Expert opinions on Beaujolais wines
Most Beaujolais vinegrowers and winemakers have been making a big effort in the techniques they use to tend the vines drawing the quintessence out of each of their terroirs to bring you top quality, really enjoyable wines for at least ten years.
The biggest French and international experts are right to salute the massive undertaking that this has been.
Gerbelle et Maurange Guide to the best French wines 2007 :
« From the Beaujolais vineyard come the best value for money, pleasure giving wines in France, whether it be Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages or the Crus. The result will astound you. »
Titles for articles in La Revue du Vin de France :
Article in March 2006: « Beaujolais: grandiose Crus at gorgeous prices. »
Article in October 2006: « Beaujolais: Rediscover the most sensual of all the vineyards. »
Robert Parker, extracts from Robert Parker’s French wine guide’ :
« The Beaujolais vineyard rolls out over the gentle slopes of the first foothills of the Massif Central. The hills go from 700 to over 1 000 m in height, making up an ideal backdrop for one of the two most beautiful winemaking regions in France (the other being Alsace). »
« Beaujolais Nouveau is often delicious, flavoursome, brimming with exuberance and freshness and vibrant with fruit. Some snobs would have you believe that it lacks in distinction, but that’s just stupid. »
Fans of fruity wines on the other side of the Atlantic :
« Have you eaten an ‘ordinary’ croissant recently? You know, one of those croissants that just tastes of croissant, that doesn’t need tuns of butter or sugar or anything else to make it tasty. ».
If you have, if you can bring that ‘just right’ flavour and texture to mind, you will understand that there is a striking parallel to be drawn with the world of wine, above and beyond the natural pride we French have in our products when they are good.
Just like good ordinary croissants, good ordinary wines are far more worthy than any of those dubious labels that claim noble lineage where the wines have been pumped up using oenological frills of all kinds.
These wines that invade the market and are legion in our tastings aim to reassure the buyer with their deceptive opulence and superficial luxury.
Yet they embody everything this guide book is about combating: affected wines that have been dolled up for a couple of extra euros.
(...) For us, that which is ordinary is far from being banal.
If, like us, you’ve had more than enough of all those fatter, colour heavy wines that glitter and sparkle like a fair ground and that you have to pay through the nose for, here you have a valuable little guide book.”
This vote for ‘terroir’ wines that are both natural and authentic is a vindication of the way the winemakers featured on this site work. They work their vines in respect of the plants that bear their livelihood and the nature that feeds them. Carrying on from this they vinify their wines traditionally, plot by plot.
To sum things up they make true winemaker wines!