Côte de Brouilly

Côte de Brouilly sits on the slopes of Mont Brouilly, which INAO's 2022 cahier text describes as 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. INAO's product page calls it the most southerly of the 10 crus after Brouilly, and Decanter's Andy Howard MW places it on the volcanic slopes of Mont Brouilly above the Brouilly appellation, whose vineyards skirt around the hill. In INAO's 2022 cahier text, 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 same text describes a temperate, degraded oceanic climate with clear continental and, above all, southern influences.

• Vines reach 400 metres, but no more than 350 metres on the north slope in Cercié (INAO 2022 cahier text)
• More than 80% of the vineyard faces east and south, sheltered from westerly winds by the Monts du Beaujolais (INAO 2022 cahier text)
• Harvests are often among the earliest in Beaujolais, according to INAO's 2022 cahier text
• Inter Beaujolais's website (2026) describes the flank of Mont Brouilly as a geosite with the UNESCO Global Geopark label

The signature rock of Mont Brouilly is the local 'pierres bleues', or blue stones, and the sources describe it in different terms. INAO's product page calls it blue granite of volcanic origin, and Inter Beaujolais's website speaks of volcanic rocks and the famous 'Brouilly blue stone', named for the bluish glints the stone shows as it weathers. Decanter's Andy Howard MW 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 in its text describes diorite from the slopes of Mont Brouilly as "a very hard volcanic rock from the Palaeozoic era", sometimes also known as 'corne verte'. INAO's 2022 cahier text instead calls the pierres bleues porphyries, which it describes as massive metamorphic rocks, with granite on the lower part of the west- and north-west-facing slopes. According to that text, soils are thin, very stony and clayey over the blue stones, and sandy and very free-draining over the granite.

• Inter Beaujolais's website (2026) gives the soils as blue stone 40%, granite 24% and piedmont deposits 12%, and its French page adds slope scree at 20%
• Blue-stone parcels give firm wines with a minerality characteristic of Côte de Brouilly; parcels on granitic sand give softer, earlier wines (INAO 2022 cahier text)
• The Jancis Robinson guest article describes the terrain as largely uniform across the cru, with a little pink granite only on the western slopes
• Diorite is not unique to the cru: the same article lists diorite on the hills among Brouilly's soils

INAO records that the name Brouilly seems to come from a Roman lieutenant, Brulius, said to have planted a few vines on the slopes of the hill in the 4th century, though vine growing is only attested from the 11th century, which 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 to protect the vineyard from oidium; INAO's cahier text dates it to 1857 and names it 'Notre Dame du Raisin'; INAO's product page calls it Notre-Dame aux Raisins and also gives 1857, while Inter Beaujolais's website uses the same name and gives 1854. 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 linked to Brulius, a Roman lieutenant said to have planted vines in the 4th century; vine growing attested from the 11th century (INAO)
• Summit chapel built against oidium: 1857 per INAO, 1854 per Inter Beaujolais
• A pilgrimage leads walkers through the vines to the chapel each year on 8 September (INAO 2022 cahier text)
• AOC recognised by decree on 19 October 1938, after the producers' association was created in 1934 (INAO 2022 cahier text)

Côte de Brouilly is reserved for still red wines. INAO's 2022 cahier text names Gamay as 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, the base rendement in that text, which also sets 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. INAO notes that producers control Gamay's growth with high planting density and short pruning in 'gobelets', and that 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 (INAO 2022 cahier text)
• Minimum planting density 6,000 vines per hectare; irrigation prohibited (INAO 2022 cahier text)
• Wines are aged until at least 15 January after the harvest and released to consumers from 1 February (INAO 2022 cahier text)

INAO's 2022 cahier text describes a still red wine, a fine purplish red when young that turns garnet, with floral and fruity notes that evolve towards spice over time and a fruity, full-bodied palate marked by a certain minerality. INAO's product page names iris, fresh grape and plum among the aromas and says the wines gain a great deal from a few years of ageing. Inter Beaujolais's website describes generous wines with delicate tannins, aromas of pepper, small macerated black fruit and mineral notes, and a palate that becomes rounder and fuller after a few years of keeping. Decanter's Andy Howard MW finds more fine wines here than in neighbouring Brouilly, and notes that many have a silky mouthfeel.

• Purplish red when young, evolving to garnet (INAO)
• Floral and fruity aromas such as iris, fresh grape and plum, turning spicy with time (INAO)
• Firm, mineral wines from blue-stone parcels; softer, earlier wines from granite (INAO 2022 cahier text)
• Generous wines with delicate tannins, according to Inter Beaujolais

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 2026-09-24