- Season 4 Trailer
- Wine 4 Green Pizza
- Inside the Fort Knox of Wine
- Wine 4 Spag Bol
- English Wine and Climate Change
- Wine 4 Fish Pie
- Our WINE(S) OF THE YEAR 2022!
- Wine 4 the ULTIMATE burger
- Selling Net Zero Wine
- The Wine Lover’s Wish List
- How To Be a Better Wine Lover
- Burgundy – The Tipping Point?
- The New Beaujolais
- Wine and Your Microbiome
- Australian Pinot Noir Comes of Age
- The End of the Hangover?
- New Zealand Chardonnay
- News & Views 1
- Santorini – Wine’s Jurassic Park
- Santorini – Wines to Save an Island
- How Wine Gets Rocks Wrong
- Portugal’s Fine Wines
- The Mystery of Minerality
- Germany’s Pulling Power
- The Microbial Face of Terroir
- LIVE Q&A (Winchester)
Summary
Stuff is going down in Beaujolais.
Natural wine is a hot trend. Beaujolais Nouveau is re-inventing itself. The top sites have never made better wine. A new generation is revitalising the scene. Geological research has revealed eye-opening results. And growers aren’t afraid to throw caution to the wind (Côte Rôtie barrels and Sciacarello anyone?!)
Phew.
It’s also newsworthy: the region is submitting its first ever application for the top sites to be designated Premier Cru, the highly-prized status afforded only to some of the finest vineyards in Burgundy.
We get the low-down on all of this courtesy of dogged investigative work (yes…we do include drinking wine under that heading…) as well as interviews with leading growers Grégoire Hoppenot (pictured below with family) and Xavier Thivolle plus Caroline Santoyo of Inter Beaujolais and David Roberts MW of Goedhuis & Co.
We also throw in some factoids. For example, did you know that until World War II, a bottle of good Moulin-à-Vent Beaujolais cost the same as a bottle of Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru?! Or that Beaujolais is considered to be one of the original heartlands of natural wine, home to a ‘viticultural prophet’?
This is a sponsored episode with Inter Beaujolais – it’s a topic we’ve been longing to cover for a while so fantastic to have an opportunity to catch up with the latest from what is a dynamic and multi-faceted region.
Topics under discussion include Gamay, gobelet, Beaujolais as an alternative to ever-pricier Côte d’Or Burgundy, lieux-dits, The Last of Us, pink granite, the ten famous Beaujolais ‘crus‘ and carbonic maceration.
And after all that we’re in need of refreshment so taste and recommend a selection of truly outstanding Beaujolais wines – details below.
Starring
- Grégoire Hoppenot, Domaine Grégoire Hoppenot (Fleurie)
- Xavier Thivolle, Domaine Thivolle (Chiroubles)
- Caroline Santoyo, Inter Beaujolais
- David Roberts MW, Goedhuis & Co
Links
- As ever, you can find our podcast on all major audio players: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon and beyond. The button below will redirect you automatically to this episode on an audio platform on your device.
Wines
Here are the wines we taste and recommend in this episode – click on the wine name either for the main stockist or the Wine Searcher link to find where you can buy this wine globally:
- Les 3 Madones Beaujolais-Villages 2021, Cave du Château des Loges, 12.5% (from £9.99, Majestic)
- GAM Beaujolais-Villages 2021, Domaine Lathuilière-Gravallon, 13% (£14.75, Corney & Barrow)
- Fleurie Roche Guillon 2019, Domaine de Fa, 13.5% (£23.95, Yapp)
- Morgon Côte du Py 2020 Jean-Marc Burgaud, 13% (£14.95, The Wine Society)
- Fleurie 2021, Julien Sunier, 11.5% (c £30, Roberson – also Europe, US, Australia, Hong Kong)
- Morgon Eponym 2021, Jean Foillard, 12.5% (c £30, also in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, US, Canada, Europe)
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