Small harvest, big decision: why 2025 is a turning point for Maison Bugnazet

Let's be honest: when we saw the bins arrive at the winery this year, they were lighter than usual.

2025 will be remembered as a paradoxical vintage. On one side, the quality is undeniable. On the other, the volume is missing.

Why so little juice? Blame August. If you were in the region (or followed the weather), you know the thermometer climbed high. Very high. Faced with the intense heat and the lack of water, the vine had to make a survival choice: it drew on its reserves, and that meant on its grapes. The result in our parcels: tiny, deeply concentrated berries — but very little juice. A phenomenon every Beaujolais vigneron noticed this year.

The economic impact (and our response). For a domain like ours, whose model rested largely on selling grapes by the kilo to négoce, a volume drop is a blow. Fewer kilos means, mathematically, less revenue to cover the same year-round costs.

That observation accelerated a decision we'd been considering for a long time: it's time to bottle our own wine.

Rather than selling everything in bulk, we decided to value this concentrated, atypical vintage by creating our own cuvées. The best way to secure the future of the domain — and above all, to finally share the fruit of our work directly with you.

What's coming. Despite the small volumes, we are proud to announce the official birth of our first Bugnazet cuvées:

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"Morgon de Toi": our favourite.

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And also a Fleurie, a Moulin-à-Vent, and a stunning Beaujolais-Villages.

It's a bet, it's a lot of stress, but mostly it's a lot of excitement. 2025 won't have been the year of quantity. It will be the year of our independence.