Beaujolais
Beaujolais
A region that dares to be different, Beaujolais is part of Burgundy but is in many ways its own region. It makes renowned wine from Gamay, a light red grape that struggles to find success anywhere else in the world. The graphite based soils and use of a 'turbo-fermentation' process called carbonic maceration strips the wines of tannin and emphasises the wines' natural juicy, easy-going freshness. The vines of Beaujolais are individually staked, not trellised, and each vine stands to attention of its own accord. Starting directly south of the town of Macon, the region stretches for 55 kilometres, towards the city of Lyon. The wine increases in quality from south to north, with the ten most prized vineyards given the right to label themselves Beaujolais Cru, while others can label their wines Beaujolais-Villages, Superieur, or Beaujolais. Thanks to the annual Beaujolais Nouveau day, where the new harvest is enjoyed the world over, Beaujolais is a highly successful global exporter. The 2015 Beaujolais vintage has been widely heralded as one the best vintages for the last 30 years. The growing season was almost perfect, where a very hot and dry June was followed by a mix of cool nights and much needed showers in August. The wines, untypically for Beaujolais, are more tender and sweeter in style than usual with a beautiful, fresh acidity which gives them great balance. We highly recommend these wines, which will provide pure expressive drinking, perfect for warm spring or hot summer days, where they can be serve chilled which brings out the best of the fruit flavours.
