Beaujolais

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Beaujolais

Beaujolais is a wine region where French label laws, clever marketing, and Californiated confusion collided to sour people on wines that can hold great value.

Background: Beaujolais is made in the Beaujolais region of Burgundy using the gamay grape and a fermentation method called “carbonic maceration” where sugar turns into alcohol inside the intact grape berry. The technique produces wine with profuse fruit flavors and vivacious aromas. Beaujolais often is described as white wine that happens to be red. It often is served chilled slightly more than other red wines.

Beaujolais valley

First problem: France. The best Beaujolais comes from 10 villages in the northern part of Beaujolais, closest to the Burgundy region. But French label laws do not allow those highest quality Beaujolais to use the Beaujolais name as the lead name on label. In fact, the more prominent the Beaujolais name is on the label, the lesser the quality. Hey, it is a French thing.

Second problem: A marketing masterstroke. Many know Beaujolais from efforts of über-marketer Georges Duboeuf, whose Beaujolais Nouveau goes from vineyard to glass in 6-8 weeks and features a flashy, flowery new label each year. It becomes available right at Thanksgiving in the U.S., a fact Duboeuf fully exploited.

Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau 2021

Duboeuf’s marketing turned his second and third-tier grapes into fast money with marketing tricks such as delivering Beaujolais Nouveau to New York at supersonic speed via the Concorde. The flash worked for a while as wine drinkers scrambled to be part of the next big thing. Eventually, we caught on. This was very young, cheap wine tarted up as something exclusive and special.