Domaine Coudert

The Clos De La Roilette, in the village of Fleurie, covers nine hectares of one of the best slopes in the Beaujolais Crus. The clos has an eastern exposure, it borders the Moulin-à-Vent appellation, and it produces wines that are beautiful when young and that have the capacity to age for a further 5-10 years in good vintages.

In the 1920s, when the Fleurie appellation was first created, the former landowner was infuriated at the loss of the Moulin-à-Vent appellation under which the Clos De La Roilette had previously been classified. In a fit of pique, he created a label using a photograph of his racehorse, Roilette, and he used the name Clos De La Roilette without a mention of Fleurie. The owner also vowed not to sell another drop of his wine on the French market and his entire production went to Switzerland, Germany and England.

By the mid-1960s, the owner’s heirs had lost interest in the estate and a large portion of the land had grown wild and untended. In 1967, Fernand Coudert bought the poorly maintained estate and replanted the vineyards. His son Alain joined him in 1984, and he has been the winemaker ever since. The Couderts say that their particular terroir (mainly clay and manganese-rich soils), and the age of their vines (25 to 33 years-old) account for the richness of their wine. When we were first introduced to Alain Coudert we knew immediately that this was a winemaker we could do business with. There are no new oak barrels here. In fact, the wine making is very traditional and ideally suited to the terroir in this area of Fleurie.