Côte Rôtie Côte Bodin 2019 CBO (6x75cl) - Jean Michel Gérin

Jean-Michel Gérin

Prestige made in Côte-Rôtie.

The story of the Domaine Jean-Michel Gérin started in 1983. That year, Jean-Michel partnered with his father and grandfather, Alfred and Marcel Gérin, in order to build the current family wine estate, in the village of Ampuis (on the Côte-Rôtie terroir, in the Rhône Valley). The Gérin family has been working in the vineyard for more than 6 generations but its members have never actually sold wine before. They used to simply sell their grape harvests to the winemakers of the region. As did Jean-Michel, for a few years, until 1987. That's when he decided to bottle his very first vintage, made using the 15 hectares of vineyard planted by Marcel and cared for by Alfred.

The year 1988 was the first time Jean-Michel Gérin did a separate vinification, on the locality called "Les Grandes Places". The second time was with the "La Landonne" cuvée in 1996. In 2002, Jean-Michel worked with two other friends and winemakers, Peter Fischer and Laurent Combier. The three of them flew over to Spain and planted a brand new 6 hectares vineyard in the Priorat wine region, to the south of Barcelona. Jean-Michel came back to France the following year and resurrected the "La Vallière" terroir, releasing its eponymous cuvée in 2009.

Jean-Michel Gérin's two sons, Michaël and Alexis Gérin, came to help their dad in 2020. That same year, the entire estate switched to organic agriculture (no certification). Insecticides and pesticides were almost entirely abolished, grape harvest was now done by hand, the yields were much lower, there were less things added during the winemaking process… It was a family decision, of course, but the two brothers pushed a lot to make it happen. On top of managing the family estate, they're also both in charge of the "Les Lézardes" locality.

Check out the wines from the Domaine Jean-Michel Gérin.