Beaujolais AOC

The French wine-growing region is part of Burgundy in terms of wine law and is located in the far south. Historically, however, Beaujolais has never belonged to it. An exception is the northern part, which belongs to the department of Sâone-et-Loire and therefore also to Burgundy in administrative terms. The majority, however, with the capital Villefranche-sur-Saône, belongs administratively to the Rhône department and is therefore part of the Rhône-Alpes region. The southernmost part of the Beaujolais forms its own appellation, Coteaux du Lyonnais. This is an ancient wine-growing region, as the remains of Roman vineyards have been discovered at Mont Broully (one of the cru communes). In the 7th century AD, further vineyards were planted by monks of the Roman Catholic Benedictine order.

Edict of Duke of Burgundy Philip II

The name is derived from the Burgundian noble family of the Beaujeu, who ruled here from 950 to 1400. The small town of Beaujeu was established at the foot of their castle fortress in the 10th century. It gained independence from Burgundy through the edict of the Duke of Burgundy Philip II the Bold (1342-1404), which prohibited the cultivation of the Gamay grape in Burgundy proper. Until the middle of the 17th century, however, viticulture played only a minor role here. This was also due to the poor transport options for transporting the wine to the major collection centres, so the wine was mainly consumed in the area itself. It was only with the construction of the Briare Canal, which linked the Loire and Seine rivers from 1642, that the market finally opened up to Paris.

Area, soil and climate

The area extends over 50 kilometres in length and 30 kilometres in width. The Sâone river valley lies to the east and the Burgundian Mâconnais region borders to the north, with which Beaujolais overlaps to a small extent. There are two different geological areas. In the north, where the best quality wines are produced, granite predominates, while limestone is found in the south. The temperate climate, which is ideal for viticulture, has continental, Atlantic and Mediterranean influences. The vineyards cover around 22,000 hectares at an altitude of between 200 and 450 metres above sea level in 96 municipalities. The market is dominated by large winegrowers' co-operatives. Around 2,500 winegrowers own only small vineyards.

Production of Beaujolais

The red Beaujolais is mostly produced from the classic Beaujolais grape Gamay, which is characterised by its white pulp (Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc) . This variety is not important anywhere else. It accounts for 99% of the vineyards. This extreme monoculture emerged after the phylloxera catastrophe. The tiny remainder is made up of Aligoté, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Melon de Bourgogne for white wine, but these are also permitted up to a maximum of 15% for red wine and rosé. Pinot Noir was allowed to be blended with red wine up to 15% until 2015. Beaujolais Blanc and Rosé are almost unknown outside the region. The red Beaujolais must be vinified dry and is generally soft or less tannic, fresh and aromatic.

Beaujolais Nouveau/Primeur

For the wine known as Beaujolais Nouveau for export or, especially on the French market, as Beaujolais Primeur, the whole grapes are fermented using the carbonic maceration method, which produces a lot of carbon dioxide. Fermentation takes one to two weeks. This allows the full aromatic potential to develop. The bright ruby red to bluish wine has a relatively high acidity and a fruity flavour.

It can be marketed from the third Thursday in November and can be drunk young within a year. The new vintage is released with a big celebration in Beaujeu on the Wednesday before the third Thursday in November. There is a torchlight procession, a feast and dancing. The tapping takes place at midnight during the "Mise en Perce". Every year, 60 million bottles of wine are produced, 50% of which are exported to 200 countries.

This rapidly produced wine is very successful. But its critics deny the drink, also known as "lollipop wine", the right to be called "wine". The special form of fermentation technique used by many winemakers results in a drop-like aroma of bananas, sweets, chewing gum and, at worst, nail polish. In his book "Burgundy", British wine author and MoW Anthony Hanson mentions a well-known winegrower from Beaujolais who disparagingly refers to this fermentation technique as "carbonic acid masturbation". So even in Burgundy, despite its sales success, there is an aversion to this type of wine.

Hospices de Beaujeu

The longer-lived and tannin-emphasised wines are vinified using the classic mash fermentation method and are usually only bottled after a year. Every year on the second Sunday in December, there is an auction of wines with a charitable purpose. This "Hospices de Beaujeu" was first held in 1797. That was 62 years before the much more famous Hospices de Beaune. The price of a bottle lot must be outbid until the flame of a candle is extinguished. The association owns 65 vineyards. A speciality in Beaujolais is the traditional Pot Lyonnais serving bottle with a thick glass base, which keeps the previously chilled wine cool for longer.

Beaujolais classification

The multi-level quality pyramid is based on the Burgundy classification system for vineyards and wines that is used throughout the region. Instead of four, however, there are only three levels, meaning that there are no Grands Crus:

Beaujolais

This simple appellation is open to all winegrowers, but is largely only used in the southern half of the region on around 10,000 hectares of clayey limestone soil with sandstone. The wines produced here are significantly lighter than in the north and do not match the quality of the latter. An alcohol content of at least 10% by volume is prescribed. The most important producers are large co-operatives such as Cave Beaujolaise du Bois-d'Oingt, Cave Coopérative Beaujolaise de St-Verand and Les Vignerons de la Cave Bully. The AOC Beaujolais Supérieur applies to wines with an alcohol content of 10.5% vol.

Beaujolais Villages

The appellation covers around 5,000 hectares of vineyards in the north. The commune of Villefranche-sur-Saône forms the notional dividing line to the south. The soils consist of granite, porphyry and slate with sand and clay (without limestone). The weathering of the granite rock in the form of quartz sand forms a layer ten centimetres to several metres thick in certain places. It is on this layer that the Gamay grape produces the best results. 38 communes have the right to use the Beaujolais name on their labels, of which the ten listed below have cru status. In the case of a blend from two or more communes, "Beaujolais Villages" must be used. Eight communes have the right to market the wines as Mâcon-Villages and four of them also as Saint-Véran.

Beaujolais Crus

Ten communes in the northern area have cru status, but unlike the other appellations, this only applies to red wines. Their vineyards cover around 7,000 hectares. These wines in particular have made the name Beaujolais famous. Many are not even recognisable as Beaujolais, as often only the commune appears on the label. Field names and vineyard sites can also be added. The communes are Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Côte-de-Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Régnié and Saint-Amour. The wines from the Chénas, Morgon and Moulin-à-Vent crus are considered to be the best. Nine crus (except Régnié) are also authorised to market Gamay wines as Bourgogne. Everywhere else in Beaujolais, this is only reserved for the (few) wines made from Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.

Beaujolais producers

Well-known producers include Boisset, Château du Bluizard, Domaine Jean-Marc Burgaud, Domaine F&J. Calot, Château de La Chaize, Domaine Champagnon, Domaine Emile Cheysson, Michel Chignard, Louis-Claude Desvignes, Domaine Desperrier, Duboeuf, Jean Foillard, Domaine de la Fully, Domaine Gay-Coperet, Château des Jacques, Paul Janin, Bernard Jomain, Domaine Benoit Trichard, Hubert Lapierre, Jean Lathuilière, Domaine des Marrans, Domaine Laurent Martray, Alain Michaud, Domaine Gilbert Picolet, Domaine Dominique Piron, Jean-Charles Pivot, Michel Tête, Château Thivin, Domaine des Terres Dorées, Domaine Benoit Trichard and Domaine du Vissoux.

Vineyards: by Geoff Wong - Flickr as Wine country, CC BY 2.0, Link
Château de Bagnols: by Pascal Muradian - Pascal Muradian, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Map on the left: by Cyril5555 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Map on the right: by DalGobboM¿!i? -Own work, GFDL ,