Beau Selecta: Tasting & Matching Beaujolais

Is 2009 Beaujolais worth the hype? Andrew Catchpole joins a group of sommeliers to find out what’s nouveau

With a fantastic 2009 vintage in the bag, quality riding high, great value to be found and wine drinkers clamouring for greater elegance and freshness in their glass, Beaujolais increasingly ticks all the boxes when it comes to eminently drinkable and food-flexible wines. With this in mind, Imbibe decided to put Beaujolais to the test, calling in Gearoid Devaney MS to talk a crack squad of sommeliers through the 2009s at London’s Home House.

Stylistically, the wines ranged from the bright, bouncy charm of a great value basic AOC Beaujolais, by way of the more complex yet still easy-going village wines, to the often intense, finely structured and age-worthy heights of the crus. And yet even the most serious wines on the day almost invariably delivered a telltale dash of pure Gamay suppleness at their core, combining ease of appeal with often surprising depth and complexity.

‘What is impressive is the range of styles, beginning with the first and second wines. The first was a clear expression of terroir, a wine for a sommelier to sell, while the second was an expression of the grape – easily drinkable and what many people would expect from Beaujolais. And the cru wines showed elegance and complexity, again showing what a range of styles and weights Beaujolais can show,’ said Olivier Marie of Coq d’Argent.

‘The bigger cru wines showed darker fruit and more tannin and these would be more of a hand sell, as customers don’t really know these wines, but I wouldn’t have any trouble selling them at Cliveden,’ added Rhys Griffiths of Cliveden House.

‘Beaujolais needs to promote this range of styles – from easy-drinking wines to more complex and food-compatible wines that can do what wines from Burgundy do but at better value,’ advised Agustin Trapero of Andaz.

Added into this mix of styles was the indisputable fact that quality-wise, following Beaujolais’ unfortunate dip in fashion, there has been a remarkable turnaround, with a new generation of winemakers chasing quality over quantity all the way. So much so that the consensus was clearly that the region is on its uppers, with some cracking wines to be found at very fair prices that would easily pass muster on the modern restaurant list.

On the menu
Sommeliers agreed that the vivid, juicy flavours and fresh acidity of Gamay make for a very flexible food friend. Simpler wines, full of bounce and joy, are eminently gluggable on their own, or to down with a plate of rustic charcuterie. Move up a notch and this widens out to encompass a host of dishes, from cold meats, sausages, pâtés, mushrooms, to poultry and pork. At the cru level, the added complexity of the wines limbers up well with dishes including duck and game birds, even lamb.

‘We do find a lot of people go to Beaujolais on the list when food matching lighter starters, or perhaps if they want a red wine with fish. Not least because a lot of young Burgundies have too much tannin and Beaujolais can work really well. We offer four cru wines at Oxo Tower, including Fleurie, Morgon and a Moulin-à-Vent by the glass, so we have a range of styles and this encourages people to ask for a recommendation,’ said Justine Trickett, Oxo Tower Restaurant Several sommeliers stressed that Beaujolais, with its fresh acidity, bright juicy fruit and low, soft tannins, is a useful and flexible partner to myriad fish dishes (including oily fish such as salmon), where the soft, generous Gamay grape allows customers to drink red without a jarring clash of tannin. Joris Beijn underscored this point, saying that Beaujolais is a top seller in the Catch seafood restaurant at Andaz.

‘Beaujolais can be a very flexible

tool for the sommelier’ Angus Macnab

Among the more adventurous suggestions were village wines with delicate, yet difficult to pair, white asparagus, plus the taughter, minerally wines with oysters. Seafood, especially sweet shellfish such as mussels – not to mention fish in a wide variety of guises – cropped up a lot as potential partners.

‘There are all the classic food pairings you think of with Beaujolais, such as charcuterie and cold meat dishes, but the wines can also work extremely well where other reds won’t, such as with subtle Asian influences, including fish and shellfish dishes, plus foods that have rich tomato sauces which are high in acidity. It can be a very flexible tool for the sommelier,’ said Angus Macnab, ex-The Lanesborough.

The panel agreed that a decent Beaujolais can often go a long way to solving the trickiest of sommelier conundrums: what to serve to a table that has ordered numerous contrasting courses but wants to share one wine. ‘Beaujolais also works well on the list when there’s a debate between white and red; as a lighter red it can pair with lots of different dishes,’ advised Devaney.

In conclusion, the range of Beaujolais styles, from bright and easygoing to complex, terroir-driven wines, was impressive. And there was good value to be found from the cheapest up to the most expensive wine. ‘It was great to see so many styles and I could happily list half of these wines because there would be enough points of difference to pair them with a broad range of foods,’ concluded Sara Bachiorri, The Glasshouse.

The Wines
Château Cambon Beaujolais 2009
Vibrant red fruit underscored by fresh, minerally acidity courtesy of biodynamic vines.
£8.60, Les Caves de Pyrène, 01483 538820

Le Tracot Beaujolais-Villages 2009
This pure and supple expression of Gamay is a crowd pleaser at a fantastic price.
£5.94, Berry Bros & Rudd, 0800 280 2440

Domaine de la Grosse Pierre Chiroubles 2009
Cherry and berry fruit characteristics, youthful with fine tannins and a fresh core of acidity.
£8.68, Haynes, Hanson & Clark, 020 7584 7927

Domaine Cret des Garanches Brouilly 2009
Morello cherry and strawberry fruit. With its concentrated palate, this is a food wine.
£8.45, Les Caves de Pyrène, 01483 538820

Georges Viornery Côte de Brouilly 2008
Attractive cherry and berry fruit though, with its tight structure, this needs a bit of time.
£8.09, Haynes, Hanson & Clark, 020 7584 7927

Pascal Aufranc Juliénas Vielles Vigne ‘Les Crots’ 2009
Perfumed, rounded and juicy palate which is balanced by a fine minerally structure, expressing terroir.
£7.55, Daniel Lambert Wines, 01656 661010

Château de Raousset Morgon 2009
A fuller, more concentrated style, with taut acidity balancing darker fruit. This
is a great food wine.
£8.89, Justerini & Brooks, 020 7493 6174

Thibault Liger-Belair Moulin-à-Vent ‘Les Rochaux’ 2009
Complex, intense and well structured, this is a serious wine with rich currant and bramble fruit leading through to a savoury finish.
£13.60, Berry Bros & Rudd, 0800 280 2440

Panel Comments

Dominic Jacobs, Fifth Floor
‘I think people see Beaujolais as a slightly retro thing. The style of wine we sell depends on how we put it on the list. We have a “Fast List”, which means the wine needs to be in line with what the customer thinks they are choosing – bright and juicy and expressive. But Beaujolais can also work at a higher level, as more of a hand sell.

Angus MacNab, ex The Lanesborough
‘You need to list higher end wines, as well as the reasonably-priced, appealing wines of good quality, but the top wines are much more difficult to sell. Education is the answer, because customers don’t tend to understand the difference between broader Beaujolais and the crus. But if people are educated, then they will happily pay £40 and above.’

Alvaro Garcia, Home House
‘People are definitely changing their perception of Beaujolais. Yes, many customers still expect Beaujolais to be an easy-drinking wine on the list at £25 – and at this price it’s an easy sell by the glass – but if you hand sell the higher end wines then people realise they can be very good value for money.’

Laurent Chaniac, Cinnamon Club
‘Some of the wines tasted need a little more age and I think we may have forgotten that Beaujolais, at cru level, can age well. If you look at the quality of the top end, the wines from steeper slopes and granitic soils, there is some great value for money, especially when you compare them with the price of the wines just a little to the north.’

Frederic Billet, Chancery Court
‘Beaujolais has been concentrating on getting the quality right, reducing yields and so on, and the new focus on quality is showing in the wines. Couple this with the ’09 vintage and it’s time to take another look at Beaujolais.’

Joris Beijn, Catch at Andaz
‘It’s possible to have serious styles of Beaujolais where a core of bright red cherry fruit still shows in the wine. We treat Beaujolais and Burgundy differently, but if someone is looking for a light style of Burgundy then we suggest they consider cru Beaujolais, such as Morgon. And there is some very good value to be found, as a top cru Beaujolais sells at a similar price to a quite average Burgundy.’

Editorial feature from Imbibe Magazine – May/June 2011

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