SOLD OUT! It’s Beaujolais Nouveau Time! This year’s batch of Beaujolais Nouveaux will arrive and be available for sale Thursday, November 19th!
Not all Beaujolais Nouveaux are created equally. Trust me, we only work with small growers and producers. And our customers tell us every year they can’t believe how good our selections are. It’s all about the producer here folks. And our choice to only work with artisanal estates that take a more hands-on approach. They farm organically and ferment with native yeasts.
And maybe most importantly, they refuse to chapitalize, or add sugar, to their wines to boost alcohol levels. This is a common practice with the bigger, more commercial producers. But producers like Martine and Pierre-Marie Chermette only pick their grapes once they are ripe. And this ripeness level allows them to complete their fermentations naturally, without added sugar. The resulting wines are deeper flavored and fuller textured wines.
Still, these are cherubic, joyful, easy to drink wines that belong on the Thanksgiving dinner table. Unfortunately, Chermette’s wines have become quite the hot ticket, with supply rarely meeting demand. We were lucky to snag 4 cases (48 bottles) of each, but that’s all we’re getting this year.
1. 2020 Pierre-Marie Chermette Beaujolais Primeur ‘Pierre Chermette’ | $15.99/bottle
Martine and Pierre-Marie Chermette farm their vineyards with their hands and with a ton of passion. For their entry level Nouveau bottling, they include Gamay from 25 year old vines. This cuvée is the epitome of Beaujolais Nouveau! Yet it remains a very complete wine, with lovely aromas and flavors of fresh cherry, raspberry, and earth. A charming wine that lights up November!
2. 2020 Pierre-Marie Chermette Beaujolais Primeur ‘Origine Vieilles Vignes’ | $17.99/bottle
Vieilles Vignes means OLD VINES, and I can’t think of another Nouveau producer who makes a wine like this. Most producers just don’t put the care and attention into the Nouveau bottlings. That is not the case with the Chermettes! Produced with fruit from 35-85 year old vines and fermented and aged in large, neutral oak foudres, this is a little more concentrated and fuller flavored.
3. 2018 Domaine Dupeuble Beaujolais | $17.99/bottle
No, this is not Nouveau, but this is one of my favorite, g0-to bottles of Beaujolais for all occasions. Produced with 50-100 year old Gamay vines, this is one of those wines that is both big and full but quaffable all at once. Super concentrated and dark in the glass, it offers up soaring notes of ripe blueberry, dark cherry, raspberry, and just a hint of earthy spice.
Josh Spurling
Owner, Operator, Wine Monger
Table Wine Asheville