This does not use carbonic maceration or added sulfur, yet it remains fragrant, clean, and juicy. Aromatically there are red raspberries, blackcaps, cherries, red currants and cassis. The palate is nicely structured with integrated tannins giving a nice mouthfeel. The wine is medium bodied with medium plus acidity and red cherry skin and pit with minerality. It is clean, juicy and full of fraise du bois. 

Juicy red and purle fruit that is fragrant, think of cassis, red currants, wild blackcaps and warm raisins in the sun. The flavors showcase more red spring fruit like wild strawberry and fraise du bois but has minerality and integrated tannins with a stiff upper lip. This is clean, fresh, and charming. 

From the Producer: 

Coming from a winemaking family for several generations, Domaine Rochette created their domain in 1981. With 15 hectares of vines planted in Gamay, they produce five different wines, including 4 crus. The area is located 300 meters on the hillside overlooking the Ardière Valley.

The estate originally began with Joël’s Great-Great Grandfather Joseph JAMBON, in the split village of Villié-Morgon. The Jambons continued for two more generations in Villié-Morgon until 1936, when Joseph JAMBON (3rd generation) moved the estate to nearby Régnié-Durette due to lack of space at the original cellar. Marius ROCHETTE, Joël’s father, took the reins from Joseph in the late 1950s and immediately expanded the estate’s acreage. Some 20 years later, in 1979, with his father being too young (47) to think about retiring, Joël Rochette decided to create his own estate, also located in Régnié-Durette. Joël purchased a small amount of land and the rest of his land under vine he rented from his family’s estate. At the end of 2008, Joël’s son, Matthieu, joined his father after three years of work with a local off-site pre-bottling filtration company in the region.

REGGIE comes from the hillsides of Régnié directly across the road from Matthieu Rochette’s house in the heart of the Beaujolais. Here, Matthieu ignored the Beaujolais Nouveau appellation altogether to focus on a better, less stressful wine that folks could enjoy more than a Nouveau with more Cru character to it.

Produced from 40-year-old Gamay vines in Régnié, REGGIE is a very fruit-forward, well structured wine where the sulfur is kept as low as possible (Domaine Rochette’s wines have been sub 50mg SO2 since 2016). They chose to label REGGIE as a Vin de France because of all of the reasons explained above. By not sticking with the rigid rules of Beaujolais, Matthieu was able to great the wine he envisioned as a perfect everyday Beaujolais, and a perfect pairing for just about every dish, and he could make the wine in his vision without any restrictions.