Descombes, Georges

  • Beaujolais, France
Georges Descombes

Thank you to importger Louis/Dressner for this estate profile:

(Click here for more about Georges Descombes on the LDM website)

Located in Vermont, a tiny hamlet in Villié-Morgon, Georges Descombes is the unofficial fifth member of the iconic "Gang of Four": Marcel Lapierre, Jean Foillard, Jean-Paul Thévenet and Guy Breton. In his teens, Georges worked with his vigneron father in the vines as well as a local bottling company. Hopping around from cellar to cellar gave him a chance to try a large amount of different estates, and the first time he tasted a Lapierre wine, young Georges was blown away by its purity and elegance. Then and there, he decided he would try to make wines like Marcel's.

Georges took over the estate in 1988 and immediately started shifting viticultural and oenological practices forward. Though his father had always worked traditionally in the vineyards and cellar, Georges decided to push things further by practicing organic viticulture (certified by Ecocert for many years, but now practicing without certification) and eliminating all entrants or manipulation during vinification. A minuscule dose of sulfur, less than a hundredth of what an organically certified vigneron is legally allowed to use, is added at bottling to help preserve the wines.

In total, Georges owns about 15.5 hectares of land spread over five AOC's : 7.5 hectares in Morgon, 3.5 hectares in Brouilly, 2 hectares in Regnié, 0.5 hectare in Chiroubles and 2 hectares of Beaujolais-Villages. Grapes are hand-harvested, then stored in a temperature controlled container before being placed in 60hl cement tanks. A traditional, semi-carbonic maceration occurs, and the wine ferments from its ambient yeasts. For each Cru, Georges produces old vine cuvées which are vinified separately, then aged in barrel six months before bottling.

Georges is a firm believer that his wines benefit from time in bottle, and always releases them up to a year later than most of his colleagues, particularly the old vine releases.

 

Image Producer PRODUCT Description Country / Region

DB8969-22
Organic
Descombes, Georges Morgon
2022
Gamay
100% Gamay. About half of Georges Descombes' 15 hectares of vines are in the Morgon cru, spread amongst a number of different, mainly hilly...
France

DB3883-22
Organic
Descombes, Georges Régnié
2022
Gamay
100% Gamay. About 2 of Georges Descombes' 15 hectares of vines are in the Régnié cru; he also purchases a bit of Régnié fruit. There are...
France

DB0479-22
Organic
Descombes, Georges Brouilly
2022
Gamay
100% Gamay. About 3.5 of Georges Descombes' 15 hectares of vines are in the Brouilly cru; he also purchases a bit of Brouily fruit. There...
France

DB0402-21
Organic
Descombes, Georges Morgon Vieilles Vignes
2021
Gamay
100% Gamay. About half of Georges Descombes' 15 hectares of vines are in the Morgon cru, spread amongst a number of different, mainly hilly...
France

DB2964-21
Organic
Descombes, Georges Chiroubles Vieilles Vignes
2021
Gamay
100% Gamay. About  mere 0.5 of Georges Descombes' 15 hectares of vines are in the Chiroubles cru. There is only one Chiroubles bottling....
France

DB2963-21
Organic
Descombes, Georges Brouilly Vieilles Vignes
2021
Gamay
100% Gamay. About 3.5 of Georges Descombes' 15 hectares of vines are in the Brouilly cru; he also purchases a bit of Brouilly fruit. There...
France