Happy new year everyone! My wine column this week is focused on Beaujolais, which most people recognize as the youthful “nouveau” wines from the Gamay grape that hit the market just in time for Thanksgiving. Beaujolais Nouveau wines have fruity, refreshing flavors that result from carbonic maceration, a process where whole grape berries are fermented, uncrushed, in a tank filled with carbon dioxide.
We’re obviously way past Thanksgiving, but I want to talk about the rich wines with complexity, structure and sense of place that come from Beaujolais’ 10 distinctive villages, known as crus. The 10 crus, from North to South, include Saint-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, Cȏte-de-Brouilly and Brouilly. In terms of quality and sophistication, Beaujolais rivals its cousin Pinot Noir to the north in Burgundy, but at a much more affordable price.
VinePair
Recently, a group of Austin women wine pros gathered to taste through 8 crus of Beaujolais to better understand the stylistic differences between the wines. In general, here is what you can expect from each cru:
- More structured, full-bodied with minerality: Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent and Chénas
- Most age-worthy: Morgon
- More rustic: Cȏte-de-Brouilly and Bouilly
- Juicy and dark red fruit: Juliénas and Saint-Amour
- Violet and rose flowers, perfume: Fleurie
- Lighter with delicate floral notes: Chiroubles
- Spicier: Régnié
While the tasting confirmed general wine characteristics for each cru, they also showed the diversity and variability that come from different vintages and winemaking techniques. Several wines, for example, were unfined (resulting in cloudy wines) and used natural winemaking techniques, providing distinctly different tasting notes.
From our tasting, these wines emerged as our favorites:
- 2018 Domaine de Colette Régnié: a pretty wine with strawberry, cherry, raspberry and floral notes
- 2019 Domaine Grégoire Hoppenot Fleurie Origines: an elegant, lighter-bodied wine with floral, perfume, cherry and raspberry notes
- 2019 Domaine Grégoire Hoppenot Morgon Corcelette: a more concentrated and sophisticated wine with riper fruit, savory notes and a mineral undertone
- 2015 Duboeuf Domaine de Combiaty Brouilly: more rustic and structured wine with blackberry and Luxardo cherry notes
The group agreed there is so much range and diversity in styles and flavor profiles of Beaujolais – from fruity to earthy and filtered to natural – and offer a great bang for the buck.
Michiko Matsuura, Fine Wine Specialist with Winebow Imports with the WSET Diploma certification, noted that Fleurie is the perfect gateway cru with its bright and floral notes, but Morgon is the “coolest cru” that holds a special place in her heart.
Lynn Becker, sommelier at The Wine Cellar with the WSET Level 3 certification, said Beaujolais was her first introduction to serious wine and it changed her world.
Hope you will give Beaujolais a try and see how it changes your world! Cheers!
