La Madone 2024

Domaine Valma sits in Fleurie, in Beaujolais, and was founded by Valentine and Stéphane Mathieu, both from careers in wine sales and marketing. Valentine went back to study winemaking and now runs the vineyard and cellar, while Stéphane, born in Beaujolais, handles sales. Their first vintage was 2021. The estate covers about 5.5 hectares of Gamay, farmed organically and in official conversion since 2022, with the couple convinced of Beaujolais terroir's potential for the variety.

Vines are trained by gobelet and éventail, and work in the vineyard follows the signals of the plants, vines, and soils, read through bio-indicators and soil analysis. In the cellar the reds ferment whole-cluster on ambient yeast, in the semi-carbonic style typical of Beaujolais, and age in concrete and used barrels. The wines are neither fined nor filtered, and total sulfur is held to 20 to 30 ppm, added after malolactic fermentation. La Madone is a single parcel of Gamay planted in 1976 at about 425 meters on shallow granitic sand, below the chapel that crowns the highest ground of Fleurie.

From decomposed-granite terroirs of the La Madone lieu-dit. Vinified by Valentine Mathieu. Unfiltered. This bottling was made in a run of 2,100 bottles and 130 magnums.

Estate-bottled on 21 July 2025.

To be enjoyed while listening to 'Oh My God' by Kazy Lambist and Glasses.

This wine was served in a bag of ice to combat the afternoon sun and consumed next to wines at what we're told is the Château where the winemakers all drink. Other options on the menu included a dozen or so Jeroboams. Australian restaurants are sadly lacking in that department. This Fleurie was a welcome change from a week of Pinot. I'm only worried that they produced dangerously few magnums.