Gamay

Food pairings: Duck with plum sauce, roast poultry and mature cheeses.

Winemaking: Grapes are picked by hand into small boxes, sorted and destemmed before a slow maceration of about three weeks, with punching down and pumping over adapted to the harvest. The producer describes maturation in oak in its historic cellar.

Vineyards and terroir: Côte du Py is a distinctive south-facing slope above Villié-Morgon. Its blue volcanic diorite is central to this powerful expression of Morgon; the producer distinguishes this rock from the granite of neighboring sites.

Family and history: Château des Jacques is based in Romanèche-Thorins and has belonged to Maison Louis Jadot since 1996. Its approach brings long macerations and barrel maturation to cru Beaujolais. Julie Pitoiset is the estate’s technical director.

In the pictures: Julie Pitoiset of Château des Jacques, followed by the estate’s stainless-steel vat room. Vat-room photo: Serge Chapuis, courtesy of Kobrand Wine & Spirits.