Revival of the Fittest

Beaujolais has spent the past 40 years on a rollercoaster of popularity, with scandal, waxing and waning quality, demand followed by surplus and a bewildering array of styles. Right now, the ride continues as a growing band of producers fights against the popular notion of Beaujolais as a light, juicy, confected wine. They aim to make dense, structured wines that need cellar time to reach their best. In some ways, Beaujolais had been a victim of its own success. The popularity of Beaujolais nouveau in the late 20th century shaped the public’s perception of it as a frivolous drink. It also shifted the focus of most producers to nouveau and generic, simple, fruity wine. When demand fell (as it was bound to), the region was left with a large surplus destined for distillation. Today, Beaujolais nouveau and the simple generic village wines are still produced but more and more growers are focusing on the serious end of things; the cru communes, single vineyard and single site wines, come of them with remarkable attributes . The focus on making serious gamay-based wines in the Beaujolais region is not new. The people there have recognized the importance of the vineyards surrounding Brouilly, Moulin a Vent, Chenas and the other cru communes for centuries. But the current trend goes to beyond those communes and their standards. Today, they are pushing into formidable reds with tannin, barrel aging and concentrated fruit, and often eschewing the Beaujolais technique of carbonic maceration. They are more akin to the celebrated Cote de Nuits wines. Many of the Beaujolais vineyards have moved towards organic and biodynamic practices, lowering yields and gaining a sense of site. The good news is that a handful of canny importers are now bringing quite a few of the 2009 wines into Australia. The names will be unfamiliar to most, but they are well worth seeking out. The 2009 vintage was terrific in many European regions and a startling one in Beaujolais, which produced powerful, full-bodied wines, just the thing for a region attempting to gain a reputation for serious, age-worthy wines. Burgundy producers and negotiant Domaine Louis Jadot makes a formidable range from the Chateau des Jacques – a property in the cru domain of Moulin a Vent that is bought in 1996 – from which is separately vinifies and bottles five different clos (parcels). The Louis Jadot team approaches these wines as if making serious pinot noir, and the results are a bunch of powerful, brooding reds, thoroughly laced with fresh oak and crying out for five or more years in the cellar.