Historical background
Located between Beaujeu and the Régnié cru, Lantignié has been home to vines on its steep slopes for over 1,000 years. The first written record of its presence dates back to 994, when the brother of Imbert I, Sire de Beaujeu, donated a parcel of land to the Abbey of Cluny.
Throughout history, this unique terroir has distinguished itself. In 1573, Nicolas de Nicolay, King Henry II’s geographer, pointed out in his work on the Beaujolais region that only eight communes were planted with vines, after centuries of upheaval (wars, disease, etc.). Was Lantignié one of them? Possibly, since as early as 1482 there is evidence of the existence of a wine-growing estate, Château du Basty, established on 24 November of the same year.
History followed its course and in 2017, the Vignerons & Terroirs de Lantignié association was born of the desire of a small group of men and women to work together in an environmentally-friendly way.
They are winegrowers, wine merchants and partners; they have taken their destiny into their own hands, rooted in their region, determined to help create a new Beaujolais wine: Cru Lantignié, with a strong ecological and human commitment.
Les dates clés
A WORD FROM THE FOUNDER
Vignerons & Terroirs de Lantignié embodies the kind of viticulture I’ve always dreamed of: men and women helping each other and making a decent living from their profession; healthy vines, playing a full part in restoring biodiversity; quality wines, restoring pride in this terroir.
Yes, because decades of marketing focused on the Beaujolais of a productivist viticulture, at the expense of great terroir wines, have done great harm to Beaujolais and its winegrowers. I’ve seen many of my colleagues sink financially and even personally, trained exclusively in a model based on fossil fuels, driven to the wall by work that is less and less valued and remunerative…
My father was a small winegrower. Our only income was from the land, but the wine didn’t sell well. It was to support my father, who was in difficulty, that I became interested in the profession. I immersed myself in books, convinced that it was by understanding the vine that we could produce and live better. I developed a passion for the living world and, by dint of reading, I developed a vision of vineyard work that was very different from the one we had been taught.
Today, I consider that my role as a winegrower is to accompany living organisms, to take care of them. It’s the vines that will produce beautiful fruit, and it’s the micro-organisms that will transform them into a quality wine, not me. I’m content to accompany this process by respecting living things and fostering a rich environment, both in the vineyard and during vinification.
Armed with this vision, I got in touch with like-minded winegrowers and passed it on to young people eager to learn new practices. Together we created the “Vignerons & Terroirs de Lantignié” association to help each other and show by example that a different kind of viticulture is possible. Our agroecological models give us confidence for the future.
To promote sustainable viticulture and make our approach visible, we are working to have Lantignié recognized as a Beaujolais Cru, which is quite simply the logical trajectory for a Beaujolais village. Lantignié would become a new kind of cru, one that takes into account the health of all living things, from micro-organisms to consumers, winegrowers and local residents.
It’s a project that’s close to my heart, because our village has great potential. Firstly, thanks to its high-quality terroir, which enables us to produce excellent wines. But also thanks to its attractiveness to young people who want to join our human and ecological adventure…
The momentum is there, and I’m delighted. However, we still have a long way to go, both for our association and more widely… Because if we want to ensure the future of winegrowing (in Beaujolais), our profession must fully mobilize by opening up to more sustainable practices and to the installation of young people who care about their environment.
