Chénas AOC is the smallest of the ten Beaujolais crus, on the edge of the Saône et Loire and Rhône departments. Chénas means “a place planted with oaks”. The name comes from a legend that tells of a vast oak forest that once stood where the Beaujolais vines now are. A man from Liguria arrived in the village loaded up with vines, and got it into his head to cut down the trees and plant vines instead. The man used the wood from the oak trees to make vats in which he would store the harvest. Another version is that a woodcutter saw wild vines (born from grape seeds dropped by birds) climbing the trees, and cut the trees down, leaving just vines. However, a Royal Decree of 1316 seems to contradict these fables. The decree mentions an order to uproot the oaks on the slopes of Rémont to plant vines there.

Communes: Chénas. | La Chapelle de Guinchay.

Terroir: The vines lie on higher grown, above the village itself (Clive Coates MW: 1990, p.185).

Production: 1988 257ha produced 14,704hl (Clive Coates MW: 1990, p.184). | 2002 285ha produced 15,170hl (Guide Hachette des Vins 2004, p.159).

Wine style: ‘From light, elegant to austere, needing time to develop Burgundian [aged Pinot Noir] tones,’ (Oz Clarke (2015, p.84). The deepest wines come from steep sites on granitic terraces in the west of the denomination and show floral notes (violets, roses). Chénas from more loamy soils on less rugged terrain in the eastern part show a tighter structure (Guide Hachette des Vins 2004, p.159).