Marcel Lapierre

Marcel Lapierre

Marcel Lapierre (1950-2010) was a legendary French winemaker from Beaujolais, widely recognized as a foundational figure in the global natural wine movement. Taking over his family's Domaine Des Chênes in Villié-Morgon in 1973, his winemaking philosophy was profoundly shaped in 1981 by Jules Chauvet, a visionary chemist and enologist.

Inspired by Chauvet's advocacy for "natural wine," Lapierre spearheaded a return to traditional, minimal-intervention practices that had largely fallen out of favor with the rise of chemical agriculture. Along with fellow Beaujolais vignerons Guy Breton, Jean-Paul Thévenet, and Jean Foillard, he became part of the influential "Gang of Four," a group that revolutionized Beaujolais winemaking.

Lapierre's approach emphasized organic viticulture (certified since 2004, though practiced since the 1980s), rejecting synthetic herbicides and pesticides in favor of lively soils nurtured by compost and plowing. In the cellar, he championed indigenous yeasts, avoided chaptalization (adding sugar), and used minimal to no sulfur dioxide (SO2) during vinification and bottling. His wines, predominantly from the Gamay grape using traditional carbonic maceration, are renowned for their purity of fruit, vibrant acidity, and expressive reflection of the granite soils of Morgon.

While initially facing skepticism from the wine establishment, Lapierre demonstrated that wines of great depth and complexity could be produced with minimal intervention. His commitment to authenticity and the expression of terroir inspired a new generation of winemakers worldwide.

Marcel Lapierre passed away in 2010. Today, his legacy is carried on by his children, Mathieu and Camille Lapierre, who continue to farm organically and uphold their father's pioneering natural winemaking philosophy at the domaine.

Several bottles of Morgon wine with red foil caps, displayed on a surface with a stone wall and various posters in the background.