Here we have a great little Beaujolais from Louis Latour. We haven’t covered any of his wines yet on the blog but he’s a very well known negociant in Burgundy. This is a Beaujolais-Villages which means the grapes were selected from certain villages with higher quality than a regular Beaujolais. The result is a more full bodied and flavorful wine that will have more structure than a standard Beaujolais.

Being a Beaujolais-Villages this will stand up to a medium meal nicely and you can pick one of these bottles up for about $15. We had it with sausage, peppers, and onions.

colonelgrape: 92. This was the best bottle of Beaujolais I’ve ever had. That’s not saying a whole lot but I’ve had some bad ones in the past. It had a nice medium body with a deep garnet color. It tasted of red fruit with good acid and very mild tannins…fuller bodied than a regular Beaujolais. I would definitely recommend this bottle if you like Beaujolais…it’s a great wine to keep around for a night where you want wine but don’t want to break the bank.

MobyGrape: 90*.  I gave this one an astersisk for the record books not because of any potential steroid shenanigans that could taint its record, but quite frankly I didn’t write this review soon enough and forgot the finer points of this wine other than it was really good.  I worked late this night and came home like a ravenous thirsty beast.  Thankfully, the Colonel had sausage, peppers, and onions waiting for me with an open bottle of this puppy.  I guzzled a couple glasses of it, and when I finally came up for air I realized it was really tasty, but I wasn’t quite sure what I actually tasted.  I even had the rest the next day with the intention of paying attention but sure enough I saw the glass and *chug*, it was gone.  Oops, I did it again.

Beaujolais is a red wine made from the gamay grape. It is produced in the Beaujolais region of Burgundy in France and is known for it’s light body, low tannin content, and a very fruit forward flavors. It is meant to be drunk young, especially Beaujolais Nouveau. When talking about beaujolais there are two types:

Beaujolais: Typically meant to be drunk up to 1-2 years after bottling, this is the standard form in the region accounting for 2/3 of production.

Beaujolais Nouveau: Beaujolais that is harvested and only aged for 6-8 weeks before being bottled. It is meant to be drunk immediately and has almost no tannin content while being dominated by fruit flavor. They are released worldwide on the third Thursday of every November. It’s commonly referred to as a “quaffing” or table wine. It is also meant to be served slightly cooler than most reds, around 55 degrees. Some critics say it’s too immature and is hardly a wine but I think you need to be the judge for yourself!

There are also 3 appellations in the region:

Beaujolais: This is the most generic AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) and covers all basic Beaujolais wines. Many wines produced in this AOC are sold as Beaujolais Nouveau.

Beaujolais- Villages: This is the intermediate classification. Wines with this label typically will be of higher quality than Beaujolais AOC. If the grapes used are from a single village you may see the village name on the label as well.

Cru Beaujolais: The highest classification of Beaujolais, there are only 10 villages allowed to produce under this AOC. We will talk about the word “Cru” further when talking about Burgundy wine classifications however in this case it simply refers to a specific area in the Beaujolais region. Villages in this AOC are not allowed to produce Beaujolais Nouveau. When looking at Cru labels you often won’t see the the word “Beaujolais” but instead the name of the village…they do this so they don’t blend in with the millions of bottles of standard or Nouveau wines. Unlike other Beaujolais, Cru wine is meant to be aged 1-10 years depending on the village.

Lastly there is one more interesting fact about Beaujolais: 90% of the wine is produced by negociants. A negociant is wine merchant who buys grapes from different villages, assembles the wines, and sells them under their own name. The most common producer I’ve seen in MA is Louis Jadot as seen in the photo in this post. Moby and I will be reviewing a Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages we drank over the holiday in an upcoming post.

So now that you have all this knowledge about Beaujolais, is it actually good? It depends on who you talk to. Some people despise it for it’s immaturity and many love it. My Aunt and Uncle (who I would consider wine experts) describe it as a “pizza wine” and I tend to agree after experiencing a few bottles. It’s a wine you would drink if you’re having a simple meal but feel like wine…or maybe something that calls for white but you feel like red. It may also be a good gateway wine for inexperienced palates not ready for big tannins and complex structure. The good news is that it is very inexpensive. A bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau, Beaujolais, or Beaujolais-Villages should not cost you more than $15 and at that price there’s no excuse for not grabbing a bottle on your next trip to the store and giving it a try!