Beaujolais, where have you been my whole life?

Well, I know where you’ve been, and can I just say, ‘it was not you, it was me?’.

My wife got me into wine 10-ish years ago, and her palate at the time was decidely new-world. And thus, that’s the world I knew. From the beginning I definitely trended more towards the restrained version of the new world. Over time I drifted a bit more to the old world, and found I loved Bordeaux and Chinon. But despite a love for restrained new-world Pinot, the handful of Burgundies and Beaujolais I tried just didn’t resonate.

Over the last 3 years though my palate has really continued shifting to the old world, though in New Orleans my access to interesting wines wasn’t great. Now that I’m in London, I’ve made a conscious descision to focus entirely on old-world wines, including becoming more familiar with Burgundy.

As part of that I was hoping to identify more ‘daily drinker’-type wines and figured maybe it was time to explore Beaujolais in earnest. I picked out maybe 7-8 different producers and have been trying one a week for the last couple of weeks.

I guess instead of saying ‘Beaujolais where have you been?’ I should so ‘Beaujolais, I’m so sorry I waited so long to fall in love with you!’.

I’ve tremendously enjoyed every one that I’ve tried. So light, delicate, refreshing. Not overly-serious but still complex enough to make me pause and think for a moment. Completely fine on their own when I want a red but not looking for something ‘profound’. And of course tremendous with food.

I realize now that some of that is due to palate shift, and some of it comes down to producer. Before I was rolling the dice whereas now I’m working with retailers whom I trust, know my palate and are making recommendations accordingly. Much higher success rate.

It’s a love affair, and one I don’t have to feel guilty about, because, SO CHEAP!

Neal Mollen couldn’t be more appreciative of your new discovery.

RT

Agreed, love the wine and also love that fact that it is affordable.

Your next Beaujolais epiphanies could be with 20-30 year old bottles. That would take this whole thing to another level.

+1 Jason- had the same realization about 5 years ago. And a big +1 to what Doug said above.

I am happy for Jason and for beaujolais that they have found each other.

Oh boy. One love affair at a time, please.

Too true! I am planning to write an article on aged Beaujolais, and going into some depth on Beaujolais’ 20th-century history, looking at the evolution of viticulture, winemaking, and the emergence of the natural wine movement.

Like this!

This is absolutely true. Those wines seem to age faster than Pinot Noir but they’re no less lovely and if you bought them before prices started rising over the past 10 years, you’re truly in luck.

And don’t overlook Duboeuf. He’s kind of a hero in many ways, responsible for keeping a lot of growers in business and you could do a lot worse that trying his cru wines.

It’s a lovely area, with rolling green hills and great food, and the wines are good both young and old. A few years ago WB had the idea of creating posts on specific areas and I posted on the various crus of Beaujolais, but I have no idea where that thread is now.

Old Beaujolais is an old story

That wine is so good! So cheap, too.

Nice. I actually think the natural wine movement is a detriment to the region at times (I’ve had quite a few faulty bottles, even some from reputable producers), but it’s definitely part of the modern story. It seems like too few people, even people who are into wine, are aware of how beautiful Beaujolais can become with time in the cellar. Of course, plenty of people here are well aware.

I would love to read that post if I can find it.

According to a recent thread it is a lesser region so visiting is a waste of time. It’s can’t be as beautiful as the RN74…

good post and agreed. I am also in my exploration of the Cru Beaujolais phase as well. Very open to recommendations. Generally I see value, accessibility and drinkability. Its hard to keep the stuff that is ready to drink in the house.

Metras?

Except not so much when you now see $70 bottles of Bojo! [wow.gif]

I do sometimes think it’s a pity that so many of the region’s aspirational producers tend to head in that direction. More aspiration to produce twenty-year Beaujolais would be nice, too—(though unfortunately in practice that would likely lead to more aggressive extraction and oak, rather than simply concentrated, balanced and unforced wines). The region is certainly big enough to encompass multiple visions and aesthetics.

But more and more of the natural producers are using microscopes and aspiring to make wines that are not merely vinified without sulfites, but clean and stable, too. So that’s a positive trend, and for the top fifty or so producers in the region, I would say the future is very bight. For the remaining 2,000+, bulk wine prices are flatlining, and I think existence is highly precarious. So the region is more and more bifurcated in that respect.

In any case, what might be called the “intellectual history” of the natural wine movement is quite interesting, beginning with Chauvet and his influence over Lapierre, and then spreading throughout the Beaujolais, and it emerged in a very different context from that offered by the region today. On the flight over to France, I read an interesting book by Sébastien Lapaque, Chez Marcel Lapierre, which any Francophone Beaujolais fans might enjoy.

If you’ve never met and talked to Eric Texier you should make the trek down to Charnay. He’s literally down the street from John-Paul Brun and has made a study of this. His wines are great too.