Nouveau riches

A guide for the Beaujolais fan

Uncorked by Thor Iverson

Gamay gazetteer Because of its freshness and youth, Beaujolais Nouveau is not a wine built for aging. It should be consumed within a few months of release, though in good vintages it can last up to a year. Duboeuf is the producer you're most likely to see, but the Burgundy négociant Bouchard Père et Fils also makes a good one. Wine labeled simply Beaujolais is a quality crapshoot, but when well made it's the light and refreshing drink Beaujolais is meant to be. Beaujolais-Villages is made from the region's better soils and is the insider's choice for Nouveau (at a few dollars more). Again, look to the négociants like Duboeuf and Jadot. Drink Nouveau within a year of release, regular Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages within two years. The most serious Beaujolais comes from the 10 classified crus (growths), which are a testimonial to the power of terroir in their diverse tastes (if you ever have the chance do a side-by-side tasting of a single producer's range of cru Beaujolais, do so). Those 10 crus are: Saint-Amour (soft and gentle, to be consumed within a few years), Juliénas (sturdy wines that can age up to five years), Chénas (chunky, rich, and rustic wines that require a few years to relax), Moulin-à-Vent (concentrated, almost Burgundian monsters that can easily last a decade or more), Fleurie (concentrated, but smooth and seductive), Chiroubles (fragrant and elusive, the most "Beaujolais" of the crus), Morgon (strong, thick, tasting of kirsch and capable of long aging), Régnié (fruity and cassis-flavored, but strong), Brouilly (up-front and fruity, meant for early drinking), and Côte de Brouilly (rich, strong, and earthy). These wines will run from the high single digits up to nearly $20 for single-vineyard wines from Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, and Morgon.

At midnight last night, the madness began. Thousands of partygoers all over the world popped open bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau, the fruity wine released every year on the third Thursday in November. Even France, so immune to hype that not one single company thought to print T-shirts when the French national team won the World Cup, is utterly captive to Nouveau-mania. No one in the Beaujolais region of France sleeps the night the Nouveau trucks rumble through the countryside, and planes pile up at French airports to jet cases of wine all over the world in time for stroke-of-midnight tastings.

Beaujolais is the ultimate wine-marketing success story. Wine that would otherwise improve with age is rushed from harvest to bottle just so people can say they're drinking the first wine of the year's crop (affording producers the opportunity to ring up insane profits from the spectacle). Both of these factors have led to another yearly Nouveau ritual: a coterie of wine snobs turning up their noses at both the wine and the people enjoying it. Well, the snobs can get stuffed. Nouveau is the most fun, refreshing, even chuggable wine in the world. It's the perfect beginner wine, a simple and easy pleasure. Best of all, it's really cheap.

However, Nouveau is only the tip of the Beaujolais iceberg. Although an awful lot of gamay (the sole grape used to produce red Beaujolais) meets an early demise in a bottle of Nouveau, there's a good deal more "serious" Beaujolais out there (see "Gamay Gazetteer," above right). But no matter how serious Beaujolais gets, there's an essential freshness and drinkability that sets it apart from almost any other wine. Or, as importer Kermit Lynch puts it, "Beaujolais should not be a civilized society lady; it is the one-night stand of wines."

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Spooky: RIP

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Almost all gamay-based wines have a red-berry taste shot through with really high acidity, a tangy tartness that gets the palate salivating. Because of this, you'll find it by the glass, carafe, and bottle in almost every French bistro, where it's the classic accompaniment to cuisine both heavy and light.

In addition to the reds of Beaujolais, there's also a white (made from chardonnay and usually pretty awful) and a rosé (rare, but extremely tasty). Beaujolais, except for the heaviest of the crus, should be served slightly chilled, and is a great match for any food except the most delicate white fish.

The dominant producer is Georges Duboeuf, a large négociant whose flower-covered labels you've seen in every wine shop. But though Duboeuf has a very high standard of quality, his winemaking techniques create a ubiquitous banana flavor that is not typical of most Beaujolais. Savvy buyers should look for estate-bottled wines from smaller producers (rather than trying to track down obscure producers, put your trust in wines imported by Kermit Lynch, Louis/Dressner, Arborway, and Weygandt-Metzler), though large négociant Louis Jadot (better known for Burgundies) makes slightly better -- and pricier -- wines than Duboeuf.

Incidentally, I highly recommend Beaujolais to those interested in visiting a French wine region. The rolling hills and rustic villages are supremely peaceful, the food is excellent, and the people are open and friendly -- a combination you won't find everywhere in France.

A few recommendations: the 1996 Pierre et Paul Durdilly Beaujolais "Les Grandes Coasses" ($7.99) is full of underripe cherries, peach, and apple, with the sharp tang of rhubarb and a light dusting of mint, while the 1997 Pierre Chernette Beaujolais ($10.99) is more floral, with raspberry, apple skin, and roses supported by an acidic citrus bite. I also tasted three excellent 1996 Louis Jadot offerings. The Fleurie ($16.99) is a highly structured yet floral wine with flavors of cherry, strawberry, raspberry, and mushroom and a strong mineral character that I loved. Jadot's Morgon ($13.99) is an earthy, herbal berry fest with some truffles on the nose, but needs a few years of aging to shed its tannin. And the Moulin-à-Vent Château des Jacques ($17.99) is a dark cassis-and-black-cherry brooder that will be truly great by 2005 or so. If you're drinking it now, give it a few hours of air. Finally, the 1996 Nicole Chanrion Côte de Brouilly "Domaine de la Voûte des Crozes" ($16.99) is a huge, intense wine full of blueberries, oranges, and roses with an intriguing white-pepper tang.

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Thanks go out to all the people who made our 2nd Uncorked tasting such a success. First and foremost, we thank everyone who attended; it was great meeting all of you and hearing your opinions on wine. Second, many thanks to the retailers who supplied wine for our event: Howie and Phil from Bauer Wine & Spirits, John from Vines, Tom from Marty's, Angie from Best Cellars, and Mike from Brookline Liquor Mart. And finally, extra-special thanks to Sarah and all the staff at Cosmopolitan for hosting such a great event, and for the excellent food.

Thor Iverson can be reached at wine[a]phx.com.

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