Beaujolais Wine Notes — 01/01/2007

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Beaujolais is a delightful region nestling on hillsides at the southern edge of Burgundy. The red Beaujolais grape, the Gamay, is not usually thought of as a quality grape, but here it gives wines with exuberant, crunchy red fruit and sometimes much more.... The Beaujolais crus are for some completely unknown reason a bit out of fashion. They are out of the 'zeitgeist', perhaps because they are (in the best sense) peasant wines.

The Crus are the northern 10 villages (and their surrounding hamets), which are on steep granite hillsides. There is no topsoils, the vines are planted straight into the decomposed granite, which is rather like a coarse gravelly sand. There are local variations such as the decomposed schist of Morgon and the volcanic rock of Côte de Brouilly. The wines of the Crus vary considerably and you don't have to be an expert to tell the difference.

The 10 Beaujolais Crus

Brouilly: A light crunchy fruity style. It often seems just like a good Beaujolais village.

Côte de Brouilly: The smallest, least known but by those in the know, the best loved of the Crus. The wines are nothing like Brouilly, they are mineral, intense, serious, with good acid and great length. They are perhaps the most age-worthy of all Beaujolais.

Régnié: This ‘new’ Cru (created in 1989) is just finding its feet. Some are like bad Brouilly, some are fruity, but the best have a spiciness like neighbouring Morgon.

Morgon: The wines from the schist soils of the Côte de Pÿ are rich, round, full and age-worthy; the others from the granite soils are very spicy and still on the weighty side for Beaujolais Cru.

Chiroubles: The lightest of the crus, from the high vineyards above Morgon. It offers ethereal, fragrant wines in good years. In poor years it is sharp and best avoided.

Fleurie: It is charming and medium bodied. The vineyards vary in height which explains the variation in style, from Chiroubles-like to say Juliénas.

Moulin-à-Vent: From low lying vineyards. There can be a certain 'flatness' to it, but normally it is recognisable by its inky power, and almost Burgundian concentration. It can be aged, but only bother in top years.

Chénas: The best vineyards of Chénas are sold as Moulin à Vent. Chénas gives some dull offerings, but I’m told there are powerful wines too.

Juliénas: Lying on steep slopes, it is a reliable Cru, producing wines of good flavour and depth.

St-Amour: Medium weight with good berry fruit. The most expensive Cru but not the best. (The name refers to local over-amorous monks).

And the rest

Beaujolais Nouveau (Primeur): A light fruity wine created to be drunk within the first 3-6 months of life. Made using a short fermentation followed by filtration and rapid bottling, it is released on the third Thursday in November.

'Beaujolais' is light and easy drinking. To get more than this, much more than this, drink the Crus.

Beaujolais Villages: A superior wine to Beaujolais from the villages just south of the crus. The villages closest to the crus such as Lancié and Lantignié was particularly good reputations and are sometimes sold with village designation as eg Beaujolais-Lantignié.

Beaujolais Blanc: From patches of Chardonnay on limestone near the Crus, is racy and fruity. Some growers in the north also produce St Veran, also Chardonnay from the vineyards around Pouilly Fuissé, which overlap with the most northerly Beaujolais vineyards. There are also a few white wines, not commercialised though, from the granite hillsides. The Chardonnay takes on a rich spicy character here. It would be nice to see a little Viognier here. Riesling could be fabulous, but the likelihood of it being planted is .... remote!

More Information

Beaujolais Cru: A wine bearing the name of the Cru villages listed above. Mostly made by semi-Carbonic Maceration and aged for several months in large old oak barrels before bottling.

Carbonic Maceration: A method of wine-making in Beaujolais. Whole grapes are put in a sealed tank. The grapes at the bottom split and start to ferment, creating heat that starts fermentation of the other grapes within their skins. The result is an extremely fruity wine with low tannin.

Semi-Carbonic Maceration is used for the Crus. The tank is not sealed. Extraction is helped by pumping over. (‘Plunging’ is not a Beaujolais practice but is possibly used sometimes). Likewise new oak casks are an ‘import’.

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