectares of hillside vineyards. These sites were converted to organic farming in 2001, and biodynamics in 2009 (Demeter certified).
Most of these old-vine vineyards perch around the Madone volcano, near Montbrison. Bonnefoy works across three key soil types—Granite du Forez, Migmatites du Montbrison and basalt—each gifting its own cuvée(s). In addition to this fabulous terroir and his Gamay Noir stock, Bonnefoy also farms a cadre of Gamay’s ancient cultivars such as Gamay de Bouze, Gamay de Chaudenay and Gamaret. Thought to be introduced by the Benedictine monks, these old variants are now almost extinct outside the Forez appellation. (We’ll speak more of these vines in future offers).
Bonnefoy’s artisanal toolkit in the cellar includes wild fermentation and varied use of whole bunches, which the vigneron adapts to each terroir. Everything is hand-harvested and, eschewing wood—to protect his wine’s delicate aromatics—Gilles works with concrete and cuve inox (a fancier way of saying stainless steel). There is very little in the way of sulphur used (usually none), other than a smidge at bottling.
