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What is Beaujolais? Beyond Nouveau: Whites, Rosé, and Age-Worthy Reds

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Words by Matt Tervooren

What is Beaujolais? Beyond Nouveau: Whites, Rosé, and Age-Worthy Reds


For a long time, Beaujolais was best-known for very light, very fruity red wines: Beaujolais Nouveau. Needless to say, Beaujolais is a whole lot more than that.


First and foremost, Beaujolais is home to some of our favorite crisp reds on earth. The wines are tart, floral, and a bit spicy, consistently offering fantastic value for the price. Served slightly chilled, Beaujolais is reliably crowd-pleasing and exceptionally versatile with food. Beyond its refreshing reds, Beaujolais is also the source of top-class rosé and under-the-radar whites, as well as collectible, age-worthy bottlings from its 10 ‘Crus’ in the region’s north.



Age-Worthy Red Wines


Beaujolais is located between Burgundy to the north and the Rhône to the south. As you might imagine of an area situated between two of the greatest wine regions on earth, Beaujolais can produce savory, age-worthy red wines in its own right. These come from a handful of ‘Crus’, which yield particularly deep, earthy reds.


Bottles to try:

Quentin Harel, Morgon 'Les Charmes' 2021 $30

Domaine Louis Boillot, Moulin-a-Vent 'Brusselion' 2020 $48



Powerful White Wines


While more than 96% of vineyard land in Beaujolais is devoted to gamay, the region also makes some rich, textured white wines. Like its neighbor to the north, the white grape here is chardonnay. The best versions of Beaujolais Blanc come from the region’s south, which is rich in limestone-clay soils.


Bottle to try:

Domaine Dupeuble, Beaujolais Blanc 2021 $25



Rosé


Many of our favorite rosés from around the world are made from light-bodied, high-acid, low-alcohol red grapes known for floral and spicy notes. So it should come as no surprise that rosé made from gamay is right in our wheelhouse.


Bottle to try:

Domaine de la Prébende, Beaujolais Rosé 2021 $24




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