Bonnet Cotton - Cote de Brouilly '100% Cotton' 2022

After working for a short stint as a motorcycle mechanic, in 2014, Pierre Cotton reclaimed one hectare of Côte de Brouilly from his family to make his first cuvée called ‘100% Cotton.’ Inspired by tasting wines with young Beaujolais compatriots Yann Bertrand, Jules Metras, and Keke Descombes, Pierre’s wines are all farmed organically and vinified with precious little sulfur (if any at all – some cuvées are without any – and never more than 10g/l).

Following the success of his first wine, Pierre fully took over the family domaine in 2015. For the last few years, Pierre has been lucky to expand the breadth of the winery’s vision and focus with input from his agronomist partner, Marine Bonnet, who officially joined the domaine in 2020.

Marine’s professional background is argonomy with an emphasis on viticulture, and together she and Cotton are implementing many changes throughout their jointly held vineyards. Throughout 2022, they planted 500 trees in the middle of their holdings in Brouilly, in an effort to recreate lost habitat for animals in the vineyards, particularly between the streams at lower elevations and the copses of woods at the peak of each Beaujolais cru, which are usually hilltops. Marine also has guided further interplanting of specific tree species in an effort to stave off the intense droughts Beaujolais has endured, via the water retention trees provide, as well as adding shade and decreasing overall temperatures in the vineyards. Pierre and Marine have also been speaking with neighbors in Brouilly and other villages to join in these changes, potentially contributing to a communal effort against climate change and some of the disastrous vintages growers have suffered here in the last five years.

Certified Organic. 100% Gamay. Located right next to the Bonnet-Cotton winery in Odénas, Cotton’s parcel of Côte de Brouilly is on a unique terroir of ‘corne verte,’ a particular soil blend of pink granite and diorite which Pierre claims is found nowhere else in the Beaujolais. The Côte de Brouilly ‘100% Cotton’ was the first cuvée Pierre made, and it remains the emblematic wine of the domaine: a structured, powerful Gamay that retains the freshness and easy-drinking quality of the best Beaujolais. Full carbonic maceration of whole clusters in cement tank, then aged in foudre for nine months. Unfined, unfiltered. <10g/l SO2 added before bottling.

Type: Red
Producer: M. Bonnet & Pierre Cotton
Varietal: Gamay
Country: France
Region: Burgundy
Farming: Organic, Low sulphite