One of the most meaningful days of the trip.

After nearly two weeks travelling through Champagne, the Loire Valley, Chablis and Burgundy, we found ourselves back in Beaujolais with the producer who helped start it all.

Yohan Lardy.

Long before there was a Vintrepid wine club, a portfolio or even a business, I was selling Yohan's wines in London.

I first met him more than ten years ago when he travelled over with his father to show their wines to the trade. We got on well, stayed in touch and, when the idea of starting my own wine importing business in Australia began to take shape, Yohan was the very first producer I wanted to work with.

Looking back, that feels like a lifetime ago.

When we launched Vintrepid two and a half years ago, our first shipment was just two pallets of Yohan's wines.

At the time, it felt enormous.

Now, standing in his vineyards yesterday, I couldn't help but reflect on how far we've come.

Today we work with producers across France. We have a growing wine club, a growing customer base and relationships with some incredible growers. By the end of this trip, we'll likely add several more producers to the portfolio.

But none of that happens without those first few people who believed in what we were trying to build.

Yohan was one of them.

We spent the morning walking through his vineyards in Moulin-à-Vent, one of the great crus of Beaujolais and home to some of the region's most serious wines.

I was particularly keen to revisit Michelon, one of Yohan's flagship sites and the source of his remarkable 1903 cuvée.

The name comes from the year the vines were planted.

1903. 

More than 120 years old.

Standing amongst those vines is a humbling experience. They've survived wars, economic crises, changing fashions and generations of growers, yet they continue to produce fruit of extraordinary quality.

Yohan bottles the vineyard separately each year, producing only around 2,000 bottles depending on the vintage. We're fortunate to receive a small allocation for Australia and, in my opinion, it's one of the great wines of Beaujolais.

I'd happily put it up against many wines from Burgundy costing considerably more.

After walking the vineyards, the rising temperatures quickly encouraged us back into the cellar.

At close to 38 degrees outside, the cool cellar felt very appealing.

We tasted through the 2024 vintage, including wines that have already landed in Australia and those still to come.

The Fleurie and Chénas are looking fantastic and we also had the chance to taste the 2025s from barrel before bottling.

It's still early, but everything we've seen across France suggests 2025 could be a very promising vintage.

Balanced, fresh and beautifully poised.

One of the highlights of the day came over lunch.

Yohan disappeared into the cellar and returned with a ten-year-old bottle of his 1903 cuvée from his personal museum stock.

It was a real privilege.

The wine had evolved beautifully, developing the sort of complexity and savoury character you'd normally associate with mature Northern Rhône Syrah.

It's a reminder of something I've believed for a long time: the very best Beaujolais deserves to be taken far more seriously than it often is.

Lunch itself was simple.

A perfectly cooked T-bone of Limousin beef on the barbecue, a tomato salad and a bottle of wine shared amongst friends.

Nothing fancy.

Just great ingredients and good company.

In many ways, that sums up this trip.

Over the last two weeks we've met dozens of producers and almost all of them have something in common.

They're young families.

They have children.

They have mortgages.

They have banks asking questions.

They're trying to build something meaningful while juggling all the same challenges that Jess and I face back home.

The reality of French wine is very different from the image many people have.

There are very few grand châteaux.

Very little glamour.

Mostly it's hardworking families doing their best to make great wine and build a future for the next generation.

That's why these relationships matter.

We're not simply buying wine.

We're working with people whose values align with our own.

As I sat there yesterday, looking across the vineyards and thinking back to those first two pallets, I felt incredibly grateful.

Yohan took a chance on us when we were just getting started.

Two and a half years later, we're still building together.

And hopefully we will be for many years to come.

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