David Large has all the credentials one would hope for in a winemaker: a family history of winemaking stretching back to 1840, diplomas from the elite schools, and experience working with the greats. Nonetheless, he views becoming a great winemaker to be a process of “unlearning”.
His vineyards are located in pockets around Montmelas, a beautiful and mountainous area of the Southwest Beaujolais. The soil types of David's wines are predominantly granite, clay and the “Pierres Dorées”, a local and unique limestone formation pigmented with iron oxide. His wines also benefit from a volcanic rock base uniquely suited to Gamay vines.
He does everything himself, down to driving the delivery truck and composing the verses inscribed on the side of his wine labels - David is an enthusiastic rapper and poetry aficionado. Even the names of the individual wines are personal: “Nelson” , a juicy and soft wine made from a small vineyard in the village pocket of Rivolet (sandy clay soils), refers to his spunky, one-eyed cat, “Piranha” to himself when he first started out - a small fish, but to be underestimated at one’s own peril, “Gamayhameha” (produced from a small, old vineyard of stony clay soils in the lieu-dit of La Caillotiere in the village of Denicé) is an homage to Dragonball, a popular anime series he watched as a kid. His fixation on terroir specificity means that he vinifies and bottles almost every plot separately, resulting in as many as 18 different cuvées. With that many wines from only 5ha of vineyards, you can imagine there’s very little to go around. We are lucky to be able to import one or two of his wines at any given time, so get them while you can!
