The Beaujolais terroirs
The soil, a natural heritage
Renowned all over the world, the Beaujolais vineyards derive their extraordinary richness from the diversity of their terroirs. Despite a relatively small acreage (compared with other French wine-growing regions), Beaujolais offers its 12 appellations a wide variety of soils that make it blossom.
Château de Raousset's vines grow in the northern part of the vineyard, wherever the predominantly granitic soil puts its seal on the ten Beaujolais wines.
A unique geology
The morphology of the hillsides where the ten Beaujolais wines mature tells a story. That of the great Romanèche rift valley that separated the plain of Bresse from the Beaujolais hills during the Tertiary era.
The hills se Beaujolais are situated on the dividing line between these two areas. The granitic soil created by slow erosion since the end of the Tertiary (66 to 2.6 million years BC) form a quality breeding ground for growing vines.
The Château's wines
The Château's vines extends over three Beaujolais terroirs: Chiroubles, Morgon and Fleurie. Albeit adjacent, these three terroirs are characterized by very distinctive topography and orientation, the soil, temperature and growing conditions of which enable each of these terroirs to assert itself differently.
The Château's vines extends over three Beaujolais terroirs: Chiroubles, Morgon and Fleurie. Albeit adjacent, these three terroirs are characterized by very distinctive topography and orientation, the soil, temperature and growing conditions of which enable each of these terroirs to assert itself differently.
The Fleurie topsoil for its part is characterized by typically reddish-pink granitic coarse sand, more commonly known as “pink granite”, which is the distinctive feature of this terroir. Fleurie wines, delicate and silky, are termed the most feminine of the Beaujolais vintages.
The Morgon terroir is very different from the other two. On the gentle east-facing slopes of Mont de Py, its soil is rich in decomposed granitic shale, iron oxide and manganese. This distinctive terroir gives the vintages it produces remarkable qualities: potent, dense and full-bodied wines that form the identity of Morgon.
