That was great fun! This tasting was inspired by the Wall St. Journal's "Tastings" column (my favorite writing for casual wine lovers -- highly recommended), which recently reminded me of the pleasures of Beaujolais (which has a pretty good Wikipedia entry). They predicted that a Beaujolais tasting would lead you to say, "I had forgotten how much I love Beaujolais and how very interesting it can be." Exactly right. These were great, and a great value. It's hard to spend more than $20 on Beaujolais (we managed, but only barely --$23 was the most expensive we opened). That's pretty remarkable for a French wine. I opened a $20 cab at the end, just for contrast, and was struck by how much more interesting all of the the Beaujolais were.
Based on our tasting, I'd say it's worth it to seek out the "cru" Beaujolais -- the 10 "cru" villages are Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Côte de Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Régnié and Saint-Amour. That's what will be on the label (instead of Beaujolais or Beaujolais-Villages). We had examples from 7 of the 10, and they were all more interesting than I would have expected for Beaujolais (which is generally known for simple, bright fruit, little depth).
My favorite of the evening was only $9.99 at K&L Wines (on 4th, near the ball park). Several others came from The Wine House (on Carolina at the foot of Potrero Hill).
- 2005 Beaujolais Villages, Domaine de Bacarra $12.99: well liked, no surprises, simple (not a bad thing!) Beaujolais
- 2005 Louis Jadot Beaujolais ~$10: classic simple Beaujolais, what you expect, lovely for the price, but not terribly distinctive
- 2005 Morgon, Cote du Py, Domaine Savoye $19.99: a big step up from the the first two, adds a bit of complexity to the equation, but not heavy
- 2007 Morgon, Cote du Py, Jean-Marc Burgaud $18.99: "tastes better than it smells," was the consensus, thanks to the very French nose (wet socks?), but I thought it was quite nice, with a hint of the characteristics of a more expensive wine
- 2002 Régnié "Vallieres", Jean-Marc Burgaud $4.95: past its prime (and with a price to show it!), but I thought this was lovely, a great example of age on a bottle. Port-like on the nose, none of the bright fruit that you think of with Beaujolais, reminiscent of a Spanish Rioja, an absolute steal at this price (it's still available at The Wine House)
- 2006 Julienas, La Trinquée, Georges Duboeuf $9.99: killer deal at this price, and my favorite of the night. Well balanced, beautiful nose, with the bright red fruit you think of with Beaujolais.
- 2005 Chiroubles, Clos le Farge, Domaine Cheysson $16.99: nice, higher in acid than most of the others, probably better with food
- 2006 Brouilly, Georges Descombes $22.99: the consensus crowd favorite, darker fruit, more reminiscent of CA wines, but easily better and more interesting than any CA I can think of at the price.
- 2005 Fleurie Chateau des Labourons, Comte de Lascure $19.99: eucalyptus! herbacious!
- 2005 St. Amour, Cru Beaujolais, "3 Terroirs", Mommessin $19.99: another excellent example, well balanced, with a bit more body than is typical
