Eloi Gros Sous Montmain 2022

From Not Drinking Poison SubStack by Aaron Ayscough

"Eloi Gros is the young vineyard manager and cellar master at Domaine Lapierre. In his spare time, he is converting 0.90ha of Beaujolais-Villages vineyards to organics, split between two sites in Vaux and Le Perréon, respectively. Gros’ first vintage of unsulfited unfiltered natural wine, which he has yet to commercialize, is 2022 (just 1200 bottles).

Gros is the son of Domaine des Terres Vivantes’ Ludovic and Marie Gros, polycultural wine farmers in Blacé, whose 5ha of gamay, chardonnay, chenin, and syrah vineyards are approaching twenty years in organics (and, more recently, biodynamics). The couple also produce truly outstanding bread, from flour they grow, store, and mill on-site.

I first met Gros several years ago in the course of a pizza party hosted at Domaine Lapierre by Camille Lapierre. I had the occasion to visit him and his parents in January, and was overjoyed to discover, at their wine farm, a rare bastion of highly principled polycultural biodynamic production and local distribution in the Beaujolais. I left with the strong impression that the natural wine expertise Gros is obtaining at Domaine Lapierre, combined with his family’s impressive farming heritage, heralds good things."