Anne-Sophie Dubois
Fleurie, Beaujolais, France
Anne-Sophie Dubois
Anne-Sophie Dubois is part of a young generation of vignerons redefining the identity of Beaujolais. Born and raised in Champagne, she caught the wine bug early and spent her formative years learning the ropes in Burgundy. (Far from the usual story of winemakers in Beaujolais.)
“Dubois makes some of the most soulful, Burgundy-like versions of Beaujolais that I’ve encountered...a Fleurie with a bit of fealty to the Cote d’Or.”
— Jon Bonné, Punchdrink.com
The economics of vineyard ownership in France have made many regions unapproachable for a young vigneron without a considerable amount of wealth. Beaujolais is one of the few where that is not yet the case. Anne-Sophie fell in love with Gamay and decided that Fleurie was where she wanted to call home. Her domaine is composed of eight hectares in the heart of Fleurie that are now organically farmed. Most of her plots are already of considerable age, her oldest are 60+ years old.
If Fleurie has provided Anne-Sophie a canvas of old vines and granitic soils, she brings to the table a strong commitment to working the soil, staying out of the way in the winery, and a style that favors a Burgundian approach to vinification.
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Anne-Sophie makes three AOC Fleurie wines that all come from her plots in lieux dit, “Les Labourons” at an altitude of 380 meters with sandy shallow soils over pink granitic bedrock.
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Certified organic since 2018. The work in the vineyard is rigorous. During the spring and summer, Anne-Sophie has up to seven people in the vineyard for debudding and trellising. This is important as it’s essential that the grapes are in an airy climate to reduce the need for any outside treatments. In the fall, she fertilizes the soil with compost and keeps a vegetable cover that brings life to the soil. The estate located in lieux dit, “Les Labourons” forms a “cirque” similar to an amphitheater, composed of 18 plots. Alone, it’s an ecosystem, practices respectful of the living and limiting external pollution.
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Anne-Sophie will admit her wines have evolved a lot since the beginning in 2007. She works with gravity from harvest to pressing, always in respect of the cluster. In 2015 she reintegrated whole bunch fermentation for more fruit and tension in her wines. Native yeast fermentation and only a small amount of sulfur is added for bottling. After grapes come in they’re kept in concrete tanks, she does almost no remontage or pigeage, just “infusion-style.” She uses a traditional vertical wine press and is quite attached to aging her wines in oak, not to bring an oaky taste but rather for it’s natural material allowing the wines to breathe and come out clear and open.
Wines
Fleurie Les Cocottes
Starting with the 2015 vintage, Anne-Sophie has decided to release a different side of her Fleurie. Up until then, all of her Fleuries were 100% destemmed and fermented in a Burgundian-style. In stark contrast to her usual style, she is making Les Cocottes with 100% whole cluster and using carbonic maceration. It is released the Spring after the vintage and is intended to be fruit driven and drunk early & often.
The label was drawn by Anne-Sophie herself. (She's really into art.)
Fleurie l'Alchimiste
L'Alchimiste is named after the Paulo Coelho novel, a book about pursuing ones dreams and learning life lessons along the way. 100% destemmed, L'Alchimiste is a selection of vines over forty years of age. It is aged for around 15 months in a combination of cement and a range of different sized neutral oak barrels. Anne-Sophie bottles her wines unfined and unfiltered.
Fleurie Les Labourons
Formely known as `Clepsydre' now re-named and carrying the name of its lieu dit starting with the 2017 vintage.
Whereas previously the wine was a selection of the oldest fruit, Anne-Sophie has decided to take the selection one step farther and make it a selection of the best fruit from the old vine parcel. Les Labourons is the name of the lieu dit in Fleurie. In 2017, after recieving her organic certification, she wanted to rename the wine and have a new label drawn to showcase the new chapter in her winemaking.
Despite the label and name change, Anne Sophie's approach to vinification is the same as vintages past. It is 100% destemmed and aged for around 13 months in 228L neutral oak barrels.