Beaujolais
Beaujolais is not
a broad region but it is a sub region of Burgundy. Among other sub regions
including: Cote De Beaune, Cote De Nuits, and Cote Chalonnaise.
This region was
first cultivated by the Romans who planted along the trading route up to Saone
valley. The prominent vineyard was Brulliacus established on the hills of Mount
Brouilly. From the 7th century
through the middle ages, most of the viticulture/winemaking was done by
Benedictine monks. In the tenth century, the region got its name from the town
of Beaujeu, Rhone and was under control by the Lords of Beaujeu until the 15th
century. At this point, it ceded to the Duchy of Burgundy. The Beaujolais wines
then became renown after the expansion of the French railroad system opened up
the Paris market. Beaujolais Nouveau wine has helped this region and wine hit
an international peak. Beaujolais Nouveau is lighter and fruiter in style than
the basic Beaujolais and is picked, fermented, bottled, and available at local
retailers in a matter of weeks. It also offers the wine consuming public a
sample of the quality of the vintage and style that the winemaker will produce
in his regular Beaujolais for release the following spring.
The two major
grape varieties in the broad region of Burgundy are Pinot Noir and Gamay. Under
Appellation d’ Origine Controlee laws, all red Burgundies are made from the
Pinot Noir grape, except Beaujolais, which is produced from the Gamay grape.
There are white wines made from this region, but they only made up one percent
of production. This miniscule minority is made with Chardonnay grapes and Aligote.
The French
Appellation d’Origine Controlee (AOC) imposes regulations on the wine made on
this region. As stated earlier, under their laws, all red Burgundies are made
from the Pinot Noir grape in the Burgundy region except for this region of
Beaujolais. There are twelve main appellations of Beaujolais wines covering the
production of more than ninety six villages. They make restrictions on minimum alcohol
levels (10%) and maximum yields of a vineyard.
The wine in this sub
region of Beaujolais is made from one hundred percent Gamay grapes. However, in
other regions in the broad region of Burgundy, the main grape is Pinot Noir.
There are three
different quality levels of Beaujolais: Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages, and
Cru. The quality level of Beaujolais is the the basic level which accounts for
the majority of all Beaujolais produced. This is very inexpensive. The next
quality level is Beaujolais-Villages which comes from certain villages in
Beaujolais. There are thirty five villages that consistently produce better
wines. Most Beaujolais Villages are a blend of various wines that come from
these villages and usually there is no one village name that is included on the
label. These wines are usually moderate in price. The highest quality level is
Cru which is actually named for the village that produces the highest quality
of Beaujolais. The price for these wines is very expensive. There are ten crus:
Brouilly, Chenas, Chiroubles, Cote De Brouilly, Fleurie, Julienas, Morgon,
Moulin A Vent, Regnie, and Saint-Amour.
The wine’s style
is normally light and fruity from this region. This wine is intended to be
consumed while it is young and it can be chilled. These wines usually have high
acidity content. There are over 44000 acres of vines planted in a 34 mile stretch
of land that is between 7 to 9 miles wide. The wines in this region are
produced by the wine-making technique known as semi-carbonic maceration.
Clusters of grapes are put in cement or stainless steel tanks and the bottom
third of the grapes get crushed under the weight of gravity. This results in
the must to begin normal yeast fermentation with ambient yeasts found naturally
on the skins of the grapes. Carbon dioxide is released and begins to saturate
the grapes that are still in the barrel. The carbon dioxide gets into the skins
of the grapes and begins to stimulate fermentation at an intra-cellular level
because of an absence of oxygen in the wine-making environment. The wine becomes
real fruity as a result with a minute number of tannins.
This region is
generally warmer than the whole of Burgundy with vintages more consistently ripening
the grapes fully. The soil of Beaujolais divides this region in to a northern
and southern area. The northern half of Beaujolais, where Cru is generally made,
includes hills of schist and granite based soils with limestone. In the
southern half of this area, the terrain is flatter with rich sandstone and clay
based soils. The angle of the hillside vineyards in the northern area exposes
the grapes to more sun which leads to earlier harvest than vineyards in the
south.
Beaujolais is the
best-selling Burgundy in the United States by a land slide and there is an
abundance of this wine. It is very easy to drink and it very affordable to the
general public. Most bottles cost around ten to twenty dollars, although your
higher quality wines would obviously be way more expensive. In an average year,
Beaujolais produces twelve million cases of wine out of the total nineteen
million cases coming out of Burgundy. A crazy fact about this region is that
all the grapes in Beaujolais are picked by hand.
