Return of the Red Swallows 2023

Retour des Hirondelles Red 2023

La Tribu Alonso

Retour des Hirondelles is an organic and natural red wine with no added sulfites, 100% Gamay, produced by Cyril Alonso in Marchampt, in the terroirs of Beaujolais Vert. Classified as a Vin de France, its name celebrates the return in 2023 of the swallows that had disappeared in 2015. The forest surrounding the estate is classified as a LPP refuge (bird protection), so the cultural precautions and concern for the environment of the Alonso Tribe have borne fruit.

Vinification

Thirty-one different Gamay varieties grow on a half-hectare plot on granite soils, and this Return of the Swallows contains them all. The grass cover is wild and the vines, aged from four to fifty years, are pruned in goblet form, cultivated using organic farming and agroforestry. The harvest, which is manual, is processed in free-run juice (the grapes give their juice under their own weight), without pressing, and ferments with indigenous yeasts without a starter culture. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation takes place in fiberglass vats. No chemical inputs are added to the vineyard or the winery.

Tasting

Made solely from free-run juice, Le Retour des Hirondelles is an organic and natural wine of great clarity, very refreshing, very clear, with a beautiful acidity marked by citrus flavors. There are no phenolic traces and the tannins are very soft. Notes of kirsch cherry, clementine, candied orange peel. This wine will be perfect for an aperitif and to accompany all meals. Charcuterie, cured meats (especially Lyonnaise), lamb, everything suits it, and especially good times with friends.

Learn more about the Alonso Tribe

This tribal name refers to Cyril Alonso, winemaker, his wife, naturopath, and their family. They take care, using organic farming methods, of a conservatory of traditional grape varieties from the Rhône-Alpes region located in Marchampt (Rhône), in the heart of the Beaujolais Vert region. This two-and-a-half-hectare ampel library, which has existed since 1952, contained forty grape varieties. It currently contains one hundred and forty. This unique location gives the Tribu Alonso wines their particular style. Instead of being single-varietal microcuvées, they are quite the opposite: wines by grape variety family, either a Chardonnay containing all the Chardonnays of the house or a multi-Gamay Gamay.

A biotope classified in 2008

The estate enjoys a unique ecological location: the house and the vineyard are surrounded by untouched forests, on the steep terrain of northern Beaujolais. Three rivers cross it, and the vines, close to the bedrock, capture all the minerality of the soil. Organic farming is practiced and the work, both in the vineyard and in the cellar, is entirely manual, without the use of any chemical additives or sulfites in the winemaking process.

The wines

Cuvées of co-plantation (and for good reason), the wines of the Tribu Alonso embrace all the complexity of their grape varieties and the viticultural history of Beaujolais. These are carefully crafted wines, made with great care, fermented and aged to the sound of Tibetan bowls, whose alpha waves are beneficial to the liquids. The vatting periods are short, to preserve the freshness and fruit, as well as the signature of the soil and grape varieties.