Fleurie Climat “Poncié” Zen 2020

Just one year after taking over the family-owned winery "La Soufrandière", the Bret brothers started their second project "Bret Brothers" in 2001. With the aim of being able to offer a wide range of selected terroir wines from southern Burgundy and Beaujolais, they buy in grapes from friendly winegrowers with small microplots and as old vines as possible, who work according to the same strict quality guidelines as the brothers do in their own vineyards. The wines are prepared with the same passion and care as those of "La Soufrandiere" and are matured in their own cellar.

The Fleurie "Poncie" was vinified according to the ZEN method. The wines of this line are vinified without the addition of sulphur until bottling, at which point they receive a small dose of SO2, not exceeding 20mg, which again sets them apart from the regular collection of La Soufrandière and the Bret Bros. wines.

The parcel in the village of Poncie, with its special pink granite soils, is only 0.5 hectares in size and is situated at 280 metres above sea level in a south-westerly orientation. The whole grapes were fermented spontaneously intracellularly, aged for 10 months in used barrels and went through malolactic fermentation before being bottled unfined and unfiltered after the addition of only 10mg SO2.

Dark ruby red with violet reflections.

The name says it all, or so it seems with the 2020 Fleurie from the Bret Brothers' Climat "Ponciè". The distinctive floral top note, common to many Fleurie crus, hovers over the light to dark red fruit of cherries, mulberries and strawberries. The substantially persistent impression of violets seems to intensify with increasing aeration, but is never the leitmotif of this Fleurie thanks to the back-up of dark tobacco and black pepper along with a little clove. 

On the palate, the fruit is like a balloon whose knot of tannin not only holds the number together, but allows it to rise to a good altitude. Expansive and transparent, sweet red fruits, strawberry and some green banana are found flanked by polished, tightly woven tannins on the tongue's edge. The acidity as a connecting element gives it additional lift and makes it sparkle bright red on the palate.