Château de Lavernette Beaujolais Villages
Chateau de Lavernette is a historic property straddling the border of Beaujolais and Maconnais. The roughly 15ha of estate vineyards surround the Chateau. To its west are the Beaujolais vines, most of which are in the commune of Leynes, the northernmost of the 39 different Beaujolais Villages. To the east, in the commune of Chaintré, are the Pouilly Fuissé vineyards. The history of this estate goes back to 1596 when the Lavernette family purchased the property and all its vineyards from the Tournus monks, who understood the great quality of the soil. It has remained within the family ever since and in 2007 the 13th generation of winemakers took the reins with Xavier de Boissieu.
In 2005, the de Boissieu family begun conversion to organics and when Xavier arrived, they started Biodynamic practices. Today Chateau de Lavernette is both Ecocert and Demeter certified.
With vines between 20 and 60 years old, the de Boissieu family works manually in the vineyards, averaging 50hl/ha. The vineyards are tended by hand, and the family makes their own compost and nutritive tisanes. In the cellar, which was fully renovated in 1998, the wines are hand-crafted via gentle techniques with indigenous yeasts and gravity fed tanks.
