(TEL) Why Everyone Has Been Buying Beaujolais This Year –
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:37 pm
Why Everyone Has Been Buying Beaujolais This Year – And the Best Bottles to Stock Up on
2020-09-11 10:32:22.339 GMT
By Victoria Moore, Wine correspondent
(Telegraph) -- Beaujolais has been unexpectedly popular this year. The region
is a bucolic part of France, an area of rolling hills and woodland close to
the city of Lyon.
The red wines, made from the gamay grape, are well-known for their sappy and
refreshing qualities. But it’s a long time since they were fashionable in the
mainstream, although certain Beaujolais growers are very keenly followed by a
small group of hardcore wine enthusiasts.
And yet. In May, exports to the UK were up 120 per cent by volume and 102 per
cent by value year on year. Was the hike nothing more than a logistics bulge
caused by uneven importing across a difficult season?
It doesn’t look like it: Majestic reports “strong” demand for beaujolais
through late spring and early summer, with sales up more than 70 per cent.
Waitrose.com says that searches for beaujolais were up 158 per cent on last
year (with sales up 19 per cent) and there are anecdotal reports from puzzled
independents who say beaujolais has really been shifting.
What’s been going on? No one seems to know. The best guess is that a
combination of lockdown and warm sunshine – which always drives rosé sales –
inspired people to shop for a brisk red that they could stick in the fridge.
“We saw a lot of customers choosing to chill it,” says a spokesman for
Majestic.
Whatever, it was a good move. The human desire for novelty sometimes means we
forget to update our views of traditional wine regions. Unusual grape
varieties, wine in different colours through shades of pink to orange and
blue, novel packaging, wine from surprising places – all of these things grab
our attention. Beaujolais has been around for a long time but that doesn’t
mean it’s the same as it ever was. It had a (long) moment during the 1970s and
1980s, the heyday of “beaujolais nouveau” and the annual race to bring the
first bottles of fierce young wine across the Channel on the third Thursday in
November. Then Beaujolais went into recovery from a publicity campaign that
had so successfully promoted its worst wines that everyone forgot about the
good ones. The comeback has been quiet and, because it has been based in the
vineyards, slow.
But it turns out that now is a superb time to be drinking beaujolais.
“Beaujolais is still reasonably cheap. Also it’s a true terroir wine, with
small properties and lots of new-generation winemakers,” says Anne-Victoire
Monrozier whose family has owned Château des Moriers , a producer of fleurie
and moulin à vent, since 1850. Monrozier is an entrepreneur and a
communicator, a woman with vitality, charisma and a capacity to keep pace with
consumption trends, getting wines in front of new (and younger) people. She
has put her family’s wine into bag-in-box (I’ve just bought some for a camping
trip – see right); she’s launched fleurie in a can, and she also sells wine
under the Miss Vicky brand.
As she says, backing up these innovations is a region that has a serious
offer: distinctive wines, small growers and well-farmed land. Over the last
decade or so, respected names from pinot noir-producing Burgundy – the likes
of Thibault Liger-Belair and Frédéric Lafarge – have bought land in
Beaujolais, in part because they can afford it, but also because they believe
in the potential to make serious wine here.
A new generation of local winemakers have also built on the work of famous
terroir-first producers such as Foillard, Thevenet and Lapierre. When it comes
to terroir, the first stepping stones are the crus. Beaujolais’ crus – the
villages allowed to make wine under their own names – have always captured my
imagination. There are 10 of them. Each produces wine with a properly
distinctive personality, and you can quite quickly get to know and appreciate
them all.
“We don’t just make beaujolais, we make moulin à vent – and we want to make
the best moulin à vent we can,” as Edouard Parinet said last time I tasted
with him. Parinet’s family are from Beaujolais but only became wine producers
in 2009 when they bought Château du Moulin-à-Vent (in the village of the same
name). They approached the project with a fine attention to detail and the
level of respect for site that you find on the Côte d’Or. The wines are
excellent, a real gold standard for what the region as a whole has to offer,
as well as the level of intensity and power that moulin à vent, in particular,
can produce (and they’re available through stannarywine.com ).
If some think of beaujolais as a summer red, I like it in the autumn when a
light, chilled red can replace a white wine; also in the winter when its sap
and verve resonates with the frost outside but is also a reminder that spring
will come. So now is the time to explore the crus. Wines from Morgon, the
second largest, have power and firmness; they feel serious and unfrivolous.
Fleurie, as its name suggests, often has a floral aroma, like dried violet and
rose petals, and sometimes also a graphite-like scent. Chiroubles is the
highest and finest. I think it was Andrew Jefford who once wrote that its
wines were like the song of a lark: high-pitched and clear-cut. I always think
of that.
Brouilly is bright, fragrant and has a fruity ease. If you already know the
crus, now is a good time to try Beaujolais’ best-kept secret: its white wine,
made from chardonnay. Majestic recently bought a parcel and says the wine is
“going down a storm” with its customers. It’s called Château de Pizay
Beaujolais Blanc and the flavours are typically taut and perky for a
chardonnay, with less of the warmth and richness that you often encounter and
more of a ping.
Wines of the week
Domaine Chevalier Métrat Côte de Brouilly Les Grillés 2018
Beaujolais, France (13%, Lea & Sandeman £12.95/14.50 mixed case/single bottle
price)
This ripe and yet tantalisingly tangy brouilly remains one of the best wines
I’ve tasted all summer. It’s from a family domaine, all juicy redcurrants and
iron. Best served slightly chilled, say with herby roast chicken, or cold
roasted pork with fennel.
Château des Moriers Fleurs des Champs Fleurie 2018
Beaujolais, France 12.5%, bibwine.co.uk , bag in box, £36.50 for 2.25l)
The BIB Wine Company has been so successful that many of its wines are now
reserved for subscribers. Luckily it has just got in a new batch that anyone
can buy and this zippy, clean-edged fleurie is one of them. Fragrant and
joyful, I drank it with parsley, fresh tomato, anchovy and olive spaghetti. So
good.
Pardon & Fils Les Mouilles Juliénas 2019
Beaujolais, France (13.5%, Majestic , £10.99/12.99 mix six/single bottle
price)
Juliénas is the second most northerly of the 10 Beaujolais crus, sandwiched
between Saint Amour (to the north) and Chiroubles (to the south). Juliénas can
often be sturdier than some of the other crus. This one is sleek, with a
smooth finesse.
2020-09-11 10:32:22.339 GMT
By Victoria Moore, Wine correspondent
(Telegraph) -- Beaujolais has been unexpectedly popular this year. The region
is a bucolic part of France, an area of rolling hills and woodland close to
the city of Lyon.
The red wines, made from the gamay grape, are well-known for their sappy and
refreshing qualities. But it’s a long time since they were fashionable in the
mainstream, although certain Beaujolais growers are very keenly followed by a
small group of hardcore wine enthusiasts.
And yet. In May, exports to the UK were up 120 per cent by volume and 102 per
cent by value year on year. Was the hike nothing more than a logistics bulge
caused by uneven importing across a difficult season?
It doesn’t look like it: Majestic reports “strong” demand for beaujolais
through late spring and early summer, with sales up more than 70 per cent.
Waitrose.com says that searches for beaujolais were up 158 per cent on last
year (with sales up 19 per cent) and there are anecdotal reports from puzzled
independents who say beaujolais has really been shifting.
What’s been going on? No one seems to know. The best guess is that a
combination of lockdown and warm sunshine – which always drives rosé sales –
inspired people to shop for a brisk red that they could stick in the fridge.
“We saw a lot of customers choosing to chill it,” says a spokesman for
Majestic.
Whatever, it was a good move. The human desire for novelty sometimes means we
forget to update our views of traditional wine regions. Unusual grape
varieties, wine in different colours through shades of pink to orange and
blue, novel packaging, wine from surprising places – all of these things grab
our attention. Beaujolais has been around for a long time but that doesn’t
mean it’s the same as it ever was. It had a (long) moment during the 1970s and
1980s, the heyday of “beaujolais nouveau” and the annual race to bring the
first bottles of fierce young wine across the Channel on the third Thursday in
November. Then Beaujolais went into recovery from a publicity campaign that
had so successfully promoted its worst wines that everyone forgot about the
good ones. The comeback has been quiet and, because it has been based in the
vineyards, slow.
But it turns out that now is a superb time to be drinking beaujolais.
“Beaujolais is still reasonably cheap. Also it’s a true terroir wine, with
small properties and lots of new-generation winemakers,” says Anne-Victoire
Monrozier whose family has owned Château des Moriers , a producer of fleurie
and moulin à vent, since 1850. Monrozier is an entrepreneur and a
communicator, a woman with vitality, charisma and a capacity to keep pace with
consumption trends, getting wines in front of new (and younger) people. She
has put her family’s wine into bag-in-box (I’ve just bought some for a camping
trip – see right); she’s launched fleurie in a can, and she also sells wine
under the Miss Vicky brand.
As she says, backing up these innovations is a region that has a serious
offer: distinctive wines, small growers and well-farmed land. Over the last
decade or so, respected names from pinot noir-producing Burgundy – the likes
of Thibault Liger-Belair and Frédéric Lafarge – have bought land in
Beaujolais, in part because they can afford it, but also because they believe
in the potential to make serious wine here.
A new generation of local winemakers have also built on the work of famous
terroir-first producers such as Foillard, Thevenet and Lapierre. When it comes
to terroir, the first stepping stones are the crus. Beaujolais’ crus – the
villages allowed to make wine under their own names – have always captured my
imagination. There are 10 of them. Each produces wine with a properly
distinctive personality, and you can quite quickly get to know and appreciate
them all.
“We don’t just make beaujolais, we make moulin à vent – and we want to make
the best moulin à vent we can,” as Edouard Parinet said last time I tasted
with him. Parinet’s family are from Beaujolais but only became wine producers
in 2009 when they bought Château du Moulin-à-Vent (in the village of the same
name). They approached the project with a fine attention to detail and the
level of respect for site that you find on the Côte d’Or. The wines are
excellent, a real gold standard for what the region as a whole has to offer,
as well as the level of intensity and power that moulin à vent, in particular,
can produce (and they’re available through stannarywine.com ).
If some think of beaujolais as a summer red, I like it in the autumn when a
light, chilled red can replace a white wine; also in the winter when its sap
and verve resonates with the frost outside but is also a reminder that spring
will come. So now is the time to explore the crus. Wines from Morgon, the
second largest, have power and firmness; they feel serious and unfrivolous.
Fleurie, as its name suggests, often has a floral aroma, like dried violet and
rose petals, and sometimes also a graphite-like scent. Chiroubles is the
highest and finest. I think it was Andrew Jefford who once wrote that its
wines were like the song of a lark: high-pitched and clear-cut. I always think
of that.
Brouilly is bright, fragrant and has a fruity ease. If you already know the
crus, now is a good time to try Beaujolais’ best-kept secret: its white wine,
made from chardonnay. Majestic recently bought a parcel and says the wine is
“going down a storm” with its customers. It’s called Château de Pizay
Beaujolais Blanc and the flavours are typically taut and perky for a
chardonnay, with less of the warmth and richness that you often encounter and
more of a ping.
Wines of the week
Domaine Chevalier Métrat Côte de Brouilly Les Grillés 2018
Beaujolais, France (13%, Lea & Sandeman £12.95/14.50 mixed case/single bottle
price)
This ripe and yet tantalisingly tangy brouilly remains one of the best wines
I’ve tasted all summer. It’s from a family domaine, all juicy redcurrants and
iron. Best served slightly chilled, say with herby roast chicken, or cold
roasted pork with fennel.
Château des Moriers Fleurs des Champs Fleurie 2018
Beaujolais, France 12.5%, bibwine.co.uk , bag in box, £36.50 for 2.25l)
The BIB Wine Company has been so successful that many of its wines are now
reserved for subscribers. Luckily it has just got in a new batch that anyone
can buy and this zippy, clean-edged fleurie is one of them. Fragrant and
joyful, I drank it with parsley, fresh tomato, anchovy and olive spaghetti. So
good.
Pardon & Fils Les Mouilles Juliénas 2019
Beaujolais, France (13.5%, Majestic , £10.99/12.99 mix six/single bottle
price)
Juliénas is the second most northerly of the 10 Beaujolais crus, sandwiched
between Saint Amour (to the north) and Chiroubles (to the south). Juliénas can
often be sturdier than some of the other crus. This one is sleek, with a
smooth finesse.