Kewin Descombes

The Morgon area in Beaujolais is particularly known for its rugged soil, which is a mixture of granite, slate and volcanic rock. Compared to other Beaujolais Cru villages, Morgon's soil contains a lot of iron, which makes the wines particularly powerful.

Representing the youngest generation of Beaujolais winemakers, Kewin Descombes worked for a long time with his father Georges, who is known as one of the pioneers of Beaujolais. Georges Descombes is actually the Fifth unofficial member of the “Gang of Four” which includes Jean Foillard, Marcel Lapierre, Jean-Paul Thévenet and Guy Breton. Kéké's half-brother Damien Coquelet is also known as a Beaujolais wine producer. At the age of 21 in 2013, Kewin released his first vintage from the 3-hectare nurseries his father gave him. Today, Kewin owns 6 hectares of vineyards, including a 1.15-hectare leased vineyard in the AOC Beaujolais and a 1.6-hectare leased vineyard in the AOC Morgon areas. In addition, in 2013 he bought a 1.2-hectare plot of 85-year-old vines from Morgoni.

Kewin adopted his father's traditional ways of working both in the barns and in the cellar, but took many production methods further than his father. The grapes are grown using organic methods and the entire harvest is harvested by hand. The grapes are stored in temperature-controlled containers before they are placed as whole bunches in 600-liter concrete tanks. The wines ferment with partial carbonic acid fermentation and the winemaking relies entirely on natural yeasts. Sulfur dioxide is used minimally, if at all, in the basement. The wines mature in oak barrels. A few years of bottle aging is suitable for Kewin's wines, and he often releases his wines a year later than many of his local colleagues.