France · Rhône Septentrional

Pellerin Domaines et Chateaux

A Beaujolais house founded in 1912, with wines spanning regional Beaujolais, named crus and Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve.

The producer

Pellerin Domaines et Chateaux was founded in 1912 as a Beaujolais wine house and is now part of the Boisset group. Based in Quincié-en-Beaujolais, it works as a négociant house, so the appellation on the label is central: Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages, Moulin-à-Vent, Brouilly, Côte-de-Brouilly, Chiroubles and Fleurie indicate different origins within its documented range.

Le Père La Grolle connects Pellerin to Beaujolais through a trademark registered in 1993 and associated with 150 growers. Its 2016 release has recorded élevage and a ready-to-drink red profile, while Joseph Pellerin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve extends the range into red and white Rhône wines. The 2023 red has documented oak maturation, and a separate bag-in-box red is handled in steel tanks, making vessel and format useful clues to body, tannin and finish.

Known for

Beaujolais appellations and cru wines, alongside Joseph Pellerin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve reds and whites.

Notable facts

The story

The Grolle Name

Le Père La Grolle takes its name from Gnafron, Guignol’s cobbler companion and a Beaujolais enthusiast. In 1993, Pellerin registered Le Père La Grolle as a trademark associated with 150 growers committed to quality. Pellerin’s négociant house marketed the name on its Beaujolais wines, turning a theatre character into a recurring label. The name later appeared on a 2017 wine entered by Pellerin Domaines et Chateaux in the Concours des Grands Vins du Beaujolais; the competition record lists a silver medal awarded in 2018.

From the atlas

Pellerin Domaines et Chateaux

At A Glance

Pellerin Domaines et Chateaux began in 1912 as a Beaujolais wine house and is now part of the Boisset group. From Quincié-en-Beaujolais, it works across regional Beaujolais and named crus, while also distributing wines from Languedoc-Roussillon. The useful clue on a Pellerin label is therefore the appellation and cuvée: a Fleurie, Côte-de-Brouilly or Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve is a different wine proposition, not a variation on one estate bottling.

The Producer

Pellerin is a négociant house: its range is built around wines from several places rather than a single enclosed domaine. Its Beaujolais portfolio runs from Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages to Moulin-à-Vent, Brouilly, Côte-de-Brouilly, Chiroubles and Fleurie. That breadth puts the place name on the label to work; each cru names the origin of the wine, while the Pellerin name supplies the house and range behind it.

Place

Quincié-en-Beaujolais places Pellerin in the northern Rhône-Alpes wine landscape, close to the appellations that shape much of its documented range. Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages sit alongside cru names such as Brouilly and Fleurie, so the label moves from broad regional red wine to more specific appellation wine. Beyond Beaujolais, the Joseph Pellerin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve labels extend the range south into Rhône blends, including red and white formats.

Soil And Site

Pellerin’s labels should not be reduced to one soil story. The documented range comes from several Beaujolais appellations, and the available material does not connect the full portfolio to one named slope, parcel or ground type. The practical consequence is to read each bottle by its appellation: Côte-de-Brouilly and Chiroubles are place names with their own boundaries, while a Beaujolais label works at the regional level.

Story

The house began as a Beaujolais business in 1912, then developed a range broad enough to carry both cru wines and Rhône reserves. One visible decision was the Wine and Art range, which paired each cru with a graphic creation. That treatment gave the bottle a visual signal tied to the cru name, while leaving the wine’s appellation visible as the central geographic fact. Another enduring name, Le Père La Grolle, links Pellerin’s merchant activity to a network of growers rather than to a single château.

Vineyards And Cellar

Cellar detail is clearest when read bottle by bottle. Le Père La Grolle 2016 has its own recorded élevage and drinking window, so it should be treated as a finished Beaujolais release rather than a general description of every Pellerin red. For Joseph Pellerin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve 2023, the bottled red has recorded oak maturation, while a separate red bag-in-box release is handled in steel tanks. Oak, steel, body, tannin and finish are therefore format-specific clues, not house-wide rules.

Wines

The Beaujolais side of the range begins with Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages, then moves through named crus including Moulin-à-Vent, Brouilly, Côte-de-Brouilly, Chiroubles and Fleurie. Le Père La Grolle belongs to this Beaujolais world: its 2017 release received a silver medal at the 2018 Concours des Grands Vins du Beaujolais, while the 2016 release carries the fuller available tasting and élevage material.

The Rhône side is represented by Joseph Pellerin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve. The 2023 red is documented with a grape blend, oak maturation and ageing potential; a steel-tank bag-in-box version has separately recorded production details. There is also a white Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve sold in a two-litre box. These are not interchangeable labels: colour, blend, vessel and handling change the fruit, body, tannin, acidity and finish to look for.

In The Glass

Le Père La Grolle 2016 is the Beaujolais bottle with the most developed available wine note, joining its élevage to a ready-to-drink red profile. Its appeal lies in a lighter-bodied red-wine frame than the Rhône Reserve, where fruit, acidity and finish can be read without treating oak as the main feature.

The 2023 Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve red moves toward a broader, more structured shape because its blend and oak maturation are part of the bottle’s make-up. Look for fruit first, then the relationship between body, tannin, spice and the oak-marked finish. The white Reserve shifts the sequence again: its supplied composition and tasting character make it a white Rhône wine to judge through aroma, texture, acidity and dry finish rather than through the red wine’s tannin.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Le Père La Grolle 2016. It is a Pellerin Beaujolais red with recorded élevage, a documented drinking window and a fuller tasting description than the other named Beaujolais releases in the available material. In the glass, it offers the chance to focus on red-wine fruit, acidity, texture and finish without confusing a cru name with a single estate vineyard. Its label also opens directly onto Pellerin’s 1993 trademark story.

Anecdote

Le Père La Grolle takes its name from Gnafron, the cobbler companion of Guignol and a Beaujolais enthusiast. In 1993, Pellerin registered Le Père La Grolle as a trademark and associated it with 150 growers committed to quality. The Pellerin négociant house then marketed the name on its wine. The result was not a one-off cuvée title: Le Père La Grolle became a recurring label in the house’s Beaujolais range. A later 2017 release appears in the Concours des Grands Vins du Beaujolais records under Pellerin Domaines et Chateaux, where it received a silver medal in 2018.

Final Word

Pellerin is most useful as a house to read through individual labels. Follow the appellation on its Beaujolais wines, then note whether the bottle is Le Père La Grolle or a Joseph Pellerin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve. That small act separates regional origin, wine style and cellar format before the cork is pulled.

Sources

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