Join us for a free and informative Best of Beaujolais Wine Tasting on Saturday, November 22nd from 2 to 5 p.m. Beaujolais is technically part of Burgundy, but the wines produced here are usually quite different than the wines produced further north in the Cotes de Beaune and the Cotes de Nuits. Whereas Pinot Noir is the red grape of Burgundy, Gamay is the red grape of Beaujolais. Gamay tends to produce wines with juicy and fresh aromas and flavors of tart red fruits, earth, spice and floral nuances. Light to medium bodied, these low tannin/high acid reds make for joyful drinking in the cooler months, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a better red to go with turkey than Beaujolais.
So what’s the key to buying good Beaujolais? Think small! That means think small grower/producer/farmer Beaujolais, and that’s all we stock at Table Wine. If you have a negative opinion of Beaujolais, you’ve probably never had one from one of the many high quality, grower/producers of the region. Producers such as Marcel Lapierre, Jean Foillard, George Descombes, Domaine Dupeuble and Jean-Paul Thevenet make their wines naturally, and by doing so, they coax out more complex, intense and deep flavors. We stock wines from all of these producers and we’ll be tasting wines from some of these producers, and we guarantee you’ll walk away a “Beaujolais Believer.” Cheers and we’ll see you on Saturday!
The Wines
All tasting wines will be on deep deal the day of the tasting! Prices range from $16 to $40.
1. 2013 Domaine Dupeuble Beaujolais: The late Damien Dupeuble crafts about as honest of a red wine as any that we stock in the store. His old Gamay vines in the southern part of Beaujolais yield a fresh and vibrant wine, but one that is by no means simple. Showing lovely notes of dark cherry, wild strawberry, smoky mineral and spice, this is a solid red wine for drinking now or over the next few years.
2. 2013 Georges Descombes Morgon: Located in Vermont, a tiny hamlet in Villié-Morgon, Georges Descombes is the unofficial fifth member of the iconic “Gang of Four” (Marcel Lapierre, Jean Foillard, Jean-Paul Thévenet and Guy Breton). In his teens, Georges worked with his father (also a vigneron) as well as for a local bottling company; hopping around from cellar to cellar gave him a chance to try a large amount of different estates, and the first time he tasted a Lapierre wine, young Georges was blown away by their purity and elegance. Then and there, he decided he would try to make wines like Marcel’s. We think he’s doing an awfully good job.
3. 2012 Georges Descombes Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”: This is one of the best bottles of Gamay that we can currently get our hands on. That is all!