Importer Notes: 

The ongoing renaissance of the Beaujolais region has been a joy to behold. As more and more growers have adopted better farming practices, more thoughtful approaches to vinification, and an increased emphasis on site-specific bottlings, the immense potential of these bucolic hillsides has been unlocked to an unprecedented extent.

At the forefront of this movement is Anita Neveu, a former professional cyclist who launched her eponymous domaine with the 2015 vintage. The winery is located in Chenas, a stone's throw from the Fleurie border and the renowned Poncie vineyard, and today encompasses 18 hectares spread among the crus of Chenas, Fleurie, Morgon, and Moulin-a-Vent.

Anita's goal from the outset was to produce wines of minimal intervention that express site character with maximal clarity. Her staggeringly dense plantings-10,000 vines per hectare-range from 40 to 100 years old, providing her with enviable raw materials which she treats with utmost care, intervening with chemicals only to save a crop. She even uses a horse to plow her oldest holdings, a nod to the pre-technological era in which these vineyards were first planted.

Anita produces this cuvée from a 65-year-old planting on a lower part of the slope (240 meters altitude) in Les Caves in soils of decomposing granite with streaks of manganese. If the “Reine de Nuit” offers a certain lifted elegance, “Tres Vieille Vigne” harnesses the power and sap these old vines are capable of. To that end, Anita ages 25% of the blend in used Burgundy barrels, extending the elevage to ten months—a regimen which underlines the Pinot Noir-like qualities of this site even more clearly than the “Reine de Nuit.” A heady overlay of savory spice calls to mind great Morey-Saint-Denis, and its dark-cast fruit is dense but not overdone.