Yvon Métras has been making wine in Beaujolais since 1988, when he inherited the family estate and its five hectares of vines. Through his neighbor Marcel Lapierre, a disciple of the scientist-winemaker Jules Chauvet, he found his way to a philosophy of radical non-intervention that would define the domaine. Today Métras is widely regarded as one of the greatest vignerons in Beaujolais, producing wines of extraordinary purity from organically farmed, hand-harvested fruit fermented with indigenous yeasts and bottled with little to no added sulfur. His son Jules now farms additional parcels alongside him.

Cuvée L'Ultime sits at the very top of the Métras range, produced only in exceptional vintages from the domaine's oldest vines in the celebrated Fleurie lieux-dits of Grille-Midi and La Madone. Some of these plantings date to 1898, and their age — combined with sandy granite soils worked entirely by hand on steep slopes — produces minuscule yields of deeply concentrated fruit. The wine is fermented whole cluster via semi-carbonic maceration in concrete tanks with indigenous yeasts, then aged in neutral oak.

2018 was warm across Beaujolais, delivering gamay of remarkable ripeness and density. In the glass, L'Ultime shows a deep ruby color and kaleidoscopic aromatics of dark cherry, raspberry, and violet layered over a pronounced granitic minerality. The palate is full and concentrated yet retains the silken texture and floral lift that are unmistakably Métras. Fine-grained tannins and bright acidity give the wine serious structure and aging potential, with a long, mineral finish.