The Return of Elisa Guerin: A sold-out favorite found in the importer's warehouse

Elisa left for Paris and came back in the summers to casually make some wine at home and help out some neighbors with their cellar and vineyard work. These neighbors were the legendary Foillards. After encouraging her to keep making wine, and after working for Yvon Metras, she took their advice. In 2015 she began converting their Moulin-a-Vent vineyard 'Les Thorins' to organic viticulture, and in 2018 made her first vintage. For at least a decade now she has been part of a group of winemakers' daughters that includes Laure Foillard and Ophelie Dutraive, getting together to seek out abandoned parcels in Beaujolais and make wine from them.

As for her own wines, they feel unique and original without sacrificing any of the identity of Beaujolais. Even with age, they still have plenty of youthful playfulness, a low-fidelity crunchiness that gets the point across without any extra fuss. There's an immediacy that shortens the distance between winemaker and wine drinker that, though I've never met her, makes her feel like a friend or family member making wine at home. It's avant-garde French natural wine, which is what classic producers like Foillard and Lapierre were decades ago, a reassurance that Beaujolais is still a place for passion projects and experimentation.

In Aaron Ayscough's profile of her in Not Drinking Poison In Paris she talks about the first time she made a completely natural wine and gave it to her father, saying, "The drama my father made, it was cinema! He’s open to new things. But he tends to stress out." The 2018 'Les Thorins' we are offering shows one of her earlier efforts and it won't be for everyone. Her more recent vintages have been more restrained in terms of funk, but this one is still charming to me and helps illustrate her journey as a winemaker. She has been lucky to be surrounded by a strong community and is taking their mentorship to heart while confidently making wines that are her own.

Cheers, 

Jonathan Kemp

Elisa Guerin Beaujolais-Villages 2020 $24.00 This Beaujolais-Villages is light and fuzzy with wild raspberry, a touch of barnyard funk, and plenty of playfulness. Tart energy, sumac, and a touch of tamari on the finish. An easy one to knock back with a chill and with any lighter cuisine. JK Buy Now Elisa Guerin 'Les Thorins' Moulin-a-Vent 2018 $34.00 One of Elisa's first wines was from her family's parcel called 'Les Thorins' that includes some 80-90 year-old vines on sandy granite. This vintage, even with age on it, still has a youthful playfulness. Compared to her other wines, it's the most 'natty' and wild, with some feral, edgy acidity. This is mixed with darker, juicier notes, however, showing off brambly raspberry and cranberry skin texture. This wine is not about polish, it's alive, raw, and charmingly rustic. Chill it down and pass it around with your friends. JK Buy Now

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