Today is Beaujolais Nouveau Day! What is Beaujolais day? Well, Beaujolais is a wine region in France where the red wines are made from the Gamay grape, but you can also get a few whites and pinks too. Beaujolais Day happens on the third Thursday of November every year and it’s when the young wines of Beaujolais are all released. It’s a tradition and in the UK, there has always been a funny sort of race to bring the first nouveau wines back into the country from France. (Good luck doing that this year). These nouveau wines are bottled and sold within just six to eight weeks of the grapes being picked.
Beaujolais fell out of favour during the eighties over here as people assumed that all Beaujolais was like the nouveau style, which is very juicy and bright, with a strong flavour of strawberry bubblegum. It’s meant to be drunk within a few months of its life and is deliberately youthful in style. Beaujolais proper however, means gorgeously silky, elegant red wines that are crisp and refreshing, not totally unlike good French Pinot Noir. The style is very much in vogue again now people are reaching for less weighty, less alcoholic, less oaky red wines. Think wild strawberry, raspberry and spice with some autumnal, leafy notes.
Don’t forget that there are several quality levels in Beaujolais: Start with the bouncy nouveau, then move up to straight Beaujolais. Above that, you have Beaujolais-villages and then finally, there are ten special Beaujolais ‘cru’, each named after a specific village and they all have their own characteristic take on the regional style. Here’s a bit more about that.
Three Beaujolais wines to try:
Château de Belleverne, Beaujolais Nouveau, Beaujolais-Villages 2021
This wine shows exactly how far we’ve come with Beaujolais over the last twenty years. It’s a nouveau - from a villages producer! Basically, that means it’s actually good.
Made in the traditional, carbonic macerated style using concrete vats, this wine is a classic BH: a light and fruity red wine made from Gamay grape. Best served slightly chilled at 13°c. The 2021 vintage is available for pre-order with delivery on Friday 19th November. Priced at £13.50 per bottle, order six bottles or more for £12.00 per bottle.
Find it at Wickhams Great British Wine Merchant here.
Domaine de Roche-Guillon, Fleurie, 2017
Fleurie in the north of the region is the lightest, most elegant of the Cru with a perfumed, silky, style. Don’t let the light body fool you though; these wines can be very complex and interesting flavour-wise and they can age surprisingly well, turning our gorgeously moreish Autumnal flavours. This one is made by a family-owned domaine who don’t filter their wines for more texture, vibrancy and flavour.
Find it for £14.75 Sandhamswine.co.uk
Château du Moulin-à-Vent, Cuvée ‘Couvent des Thorins’
Bordering Fleurie in the far north of the region is the Moulin-à-Vent Cru. Wines from here make some of the most concentrated and tannic Beaujolais there is - a million miles from the nouveau style. These are great ones to age a bit, becoming more earthy, and savoury as they mature. This one is big but supple and ripe.
Find it for £20 at Stannary wine