La Dernière Goutte Coquette Sparkling 2023

Country: France

Region: Beaujolais

Type: Pet-Nat (skin contact)

Grape: Riesling

Winemaker Cyrille Vuillod studied under Jean-Claude Lapalu before making his first vintage of wine in 2012. Cyrille works just under 5 ha and has always farmed organically without certification. Now he also works biodynamically. Cyrille farms a patchwork of parcels around Vaux-en-Beaujolais filled with gnarly old vines on pink granitic sand, flint, and clay. He is equally as conscientious in the cellar, allowing the pristine farming to shine through by refraining from the use of any additives during the process. No sulfur is used at any point in the winemaking, and all wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered. No vintage is exactly the same chez Vuillod, and Cyrille is prone to change the vinification of each cuvée from year to year. Cyrille grows Gamay exclusively, but he has recently started purchasing other grapes such as Chardonnay and Riesling from neighbors and friends. He also experiments with qvevri and concrete egg containers for aging. 

“Coquette” is a grape exchange project with Alsatian winemaker Philippe Brand through whom Cyrille acquires riesling and launches a new winemaking experiment in his cellar each year. In 2022, he decided to make a pet-nat from the riesling, macerating the grapes for 8 days before bottling. The wine was then disgorged in December 2023 after one year of élevage in bottle. It's medium-bodied and round, with flavors of ripe yellow plum, a touch of anise spice and a long, electric citrus note.