Côte de Brouilly

Côte de Brouilly sits on the slopes of Mont Brouilly, a small mountain detached from the eastern edge of the Monts du Beaujolais, 40 kilometres north of Lyon and 15 kilometres from Villefranche-sur-Saône. The appellation covers the communes of Cercié, Odenas, Quincié-en-Beaujolais and Saint-Lager in the Rhône department. It is the most southerly of the 10 crus after Brouilly, and its vineyards occupy the slopes above the Brouilly appellation, whose own vineyards skirt around the hill. The east-facing slope in Saint-Lager carries half the vineyard; the south-facing slope lies in Odenas, the west-facing slope in Quincié-en-Beaujolais and the north slope in Cercié. The climate is a temperate, degraded oceanic one with clear continental influences, such as summer storms and freezing winter fogs, and above all southern ones.

• Vines reach 400 metres, but no more than 350 metres on the north slope in Cercié
• More than 80% of the vineyard faces east and south, sheltered from westerly winds by the Monts du Beaujolais
• Harvests are often among the earliest in Beaujolais
• The flank of Mont Brouilly is a geosite with the UNESCO Global Geopark label

The signature rock of Mont Brouilly is the local 'pierres bleues', or blue stones, whose name comes from the bluish glints the stone shows as it weathers, and the sources classify it in different terms. INAO's product page calls it blue granite of volcanic origin, and Inter Beaujolais's website places the vines on a terroir of volcanic rocks and the famous 'Brouilly blue stone'. Decanter's Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly 2018 report lists the blue stones as schist and volcanic diorite. A guest article on Jancis Robinson's site lists the soils as granite, diorite (plutonic rock) and shale, and calls diorite from the slopes of Mont Brouilly "a very hard volcanic rock from the Palaeozoic era", very dark green to black in colour and sometimes also known as 'corne verte'. INAO's 2022 cahier text instead classes the pierres bleues as porphyries, massive metamorphic rocks, with granite on the lower part of the west- and north-west-facing slopes. Soils are thin, very stony and clayey over the blue stones, and sandy and very free-draining over the granite.

• Blue stone makes up 40% of the soils, granite 24%, slope scree 20% and piedmont deposits 12%
• Blue-stone parcels give firm wines with a minerality characteristic of Côte de Brouilly and an assertive fruitiness; parcels on granitic sand give softer, earlier wines
• Diorite is not unique to the cru: neighbouring Brouilly also has diorite on its hills

The name Brouilly probably derives from Brulius, a Roman lieutenant who, by tradition, settled on the slopes of the hill in the 4th century and planted a few vines. Vine growing is only attested from the 11th century, which still makes Côte de Brouilly one of the oldest vineyards of Beaujolais. In the 17th century, many wine estates were established in the villages near the hill. Shaken by the vine plagues of the 19th century, producers built a chapel on the summit in 1857 to protect the vineyard from oidium, named Notre Dame du Raisin and also written Notre-Dame aux Raisins. The Association des Producteurs du vin de la Côte de Brouilly was created in 1934, and the AOC was recognised by decree on 19 October 1938.

• Name probably from Brulius, a Roman lieutenant who by tradition planted vines in the 4th century; vine growing attested from the 11th century
• Summit chapel built in 1857 against oidium
• A pilgrimage leads walkers through the vines to the chapel each year on 8 September
• AOC recognised by decree on 19 October 1938, after the producers' association was created in 1934

Côte de Brouilly is reserved for still red wines. Gamay is the principal variety, with Aligoté, Chardonnay and Melon as accessory varieties allowed only when interplanted in the vineyard and limited to 15% in total within each parcel. Minimum alcohol is set at 10.5% vol with a maximum yield of 56 hectoliters per hectare as the base rendement, and a rendement butoir of 61 hl/ha. Grapes must carry at least 180 grams of sugar per litre of must, and sorting of the harvest is compulsory, in the vineyard or in the winery. Producers control Gamay's growth with high planting density and short pruning in 'gobelets', and many use techniques that immerse the grapes in the juice during fermentation, such as 'grillage', pigeage or remontage.

• Principal variety Gamay; accessory Aligoté, Chardonnay and Melon, interplanted only, 15% in total per parcel
• Minimum natural alcohol 10.5% and minimum sugar 180 g/l; yield 56 hl/ha, rendement butoir 61 hl/ha
• Minimum planting density 6,000 vines per hectare; irrigation prohibited
• Wines are aged until at least 15 January after the harvest and released to consumers from 1 February

Young Côte de Brouilly is typically a fine purplish red that turns garnet, with floral and fruity notes, such as iris, fresh grape and plum, that evolve towards spice over time, and a fruity, full-bodied palate marked by a certain minerality. The wines tend to be generous, with delicate tannins and aromas of pepper, small macerated black fruit and mineral notes. They gain a great deal from a few years of ageing, as the palate becomes fuller and rounder. Decanter's 2018 cru report finds more fine wines here than in neighbouring Brouilly, many with a silky mouthfeel that stays easy-going and pleasurable.

• Purplish red when young, evolving to garnet
• Floral and fruity aromas such as iris, fresh grape and plum, turning spicy with time
• Firm, mineral wines from blue-stone parcels; softer, earlier wines from granite
• Generous wines with delicate tannins

Primary sources (INAO, Inter Beaujolais and Château Thivin): https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO-CDCC%C3%B4tedeBrouilly-CN221130.pdf, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/cote-de-brouilly-ou-cote-de-brouilly-cru-du-beaujolais-16768, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/cote-de-brouilly/, https://www.beaujolais.com/appellation/cote-de-brouilly/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/legal-notice/, https://www.chateau-thivin.com/en/wine/cote-brouilly-cuvee-zaccharie-4.php. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/premium/beaujolais-top-scoring-brouilly-cote-de-brouilly-2018-wines-455305/, https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/beaujolais-current-facts-and-figures. Last verified 2026-10-05