Why it matters
The producer
At Domaine du Petit Pérou, Laurent Thévenet works in the cellar and vineyard and also delivers wine to customers. His son Hugo Thévenet works across the vineyard, winemaking and sales sides of the family estate.
The domaine has more than 10 hectares in the Morgon cru, including 1.5 hectares on Côte du Py. Its plantings include white juiced Gamay Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah, alongside the Gamay used for its Morgon wines.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The estate is located in Villié-Morgon, in the Beaujolais wine growing region. Part of the vineyard lies in the hamlet Le Pérou, which gives Domaine du Petit Pérou its name.
Morgon is a named Beaujolais cru, and Côte du Py is the hill overlooking the cru. The domaine bottles wine from this named place as Morgon Côte du Py, keeping the site in the range as its own wine.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The estate's vines average 40 years of age. They are mainly worked without herbicides, insecticides or botrytis treatments. The white wines are certified organic, while the red vineyards are farmed under integrated practices.
The cellar separates its treatments by wine type. Beaujolais wines spend around 4 to 5 days in vats with thermovinification, followed by cooling to 20°C. Morgon wines spend 8 to 14 days in vat with semi carbonic maceration, a method used here to develop aroma and colour. White grapes are pressed as soon as they arrive, then cold fermented between 8 and 12°C for 25 to 30 days.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range moves from Beaujolais wines to Morgon wines and white wines made from the estate's white juiced Gamay Noir and Chardonnay plantings. Beaujolais receives a shorter vat treatment, while Morgon receives longer semi carbonic maceration for greater aromatic development and colour.
Morgon Côte du Py is the named hill wine. Morgon Vieilles Vignes comes from the vines planted in 1920 below Côte du Py. Morgon Les Dryades comes from Morgon Tradition, the oldest cuvée of the estate, and takes its name from the place known as Aux Chênes. The producer gives Les Dryades a keeping period of three to five years.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Morgon Côte du Py is the first bottle to open. It is Gamay from very old southeast facing plots at 250 metres above sea level, with schist, decomposed granite and hard blue stone in the ground.