Camille Melinand - Fleurie 2020

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Camille Melinand Description

Camille Mélinand comes from a family of winegrowers in Fleurie, the center of the northernmost section of Beaujolais…

He is a young, cult producer handcrafting small amounts of ultra-elegant and delicious Cru Beaujolais from estate vineyards utilizing natural farming and production methods. Presently, Camille farms two vineyards he owns in Fleurie and Chiroubles, vinifying the wines in traditional large foudres at his family’s cellar in Fleurie, Domaine de Marrans, where he works with his brother Mathieu to make the domaine wine. Growing up during the Beaujolais crisis, Camille wanted to do anything but make wine, so he pursued other interests, working in Lyon. Gradually, as he returned home to the family winery every weekend, life in the vines began to call to him, and in 2015/2016, he decided to come back to Beaujolais.

Even though he had grown up in the vineyards and knew the Beaujolais terroir very well, he needed to gain more winemaking experience. Camille trained in Beaune for a year, followed by an apprenticeship at Domaine Sérol in Côte Roannaise. There, he learned how to work with biodynamics in the vineyard at a domaine with a similar philosophy to his. After that, he went to work in the US for a little bit in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. 2019 was his first vintage vinifying his own wines under the Camille Mélinand label.

Wine & Spirits: 93 Points

When he’s not working with his brother, Mathieu, at his family’s Domaine de Marrans in Fleurie, Camille Mélinand farms two of his own parcels, including the 3.7 acres of 60-year-old vines that provide this fruit. Spontaneously fermented in cement then aged in foudre, this is immediately floral, with scents of jasmine and fennel, and just enough sweetness to the fruit to massage the tannins into a light, airy length. It’s a wine with the lift of pink-granite acidity, the lively freshness of a great Beaujolais.