Forty years ago, Beaujolais Nouveau was all the rage. Light, fruity and effortless to imbibe, it was brought to market barely two months after the grape harvest. By law, sales of the red wine were restricted until one minute past midnight on the third Thursday of November; signs on restaurant doors would announce “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive!” Indeed, during its 20th-century heyday, Nouveau accounted for roughly half the annual production of the Beaujolais region.

Of course, no cultural phenomenon is immune to the vagaries of fashion. The public moved on, and suddenly this cheap-and-cheerful red wine style looked decidedly passé. As a result, Beaujolais’ image has suffered since the 1980s.

Yet Beaujolais wines at their best are gloriously fruity and aromatic. Their freshness, relatively low ABV and bright acidity offer wine lovers a very attractive package. It is also a far more diverse and complex wine region than you may have heard. Without a shadow of a doubt, Beaujolais deserves a closer look.

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Geography and grape varieties

Beaujolais’ vineyards are located southwest of the city of Macon, in a very pretty and undulating part of France. The region is 34 miles wide, running from the granite hills immediately south of Macon (the southern end of Burgundy), to the flat land northwest of Lyon. It is one of France’s largest producers, releasing almost as much volume as the rest of the Burgundy wine region. There are approximately 15,000 hectares under vine, largely planted to one grape variety: Gamay.

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Every single bottle of Beaujolais, red or rosé, is made from the Gamay grape. In the far north of the zone, a small firmament of growers produces Beaujolais Blanc from Chardonnay grapes. However, this accounts for a tiny percentage of the region’s total volume. The mainstay of production is 100% Gamay red wines. They are fresh, fruit-driven and supremely elegant.

Gamay was historically derided for being second-rate. But in the right hands (and grown on the right soils) Gamay is capable of producing both structured and silky red wines. It responds well to Beaujolais’ continental climate and typically warm summers, achieving full phenolic ripeness without sacrificing acidity. A good example will offer aromas of red berries and cherry in its youth, with notes of violets and rose petals. With age, tertiary flavours of sour cherry, black pepper and a whiff of garrigue will emerge. Gamay is usually approachable from the get-go, due to the variety’s (relatively) moderate levels of tannin. However, much will depend on where Gamay is grown, and how it is made. It is not a homogenous wine, despite common belief.

Carbonic maceration

A great deal of Beaujolais is made by a technique called carbonic maceration. In essence, this method involves undertaking two fermentations simultaneously, but independently, producing a wine with low levels of tannin. At the start of the process, a fermentation vat is filled with whole bunches of grapes. The weight from the berries at the top will split the skins of bunches at the bottom, exuding juice. Yeast is then added, fermenting the grape must at the bottom of the tank. This releases carbon dioxide (a by-product of fermentation) which then fills the vat.

The release of carbon dioxide is crucial to the entire process. The gas kickstarts a chemical reaction in the intact berries at the top, whereby enzymes start to devour the sugar within the grape, turning it into alcohol. This intracellular fermentation is responsible for the signature pear drop and banana flavours of young Beaujolais. Meanwhile, as the alcoholic fermentation advances down below, the skins of the grapes will become softer, ensuring that more and more bunches collapse into the mix. By now, over a third of the bottom section will be filled with fermenting must. The top third is composed of (largely) intact berries that have undergone the intracellular process.

If the winery is marketing a Beaujolais Nouveau wine, then the grapes will be pressed inside of a week. This sugar-rich liquid is then combined with the juice from the bottom of the vat—a rapid and warm fermentation concludes the affair. The wine is quickly fined, filtered and bottled. However, producers of Beaujolais Villages tend to adopt a more leisurely approach. Some growers eschew carbonic maceration altogether, preferring to emulate the Burgundian method of longer traditional fermentation, followed by maturation in French barrique. The top cru wines of Beaujolais can benefit greatly from the structure and flavour of new oak.

Nevertheless, Moulin-à-Vent from a superlative vintage like 2014 can easily handle a year, or two, in barrel. Such wines are every bit the equal of Pinot Noir grown in the Cote d’Or. Yet they lack the global cachet of Musigny and Chambertin, which has kept Beaujolais prices artificially low. Superlative quality at bargain prices? That is a rare find indeed.

Sub-regions and styles

Beaujolais is a hierarchical region, stratified by its soils, winemaking and geography. The two key sub-regions are simply known as ‘Bas’ Beaujolais and ‘Haut’ Beaujolais. The former extends south from Villefranche-sur-Saône city to the commune of Tarare in the west. The terroir is distinct from the vineyards further north; clay over granite and limestone dominates, creating wines that are particularly light and fruity. This is because the clay soils are too cold to produce very ripe Gamay, so growers tend to adjust their winemaking accordingly and gently extract colour and tannin from the grape skins. A great deal of young Beaujolais Nouveau is made here.

The northern part of the region, Haut Beaujolais, is characterised by granite terroir (with sand in the topsoil) that ripens the Gamay grape to perfection. The zone runs from just south of Macon to the boundaries of Villefranche. Local wines tend to have more tannin and extract than those produced in Bas Beaujolais. The most prized vineyards here are planted on well-drained soils with a south-facing aspect, which is recognised by the appellation framework. A superior tier of Gamay wine is labelled ‘Beaujolais Villages’, referring to wines made in 38 communes spread across the Haut Beaujolais zone. Their majestic vineyards climb the wooded hills to altitudes of around 450 metres. The village wines are a step up in concentration and ripeness from ‘ordinary’ Beaujolais, yet they are widely available and rarely expensive. Indeed, Beaujolais Villages is probably the best value red wine made in France today.

At the top of the hierarchy stands the 10 Beaujolais ‘Crus.’ Cru refers to a village surrounded by vineyards; 10 communes have been awarded their own appellation, in recognition of the consistently high-quality wines being made. Every one of the 10 cru villages is found in Haut Beaujolais, and yet the term Beaujolais is rarely mentioned on the label. This is the centre of world-class Gamay wine, albeit the vast majority of brands are seldom overpriced.

Beaujolais Cru

In the vineyards of Haut Beaujolais, granite soils and the Gamay grape unite to make spectacular red wines. No one quite understands why each village offers a distinct character profile, though there have been extensive studies of the terroir. Geological excavations have proven that the subsoils are composed of the same volcanic schist found in the Cote Rotie appellation in the Rhone Valley. Yet the terroir is very heterogeneous; centuries of erosion have left a range of topsoils, aspects and elevations, so that wines can vary enormously across the 10 villages.

Situated very close to the city of Macon is St-Amour Bellevue, a pretty village making aromatic and complex Gamay wines. There is some limestone in the soil, in addition to metamorphic rock, imbuing the wines with a seductive fragrance of sour cherry and damson. Its close neighbour Juliénas is another dependable source of excellent wines—they tend to have more body than St-Amour. Moulin-à-Vent is known as ‘the King of Beaujolais.’ It produces the most structured, refined and complex Gamay wines in the entire world. The prized vineyards of Les Clos, Champ de Cour and Les Thorins (individual plots are given names in Beaujolais) are renowned across the region. These wines are the antithesis of Beaujolais Nouveau, requiring several years of bottle age to reveal their magic. The concentrated and tannic wines of Chénas are not dissimilar.

The wines of Fleurie are admired for their signature delicacy, perfume and silky tannins. The predominance of sandy soils in the vineyards of Chapelle des Bois, La Madone and Les Quatre Vents helps to explain why Fleurie has such a soft structure; sand typically produces lighter wines than clay or limestone terroir. Chiroubles, another standout cru, is also renowned for its soft and elegant Gamay red wines.

Morgon is celebrated, amongst other things, for being the birthplace of natural wine. Its most famous terroir is the ‘Cote du Py’, a volcanic hillside planted with ancient Gamay vines. This combination of old vines and metamorphic rock produces some of Beaujolais’ most powerful and concentrated Gamay. Like Moulin-à-Vent, the wines benefit enormously from bottle age. If you travel further south, you’ll arrive at Brouilly and its neighbour Côte de Brouilly. The best wines tend to be made from grapes cultivated on the volcanic slopes of Mont Brouilly, another of Beaujolais’ celebrated terroirs. Finally, the wines of Régnié are usually robust and sturdy. They offer unbeatable value.

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