Nourish - November 2017

grape did very well in this area and
over the ensuing centuries became
synonymous with the region. In fact,
Beaujolais is the now the biggest single
varietal region in France; if a red wine
is labelled beaujolais, it must be gamay.
After a rocky start, the fortunes of
Beaujolais and therefore gamay began
to turn around. Dating back to the
19th century, wine from Beaujolais
would often finish fermentation in
barrels en route to nearby Lyon. By
the time it got there, the locals would
be eagerly awaiting the first wine of
the harvest. Following World War
II, a law was made that these wines
could be released on a specific date,
and beaujolais nouveau was born.
This was a festival celebrating the
first release of wine for the year, and
later became a very famous marketing
strategy. Popularity grew and spread
throughout France, into England,
and eventually to Australia in the
1980s. Today beaujolais nouveau
is shipped around the world, to be
released strictly on the third Thursday
in November.
However, gamay is so much more
than beaujolais nouveau. Beaujolais cru
are the top wines from the region and
tend not to have beaujolais on the front
label - just the name of the specific
district or ‘cru’ (look for ‘beaujolais
du cru’ on the back label). There are
10 crus, all with slightly different
characteristics. The deeper, darker
styles with more tannin come from
Moulin-à-Vent, Morgon, Chénas,
Juliénas and Côte de Brouilly. Lighter
more aromatic styles are made in
Fleurie, Chiroubles, Brouilly, St-
Amour and Chénas. The cru wines
are made using the same principles
as premium wine from Burgundy
– no carbonic maceration and time
spent gently extracting colour and
tannin that will allow the wines to
age. In between the nouveau and
cru wines are beaujolais-villages.
This is where some of the best value
and most versatile wines can be
found. The village vineyards don’t
have the prestige of the crus but are
made to have a bit more depth and
complexity than the light and fruity
nouveau wines.