Rethinking Beaujolais: Unearthing Underrated Excellence | Ep 107

Join sommelier Erin as she takes you on a journey through the history, unique terroir, and the 10 distinct cru wines that are often overlooked but offer exceptional value and pure deliciousness in each sip. Whether you're a seasoned wine enthusiast or a casual sipper, this episode will change the way you think about Beaujolais and inspire you to explore this charming wine style with renewed curiosity and excitement.

10 Crus:

• Morgon
• Fleurie
• Moulin-a-Vent
• Chiroubles
• Regnie
• Brouilly
• Cote-de-Brouilly
• Julienas
• Saint-Amour
• Chenas

🎃 Download the Cocktails & Cauldrons Cocktail Guide

🧙🏻‍♀️ Ep 58 - Expert Tips for Creating Wine Pairings for Halloween Treats
👻 Ep 57 - 5 Haunted Winery Ghost Stories to Know for Halloween

🍷 ✨ Discover your personal wine palate personality. Take the Quiz

🍎 Grab Your Fall 2024 Pairing Inspiration Guide

⭐️ Check out our FREE resources and guides.⭐️

🍎 Learn about Cider - Read the Blog

Have a question or a comment to share? hello@winegirlacademy.com

Follow WGA! 👇

⭐️Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winegirlacademy/

⭐️Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wine-Girl-Academy-102017018628996

⭐️Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@winegirlacademy

⭐️Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/WineGirlAcademy/_saved/

Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/WineGirlShop - more products being added

⭐️Wine and Chocolate Course Udemy

⭐️Bubbles 101 Course - Udemy - Udemy

Transcript

Erin: 0:00

In today's episode, I'm embarking on a journey that might just change the way you think about a wine. I'm diving deep into a region known for its charm and vibrancy and I'm hoping to inspire you to rethink Beaujolais wine style. That's often underestimated and overlooked. It's a bit like your most comfortable pair of shoes. You just know that they're always going to fit well and feel nice. And proposedly, maybe we're just a little bit too comfortable with it. In this episode, I'm going to be sharing the basics of the Beaujolais region, its history and what sets it apart on the worldwide stage in regards to its terroir and how the wines are made. I'm also going to be shining a light on something that often rains in the shadows. And that's the 10 distinct Beaujolais crews. These crew wines are gems, awaiting to be discovered if you have not tried them. They heard, definitely going to unlock a whole treat of wines for you to try. They are exceptional value and pure deliciousness in the glass. So if you're ready, let's get started and dive right in today's episode. As we begin to rethink Beausoleil. Hi everyone. And welcome to the wine shop talk. I'm your host smiley. Erin knows our, and I'm so happy that you here with me today. If we haven't met before, it's lovely to have you here and we have welcome back now for those of you are new. You should know that I've been a professional smile for over 20 years now, And it's my passion and my privilege to make learning about why not only fun and easy, but also practical for you. Meaning I want to make sure that you leave every episode with some real life tips that you're able to use to help you find wines that you are going to enjoy and love. I want you to think of me as your very own practical Somalia. Now in this week's episode, I'm going to take you through what I consider to be one of the most undervalued wine styles. And this is Beaujolais and. Most likely you haven't enjoyed a glass of Beaujolais at a cafe or a restaurant or hanging out at home on a Saturday. And it's easy drinking, lovely lighter style red. Beautiful cherry color in the glass. Lovely aromatics on the nose. And it's the perfect wine for Saturday afternoon. Sipping It's both food and people friendly. And it's the perfect mind. If you just having a mixed mash of Chicago. or nibbles in the afternoon. It's that perfect. Afternoon cafe wine, in my opinion. But a lot of times in my experience, this is a wine that people do just keep it to. Saturday afternoon appraise ski glass before you get to the heavier wines or the real wines later on in the evening when you're having dinner. And I want to challenge that thinking today. And so in today's episode, I'm going to lead you just through an overview. Maybe it's been a while, or you haven't actually known about the region of Beaujolais and it is a beautiful area. So we're going to get our bearings of where it is. We have some unique ways that we make the wines Beaujolais and then I am going to give you a quick overview. You have the 10 different crew wines and their unique flavor profiles that you could expect in the glass. So the next time that you go shopping, you're going to be able to look at those names on the label. When you see the Cru Beaujolais wines, and you're going to have a better idea of how they are going to differ and hopefully will make it easier for you to use them and pair them up with delicious foods. For your friends and family. So the first thing is where is Beaujolais? Beaujolais is the most Southern area of the air. Visually is the most Southern area of the region that we refer to as a burgundy. So you have heard about the peanut wars and the Chardonnays of burgundy and Beaujolais. Delay is located in the most Southern part. One of the big differences for the terroir in regards to Beaujolais is that the soil type changes. Beaujolais is renowned for its granite soils, particularly in the Northern part of the region. these are pink Sandy and decomposed granite soils, and they impart a distinct mineral quality into the wines, add into their complexity and their flavor. So this is the special terroir that's going to come through. And the glass of these beautiful wines from Beaujolais. We have rolling Hills. Well, some people may refer to them as mountains for myself here, out in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where we have the Rocky mountains. These are going to be large rolling Hills in some of this area. I appreciate everything is relative. They're beautiful. Rolling Hills. And they create different micro-climates. Every time we have a hill and a vineyard on a hill, the slope, the aspect, how the drainage works, how the sun exposure is. It is going to create unique differences. And these 10 crews that we're going to be talking about are all on different hillsides and each Hillside's going to give a different unique experience coming through in the glass. The climate in Beaujolais is what we refer to as semi continental. It influences both a Mediterranean, but continental you'll have four seasons, but definitely a warmer winter. And this makes it an ideal growing environment For the grape again. is the grape of Beaujolais. Now gamay thrives on granite soils. And so this area is perfect for it. It produces bright fruit flavors, low tannins and high acidity. And they are wines from the area are known for their freshness, aromatics and approachability. Like I said before, these are. Food and people friendly wines. Now in regards to the history of Beaujolais wine production can be traced back to the Roman period. So as early as the first century Ady. The Romans recognized the reasons potential for fitted culture and began planting vineyards in the middle ages, Beaujolais continued to grow and the Benedictine and to Syrian monks played a significant role in developing vineyards and improving the winemaking techniques. During the Renaissance, it Beaujolais gained popularity in the French court. And it said that king. Louis the 16th was particularly fond of the wines, which contributed to their reputation. And the demand for other people wanting to be like the king, of course. And during the 19th century and the philosopher crisis, where we had the Laos and the ground that destroyed vineyards throughout Europe, once that was resolved on the end of it, the gourmet grape was found to be a grape that thrived in the area. So the region was replanted holistically with Gemi. And so the gimme grape became. The grape of Beaujolais at that time. Now in the 20th century, visually became world famous for Beaujolais nouveau, now, I don't think there's a labor parties are as big as they were. Let's say even a decade ago, but many people still get together. It is tradition to get together with family and friends, get the first wine of the harvest and enjoy a visually nouveau party. So if you are looking to enjoy Beaujolais nouveau this year, you will be a good company because it many people around the world will be toasting to. To the first wine of the vintage. And the last thing to share with you in reverse with history is that in 1936, the region was classified into various crews and Appalachians that we know of today. Now let's talk more about what you can experience in the glass of Beaujolais. The late generally, if you've had a glass, like I said, you know how approachable they are and how beautifully aromatic. Common descriptors you'll hear people use will be. Bright cherry raspberry, sometimes hands, a banana pink bubble gum or double bubble. And this is a good thing. And I'm going to explain why that may come about in the wine. It's a wine making technique that. That builds those flavors in the wine. You'll have floral some mineral notes and as we get into the cruise, we're going to have deeper, more robust flavors. But again, I'm going to talk about the crews separately. Now for quality and aging, generally the rule of thumb is most Bhogal lays are designed for early consumption. Beaujolais nouveau is celebrated around the world, comes out in November and it is the first wine of this year's harvest. And it's a big auction of who's going to get that first case of wine landed and be able to sold different countries, fight about it, but Beaujolais nouveau is the lightest of all of it. It is the first vintage of this year. But generally Beaujolais is not a wine that we age for long periods of time. We want them to be young and fresh and you're looking to drink the bottle of Beaujolais within one to five years is what we'll generally recommend. Now, when we get into the crew wines, some of those crews, we will recommend some longer aging up to 10, 12, potentially 15 years, depending on the vintage the crew wines will give us some opportunity to age the wines, to develop where general visually or bullshit lay Villa. are definitely wise. We want to consume young and fresh. Let's move on to how is Beaujolais made and I'm going to talk first about general Beaujolais. So when you're shopping and you're the wine store, you see Beaujolais. Late or Beaujolais village on the label. This is going to mean that the grapes have been picked from a larger space within the region. The first thing to know is that Beaujolais is made from Gemi. It is a hundred percent gimme grape. It is the grape of Beaujolais. In some cases, we're going to be hand harvesting to ensure the best quality, and hand harvesting is most often used for the crews. So we can harvest both with machine and by hands. And the unique winemaking technique that we use predominantly in the area of Beaujolais is called carbonic maceration. Now, this sounds super scientific and let's face it. The wine geek in me loves this stuff, but the TV version of what carbonic masturbation it is a unique wine-making technique and that the grapes are brought back to the winery. And we're in many occurrences of winemaking, we'd take the grapes back and we press them. We squish all the juice out. And carbonic macerations we don't squish the grapes. We actually are going to put the grapes in whole bunches, in a VAT, and then we're going to seal it up. So it's actually going to be an intercellular fermentation, meaning that as we threw all those grapes into that VAT and we close the lid, some juice obviously got squished out, which means the natural occurrence of yeast eating sugar is going to happen. One of the byproducts of yeast, eating sugar. Is carbon dioxide and that carbon oxide is going to fill the tank. And it's actually going to push through the skins of the grapes and start to ferment the grapes inside their skins. This is why we have very low tannin wines with BoJack. very fresh fruity because the juice is fermenting inside the grape itself. It's not done with skin contact. Now, finally, the grapes will burst and that juice does come out and the vet is opened and the juice is. Taken off, but the whole cluster grapes are fermented in an oxygen free environment. And the result is, is that the grapes ferment inside their own skin and this preserves that fresh and fruity characteristics of a gimme grape. So every time you take a sip of it, you're going to get this beautiful, fresh flavor. This is where you may get some of those banana flavors. And some people will pick up like a double bubble bubble gum. It's almost like a candied fruit flavor. It's really a fun flavor. So that's where it's coming from now. Carbonic maceration. We do use in small parts and other areas. In the world, but Beaujolais is really where it is key. It is a very short fermentation. It happens in a few days to a couple of weeks. It does not need the length of time. That. More traditional wine fermentation will take. And then after the fermentation has happened, the juice is separated from the grape solids and then the Beaujolais wines are then aged for short periods so they can settle in a stainless steel tank or old barrels. So there's no Oak flavoring, the Oakwood overpower it, and then they're bottled and sent out to the world to find a good home. Now that is both. Usually or Beaujolais village. Now we want to talk about the crew wines. The crew wines are generally not going to be using carbonic, maceration, but more traditional style wine making, making them more intense and more traditionally a red wine I say in air quotes with the texture that you used to deeper in color. More tannin, more texture and layers to the fruit flavors in those mines. So there's a difference of why making within the Beaujolais area, depending if they are making wines through the carbonic maceration style or traditional Beaujolais or the crew wines that are going to be using the press method to get the juice press from the skins and do a fermentation where the skins and juice are fermented together. So we have two different styles of wine. Making happening within this region. Now I'm going to break down for you. The 10 crews, you have probably seen these on the shelf and just weren't sure about them. They will be slightly more expensive than regular Beaujolais, which for people who don't understand the difference of value is going to be one of those questions of why would I pay more when Audi now I like this style of wine. So after today's episode, you're going to have a much better idea of. What you can expect in each one of these crews. So let's break them down. They're in no specific order. when you're looking at Usually cruise, you're going to see the name of the crew on the label. I'm going to be starting with more gone. So here you would see more gone written in larger letters on the label, then you'll know that it's a Beaujolais Cru. So more gone is known as the king of Beaujolais in the wines of Bork on produce rich and robust wines with deep fruit flavors, often displaying notes of cherry plum and earthiness. So if you are looking for a. Fuller more serious style of Beaujolais. For example, more gone is a really good choice. Some people will describe it as a lighter, more low. For example, the color of these are also going to be more intense than your traditional let's call it cafe. Beaujolais. The next one is flurry. Flurry is known as fragrant flurry, or some people will say feminine flurry, and it's celebrated for it's elegance and flora Romas. It's often described as having a more delicate structure and a focus on red fruit character. So here you'll have red cherries raspberries. Some people pull it a little red currant, but very, very soft, feminine, pretty, um, is there a really, really nice wine to me? Flurry is a wonderful style. Beaujolais for example, if you're doing a baked Brie with a raspberry compote or some jams or something like that on the side, it's delicious. Now Moolah. You've probably seen this one. It's the windmill. So it is a windmill here and these are the considered to be the most age worthy of the Beaujolais Cru. It's a features, strong Botanic structures, complex flavors of dark fruit, and a robust, full bodied profiles. So when you see, move on a vault, consider it to be the most serious, the biggest brother, if you will, of the. Cruz. Next we move on to Winds are light fragrant graceful. Offering bright red fruit flavors and a silky texture, making them highly approachable. This is really similar to flurry. So if you can't find flurry Shrew up to, that's going to be a really nice option for you. Next we move on to reggae. With a reputation for balance and harmony. The resume wines showcase a mix of red and black fruit flavors. Often with floral and mineral nuances, then we'll move on to brewery the largest of the cruise. And it is known for its versatility producing wines with a pleasant free Ford character, and a touch of minerality. Then we have it's code to. The booty, which is a smaller area, actually nestled within the hill that is brewery and it's wine standout for the added depth offering. Nice richer expression. The gimme great with pronounced minerality. Then we have Julietta is named after Julius Caesar. And these wines are characterized by their bold structure. Often displaying again, those dark fruit hints of spice of earthiness. Some people will say, Christmas cake will come here. So we might get some. Blueberries, some dates, raspberries, blackberries, currents. Get more of that serious notes. Come through. Then one you may have seen before St. Demore, this wine usually shows up on sale around Valentine's day and they are celebrated for their romantic charm of free, vibrant red fruit flavors. A touch of spice, smooth elegant finish goes with really easy fare. A beautiful fragrant, lovely, easy wine, and people love the label of course, around Valentine's day. And then we have Shanice. These are wines that are more robust, slightly rustic character, dark fruit, earth notes, notable mineral edge, reflecting the unique terroir. You may get some wet leaves, dark earth. Some people will say more, almost like a peanut Awarr. So gimme cam through some Pune water. Do you wants this as well? And move on. Avant Shenaz, for example. Brewery some of the visually crews that throw more of the dark fruit flavors can often be mistaken for peanut. So, if you are a peanut Anwar fan, then the Bush lake crews are definitely why. And it's like, you're going to want to explore. And this is great fall homework, in my opinion, to work your way through a bit of a checkerboard of which Beaujolais cruise. Have you tried? No, in regards to food pairings Beaujolais in my opinion is a perfect. Saturday afternoon, snacking lions. You have some coterie. Eatery, or some leftovers, if some chicken, some. Um, cold roast, cold ham, just a mix of different flavors. It isn't perfect and easy sipping. Definitely. It's a wonderful wine to do with a roast chicken because of the low tannins. It's going to be beautiful with With Rosar chicken, some salmon, especially if you're going to do anything with a bit of a Berry compote, you can pull the earthiness out and do some mushroom dishes here, whether it is just a beautiful chicken with a mushroom sauce, for example, or nicest steaks burgers are delicious. You could definitely do a Ratatouille. It does have a higher acid, so you could pull in some tomato based dishes. Kesha rain, of course, creamy based cheeses. So you definitely can pull in like that baked Brie with the compotes or the Berry flavors on top of it, it works well. And it's delicious and fruit targets. If you're looking for something as a dessert style, definitely pull those Berry flavors out and enjoy Beaujolais with some beautiful. Fresh fruit tarts. And it's amazing. The versatility of this wine is underrated. And I think so often we walk by it because we forget how personable the wines of bougie really truly are. If you're just looking for let's call it the cheap and cheerful visually has those wines. But if you are looking for a more intense, layered wine experience than the cruise are going to offer that to you, if you're looking to age some wine, if you're looking to age and why five to 10 years and see the development of the gamma grape. then you have the opportunity with the crew wines as well. It's really an area. I think that is so overlooked because we're all looking north. If you will, we're looking to those. Big iconic. It's from the burgundy area that we forget, sometimes that Beaujolais is magical on its own. And so I hope that in today's episode, I have inspired you to rethink Beaujolais and consider what's waiting for you in the wine store and the different flavors and experiences waiting for you in the glass, just from this one area. So I hope that you will. Take up the challenge, if you will, of trying the different wines. Of Beaujolais look for those crew wines and compare them, do a side by side tasting of your favorite everyday Bush. if you will. And one or two of the crews, I think you're going to be really surprised and impressed of the flavors that are coming through in the glass with those crew wines. Now in the show notes below, I'm going to list all of the 10 crew wines. So you can use that as a checklist. I'm also going to putting a link below To some Halloween episodes that I've done before, because Halloween is quickly approaching. And if you are looking for some tips or hands on, pairing up some incredible Halloween candy, then there are some links below as well as if you're looking for some information on some. Haunted wineries. I have an episode on that as well, and you'll find that in the show notes. So after this episode, if you want to keep listing, There are some Halloween themed episodes that you can catch up on. The other link below that you're going to find is I have a few different free guides and if you haven't had a chance to download the October food and wine parent guide, It's filled with five fantastic recipes with wine pairings and how you do these every month. So if you were in doing them. Every month when we'll be coming out, I'm having lots of fun doing them. I've also put together a special Halloween cocktail guide. So if you are interested in some spooky libations, if you will, then there is the link below as well to the Halloween cocktails and cauldrons. I called it. So be sure to check those out. On that note, I want to thank you for hanging out with me today. I hope that I've inspired you to take a walk down and spend a little bit of time looking at the Beaujolais section in your favorite wine store. Be sure to like share and subscribe. So you never miss an episode. New episodes come out every Tuesday. I want to wish you a wonderful week tears to you by now.