Claire Chasselay, together with her brother Fabien, runs the small family domain located in the Côte de Brouilly Appellation Contrôlée, one of the famous Crus du Beaujolais. Central here is an extinct volcano. The intense heat of the underground magma was so intense that layers of soil above it were "thickened" into deep blue-gray blocks of unprecedented weight. The Chasselay family owns vineyards in the north of the Appellation (in the Chardignon district) and in the far south near l’Heronde. Côte de Brouilly is one of the southernmost Crus in Beaujolais and is approximately 20 km north of Lyon. This makes it one of the very last appellations before the "Rhône" begins. It seems as if this region was "balanced" between the central massif on the west side and the Alps in the east.
The Beaujolais area has several types of substrate, each of which imparts its own maturity and style to the grapes. The gamay clone that Claire uses has small berries with a thick skin. Hence the striking dark color of her wines. Like Cornin, Claire also says that to make good wine, you have to know, see and understand 100% the character of the vineyard in question.
As football player Johan Cruijff would have said: "You only understand when you get it."