JUST LANDED : The pure and honest Gamay of Le Grain de Senévé

Hervé Ravera, like many of our producers, is what would be described as a second career winemaker. Before embarking on his winemaking career, Hervé spent some years working as a nurse, his care and attention to detail in his previous career is a contributing factor to the finesse and purity found in his wines, produced exclusively from Gamay. 

Hervé always had a keen interest in nature and farming, it was in 2007 that this all-consuming interest outside of medicine took hold, Hervé left behind his career and bought an old house in the tiny village of Marchampt, southern Beaujolais, circled by a 2-hectare vineyard on steep slopes.

Hervé works biodynamically and has done since 2007. The land has never been worked by machine, instead Hervé employs the help of his horse, named Reggae Nights, who helps him to run the plow between vines. The grapes are harvested with the help of friends and family and every wine is made using the same methods, a confident approach to winemaking. Plots are divided, vinified, and bottled separately, there is no use of oak whatsoever and everything spends its pre-bottled lifetime in concrete, with the fermentation kicked off by natural yeasts on whole clusters of grapes, which are pressed using a massive 100-year-old press that is attached to the house.

These wines that Hervé produces from his tiny vineyard are unconventional, not one to be considered alongside the heavily extracted, bulky wines produced by the region’s top producers, and neither should they be confused with the fruity and fresh style associated with Beaujolais Nouveau. These are serious wines, but with a balance of transparency and purity, both easy to drink, but not without feeling the need to pause for thought. 

Available now to trade.