Jean-François Debourg ‘Bojo d’Eon’ Rouge 2021 (LITER)

Winemaker: Jean-Francois Debourg

Grapes: Gamay

Jean-François Debourg crafts wines of massive energy and personality in Saint-Germain-Nuelles in southern Beaujolais, where his family’s vineyards have been since 1850, passed down from generation to generation. Just up until 2016, all the grapes grown from the now roughly 20 operating hectares (though it used to be 40!) were brought to the local cooperatives or sold to local winemakers...until Jean-François met renegade Burgundy vigneron François Ecot of L’Insolent Négoce, who took him under his wing to instruct him in natural winemaking, from growing healthy fruit that could be expressed into purer tasting wines. He returned to his family’s vines with a new sense of determination. Since he also studied as a bricklayer he was able to build his own cellar and storage facilities from scratch!

Jean-François is his own bright future, pumped up with ideas and boundless vigor. Ever since 2016 the estate has been in organic conversion and all the fruit was certified organic in 2021. He tends to the current holdings but still sells some fruit to the coop and some producers in the area; he’s also considering selling some of the vineyards, or perhaps recovering some more abandoned parts of them, depending on how things progress commercially. A man of constant vision and myriad ideas, he never considers himself beholden to singularity. He is now cultivating multiple plots of Gamay as well as Viognier and Chardonnay that we may see in the coming years!

His liter bottlings of Gamay are fresh, crunchy, full of personality and wit. Serve chilled with friends and laughter. -Lennie