We are approaching the third Thursday of November and the word that will be on every wine buff’s wine stained lips will be Beaujolais. On this third Thursday, all the Beaujolais houses will be releasing their cherryade like Nouveau "wine" (note the deliberate inverted commas) emblazoned with the 2009 year on the label. All retailers will all be trying to flog it as quickly as possible to as many pensioners as they can, as those over 60 are the only people in the universe that Beaujolais Nouveau means a damn thing to.
But the unfortunate thing about Beaujolais Nouveau is that it is, and not to put too fine a point on it, crap. There is a chance this year, because the 2009 vintage is so good in the region, that this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau could be less crap than normal, but it is still going to be scoring high on the crap-o-meter.
Once the excitement of this wine has died down, people will stop drinking Beaujolais again and all will be back to normal with them slugging back Australian shiraz. Which is a shame, because Beaujolais offers more then their annual soft drink release. And back in September I visited such a place, Chateau de Pierreux in Brouilly.
Owned by Jean Claude Boisset, this beautiful Chateau was build during the Renaissance, and produces some of the best wine to come out of Beaujolais. Sited on the pink granite soils, the vineyards are generally organically tended. But what amazes you when you visit, is that everything is meticulous. From the yellow painted walls of the chateau with duck egg blue shutters, to the immaculately kept lawns, the stunning views… and then you go into the cellars and it is business as usual! Dark, stone cellars, moistness in the air, big old oak vats and that omnipresent smell of fermenting grape juice and dust!
The wines are as far away from Beaujolais Nouveau as you can get. Chateau de Pierreux’s two wines have depth, structure and darker elements, yet still provide the drinker with a lighter style of wine. Take their 2008 wine. You get light cherry and hints of mint coming through on the nose, with light, zingy raspberries and just a touch of darker, meatier elements. The palate has a very subtle tannin, more raspberries and a very gentle cocoa element all the way through. A very nice wine at around £12, 8/10. The only problem however, is that it has a major competitor in it’s bigger brother, the Reserve du Chateau.
The 2006 Reserve du Chateau is only a few pounds more and is a much better, and more serious wine. Sweet raspberries, a lot of rosemary and some mint on the nose, and then darker berries. Cassis comes out first, and then you get a little balsamic element too. The palate is dark, liquorice, leather and dark, stalky fruit. A meaty textur You feel the wine getting weightier and then, it just freshens up, having lighter fruit coming to the fore. 9/10
Neither of these wines are the overpriced fruit juice that most people expect from Beaujolais. They are serious wines, what are superbly made. What a shame that few people will experience them and they will just view Beaujolais as the garishly labelled drivel that will be being released in a fortnight.
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