2024 Fleurie La Madone, Guillaume Chanudet

• Style: Light-bodied dry red, Fleurie cru Beaujolais, 13%
• Taste: Perfumed, bright red fruit, aromatic, fresh and light
• Food: Roast chicken, charcuterie, poached sausage, goat’s cheese
• Critic: 91 points
• Occasion: Weeknight bistro supper, Sunday lunch
• Serve: Lightly chilled; drink young or over the next few years

In the Glass — Tasting Notes

Fleurie is the cru Beaujolais lovers reach for when they want perfume rather than muscle, and this 2024 from the La Madone slopes shows exactly why. Gamay is built for lightness – early to bud, early to ripen, thin-skinned – so it naturally makes dry, fruit-led reds rather than heavyweights. In the glass that means a bright, aromatic, light-bodied red with lifted red fruit, fresh and clean at a modest 13%. It carries a critic score of 91 points, a serious score for a wine this easy to drink.

The Winery — Guillaume Chanudet

Guillaume Chanudet calls himself a farmer before anything else, the fifth generation of his family to work vines in Fleurie. He had no obligation to take on the family vineyards and nursery, but chose to carry forward what his father and grandfather built, seeing how much the old plots could give. His grandfather operated a vine nursery, and the family drew their massal selection from it – so every plant across the holdings descends from that stock, with no clonal material at all, something close to unheard of in Beaujolais and across France. The estate runs to seven hectares, 95% in Fleurie with the remaining 5% in Moulin-à-Vent. As is the Beaujolais way, the fruit is hand-picked so the bunches stay intact for the regional style of fermentation, and the early-ripening Gamay is usually safely in before the autumn rains. The 2024 is bottled under natural cork; we don't hold fining or vegan details on this cuvée, so ask us if that matters.

At Your Table — Food Pairing & Serving

This is a bistro wine in the best sense. Serve it with a slight chill beside a board of charcuterie and cold cuts, poached sausage, roast or grilled chicken, grilled salmon, or a soft goat's cheese or Brie, and it simply gets on with the job – it even handles salty Asian cooking. It drinks beautifully young and will keep giving over the next few years, so it works for a weeknight supper as readily as Sunday lunch. If you enjoy this, the rest of our Guillaume Chanudet bottles are the obvious next step, it is one of the purest expressions of Gamay we stock, and it sits proudly alongside the other chillable, food-friendly reds in our Light Red Wine range – well worth adding a couple to the basket.