Mémoire de Madone is a 0.8-hectare outcrop of 50-year old vines on basalt (and is pictured above). This was La Madone’s first parcel, hence the name, and is located at the foot of the Madone volcano. The genetic material here is Gamay Saint-Romain, a variety seldom found in the Forez (but one that maintains a foothold in Côte Roannaise). So impressed with the quality of the grape’s small, thick-skinned berries, Bonnefoy has selected massale vines from Mémoire to plant his next vineyard. It’s a beautiful site that, like all of Madone’s vineyards, is managed biodynamically.
In his excellent ‘Definitive Guide to the Wines of the Loire Valley’, Richard Kelley explains that the region’s basalt soils are “considered the best, if rarest sites, producing more concentrated and age worthy Gamays”. True to form, made from extremely low-yielding of Gamay Noir, the wine from this site manifests a deeper register and structure—if we were in Beaujolais, think Morgon.
With a buoyant mix of darkly plummy fruit and velvety texture (the wine is raised in sandstone 900-litre amphora which Gilles finds amplifies the wine’s density), this is the most compact wine in the range, yet it is still packed with the kind of sprightly, vin de soif personality guaranteed to put a smile on your face. The fruit is crunchy and vibrant, and you have freshness, but here you’re also getting depth and length. This possesses everything necessary to age well, but why wait when it’s so delicious now?