Beaujolais

Beaujolais is red wine made from 100% Gamay grapes. This region sits at the southern most part of Burgundy and produces twice as much wine as the whole rest of Burgundy. Beaujolais wines are light and fruity with an almost cranberry like flavor and some folks will detect hints of bubble gum which is due to a process used in production called Carbonic Maceration. The wines of Beaujolais are inexpensive everyday drinking wines that are meant to be drunk young. The lighter styled Beaujolais wines are often served chilled which brings out the fruitiness and acidity of a wine which may otherwise lack depth (great for summer drinking ).

Beaujolais Nouveau
Every year just in time for Thanks Giving, Beaujolais producers release what is called Beaujolais Nouveau. As I stated earlier Beaujolais has a cranberry like taste which makes them the perfect wine for your holiday meal. Beaujolais Nouveaus are released within weeks from the time the grapes are picked. As a result of its extreme youth the Nouveaus are even lighter than the other Beaujolais and have a somewhat unfinished taste to them. Why would they release them then? There are two reasons for this early release. One reason is that it gives the producers quick cash flow. The second reason is that it gives the consumers a sneak preview into the new vintage. These wines should be drunk even younger than other Beaujolais (within six months of release).

Quality Levels The three quality levels of Beaujolais going from lowest to highest are ,

Beaujolais- lowest quality and the most produced.
Beaujolais Villages- These wines blended from any of 35 different villages which produce quality grapes.
Cru- There are no Grand Cru quality producers of Beaujolais but there are ten Crus which are listed here-
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