This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
The warm season is already in the antechamber of happiness, but you haven’t yet planned your summer trip? As a Beaujolais companion, I would like to be able to take you on every possible European wine trail. However, your insight will quickly allow you to understand that gamay does not wait and that it is eaten here and now. Above all, he enjoys himself mainly in Beaujolais, where he finds his favorite terroir.
I noticed this recently during a stay there where a symposium was taking place to mark the centenary of the route of the Moulin-à-vent appellation (1924-2024). It is one of the 10 famous vintages of the Beaujolais region located north of Lyon. This proximity is not a coincidence, but rather a pretext for slumming. On the one hand with supple, cheerful, expressive and devilishly fruity reds, and, on the other hand, around an uninhibited and highly delectable bistronomy, including the famous andouillette, which undoubtedly constitutes an incomparable thrill of emotion. And this, above all being drowned by the 46 centiliters of the essential Beaujolais pot!
Being at the forefront
Visiting Beaujolais as a whole, and its vintages in particular, offers not only the attraction of a gently rolling bucolic region, but the opportunity to immerse yourself in a diversity of plots. They are located within a formidable disparity of terroirs and geological subtleties and place you neither more nor less than at the forefront of the dynamism in terms of Pinard on today’s wine planet. This is already a solid reason for the wine lover to travel and appreciate the different styles and variations offered by the great Gamay noir with white juice. The latter has the “face of the place” more than elsewhere.
Your stroll through Beaujolais is all the more relevant now as it begins where the advent of primeurs rests in peace through its “Beaujolais Nouveau”. And that’s good like that. There will always be the eternal Pisse-Dru to sift through for the most nostalgic! But overall, the new generation of winegrowers has moved on.
Some are seduced by an approach to natural wines developed, at the time, by Jules Chauvet and his disciples such as Foillard, Lapierre, Thévenet, Descombes, Guy Breton, etc. But others find, through their understanding of their own terroir, to create synergies and new expressions of the king grape variety of Beaujolais. And there are many of them!
Yes, a small qualitative revolution is underway with an obvious observation. Here, we don’t worry and we don’t show off like our colleagues from Burgundy’s Côte d’Or. The latter are unfortunately subject to variations in volume which a speculative merry-go-round further exacerbates. In Beaujolais, we have our feet on the ground and an ambition that is reflected in the glass. With prices which, although pushed upwards, nonetheless remain a real asset for the most tangible quality, even authenticity.
Windmill
You could go 55 kilometers south of Mâcon, crossing some 38 communes, including Terres Dorées (to the south) and Les 10 crus (to the north), but remember the proverb: “he who kisses too hard, hugs badly”. Why not focus on one of these regions? You can, for example, set sail on the approximately 630 hectares of vineyards spread around the very real historical symbol that is the famous windmill.
Much more than a familiar silhouette, this emblematic figure sits in the heart of vineyards with subsoils composed mainly of deeply weathered or thinner granite. A situation observed as early as 1869 by engineer Antoine Budker. No less than seven localities then stood out from the crowd by displaying vintage potential. Today, no less than 30% of the entire Moulin-à-vent appellation will shortly be presented to the National Institute of Origin and Quality with a view to their accession to the enviable circle of Premiers Crus . With potential official recognition at the dawn of 2030 if everything goes smoothly.
It doesn’t take Papineau a head to make the equation of identified wine-growing terroirs, such as Champ de Cours, La Rochelle, Les Thorins or Rochegrès, to name just a few. They already compete with the best Burgundy Pinot Noirs ranked in 1er believed. With an equal capacity to improve in the cellar, an overall quality, but also a style – old Gamays are said to be “pinotent” – which brings them closer to their Black cousins.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.