Domaine Franck Decrenisse, 'Vielles Vignes', 2022

Domaine Franck Decrenisse “Mes Vielles Vignes” 2022 – Lyonnaise AOC, Lyon France $22    Soul Wine Price $18.70

Frank Decrenisse is an adventurer and a Gamay lover. He so believes in Gamay that he founded the “National Conservatory of Gamay”, an entity that lists over 800 different varieties of Gamay.

Franck and his parents established the domaine in the 1980’s in the Mots d’Or, just north of Lyon and were pivotal in the creation of the Coteaux du Lyonnais appellation, bordering the southernmost part of Beaujolais but north of the Rhone Valley.

Decrenisses’s version of Gamay is not the light, lithe, red fruited version, it is darker colored, with a more brooding but still succulent fruit character. It’s rustic in all the right ways and it is a screaming deal.