Julie Balagny

Thank you to importer Louis/Dressner for this estate profile.

Julie Balagny landed in Fleurie in 2009 after many years heading the cellar of biodynamic pioneers Terre des Chardons. Originally from Paris, her first career seemed destined to be in psychomotricity, the process of teaching basic motor skills to the mentally handicapped.

After heading the cellar of a more "chemical" estate, then Terre des Chardons, Julie decided it was time to start her own project. With her sites on either the Beaujolais or the Jura, she did some research, and with the help of Yvon Métras and Michel Guignier, was able to purchase her current property, an isolated clos with 3.2 hectares of vines, two hectares of prairies and three hectares of woods. Inspired by her past experience at Terre des Chardons, Julie quickly saw the biodynamic potential of this land: "The vines support the woods, the woods supply the livestock (Julie owns and tends sheep), the livestock supplies the soil: everything works together, everything is coherent." The Fleurie site, apart from being idyllically beautiful, has proven to be a very interesting terroir. As mentioned above, the site is completely isolated and surrounded by woods. The vines themselves are on a very steep hill, making any mechanical work impossible and forcing Julie to do everything by hand. The vines vary drastically in age (30 to 90) and are grown on three separate, distinct soil compositions: pure granite mixed with pebbles and sand, granite and quartz and granite with basalt. In 2015, Julie was able to acquire a hectare of Beaujolais planted in clay, pebbles and sand and 0.7 hectares of Moulin-à-Vent. The latter are old vines (50+) planted on a steep hill of decomposed granite.

In the cellar, every wine is made in the same way: the grapes are fermented semi-carbonically in concrete vats, then moved to a gorgeous, old school manual press, where the process is intentionally slow and delicate. The juices are then racked to old barrels for élevage. Julie's cuvées tend to vary year to year; the recent trend has been giving each a new name or label each  vintage. Though she firmly believes in the AOC system, she has in the past declassified some of her wines to Vin de France, including the entirety of the 2018 vintage. The total production is bottled without fining, filtration or sulfur.