France | Beaujolais

Beaujolais is the most southerly of Burgundy’s districts and is located in the Rhône department which is some 250 miles southeast of Paris. The key aspect to consider about the Beaujolais wine region is that it is principally a red wine region and red wine made from the Gamay grape; only a very small percentage of the wine is white, made from Chardonnay.

The Gamay grape can produce fragrant wines that are full of raspberry and cherry fruit and with very light tannin, however, these characteristics are often further enhanced by the vinification technique, a variation of carbonic maceration that extracts colours and fruit flavours and very little tannin, giving the wine a character that can suggest bananas and bubblegum.

To the north and west of the region, the vineyards are planted on a series of rolling hills, where upon thirty-nine villages have the right to call their wine Beaujolais Villages. In addition ten villages are recognised to produce wines of particular distinction and identifiable character. These "Crus" of Beaujolais are as follows: Saint-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin à Vent, Chiroubles, Fleurie, Morgon, Régnié, Côte de Brouilly and Brouilly.