Beaujolais wine

Beaujolais wine comes from the protected — appellation d’origine contr?l?e — Beaujolais province within Burgundy. Burgundy is one of the world’s undisputed great wine making regions. Famous grape varieties such as chardonnay originate from Burgundy and wine making in the region has been traced back thousands of years. Situated in the valley of the river Rhone, and with ideal chalky soil, Beaujolais’ wines are increasingly popular. Beaujolais is Burgundy’s biggest wine producing region and in some years it produces more wine than Cote Chalonnaise, Cote d’Or, Maconnais and Chablis put together — Burgundy’s other four wine making provinces.

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Beaujolais wines are made primarily from the Gamay grape with low tannin content. White wines account for just 1% of production in the region and are generally made from the native chardonnay grapes. It is light-bodied red wine that Beaujolais is known for. Than is not to say Beaujolais wines are homogenous. The province is split between a northern and a southern region based on the composition of the soil and landscape. The north has rolling hills and granite rich soils with limestone. The southern region has a flatter terrain with richer clay and sandstone based soils with patches of limestone. These subtle differences between the regions, and within the regions, have a profound effect on the development of the wines. The northern part of Beaujolais is famed for its structured complexity. The south produces the more recognized fruity light lines of Beaujolais.