Light, subtle with a fresh taste of raspberry jam and violets. A perfect introduction to the Gamay grape and the more serious Beaujolais Village Crus.

Domaine de Gry Sablon, Beaujolais, France

Beaujolais is a much maligned wine producing region. Officially part of Burgundy, it is a most attractive area with steep hills and deep valleys bedecked with vineyards, small scattered villages and a quiet rural lifestyle – an ideal destination for a foray for wine.

Beaujolais is made from a single grape variety, Gamay, which stamps its unique characteristics on these wines - offering low acidity with soft and supple flavours of summer fruit. However, the village ‘Cru’ wines offer a plethora of styles from the light Julienas to the more muscular style of Morgon.

Dominique Morel, so hidden away as to be virtually unfindable, is fastidious in the selection of his grapes, all hand-harvested and cold soaked to aid extraction, colour and tannin levels. The village Crus are partially aged in old vats (purchased from Domaine de la Romannée Conti) giving a luxurious and generous mouth feel.

The Beaujolais region runs from the Mâconnais, to the south of Lyon and on to the Rhône valley beyond. Beaujolais is a French Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) wine generally made of the Gamay grape which has a thin skin and is low in tannins. Beaujolais tends to be a very light-bodied red wine, with relatively high amounts of acidity.

In some vintages, Beaujolais produces more wine than the Burgundy wine regions of Chablis, Côte d'Or, Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais put together.

Gamay noir is now known to be a cross of Pinot noir and the ancient white variety Gouais, the latter a Central European variety that was probably introduced to northeastern France by the Romans.
The grape brought relief to the village growers following the decline of the Black Death. In contrast to the Pinot Noir variety, Gamay ripened two weeks earlier and was less difficult to cultivate. It also produced a strong, fruitier wine in a much larger abundance. In July 1395, the Duke of Burgundy Philippe the Bold outlawed the cultivation of Gamay as being "a very bad and disloyal plant", due in part to the variety occupying land that could be used for the more "elegant" Pinot Noir. Sixty years later, Philippe the Good, issued another edict against Gamay in which he stated the reasoning for the ban is that "The Dukes of Burgundy are known as the lords of the best wines in Christendom. We will maintain our reputation". The edicts had the effect of pushing Gamay plantings southward, out of the main region of Burgundy and into the granite based soils of Beaujolais where the grape thrived.


Cru Beaujolais, the highest category of classification in Beaujolais, account for the production within ten villages/areas in the foothills of the Beaujolais mountains. Unlike Burgundy and Alsace, the phrase cru in Beaujolais refers to an entire wine producing area rather than an individual vineyard. Seven of the Crus relate to actual villages while Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly refer to the vineyards areas around Mont Brouilly and Moulin-à-Vent is named for a local windmill.

These wines do not usually show the word "Beaujolais" on the label, in an attempt to separate themselves from mass-produced Nouveau; in fact vineyards in the cru villages are not allowed to produce Nouveau. The maximum yields for Cru Beaujolais wine is 48 hl/ha. Their wines can be more full-bodied, darker in color, and significantly longer-lived. From north to south the Beaujolais crus are- Saint-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly.

Juliénas-This cru is based around the village named after Julius Caesar. The wines made from this area are noted for their richness and spicy with aromas reminiscent of peonies.[9] In contrast to the claims of Régnié, Juliénas growers believe that this area was the site of the first vineyards planted in Beaujolais by the Romans during this conquest of Gaul.