Gamay still battling Beaujolais Nouveau hangover

Consumers too often dismiss Gamay as a light and fruity, low tannin wine despite it being capable of producing complex “Pinot Noir-like” wines with the capacity to age, says one leading Beaujolais winemaker.

Cyril Chirouze, winemaker at Louis Jadot’s Chateau des Jacques

Speaking at a dinner to mark the 20th year of Louis Jadot’s Château des Jacques, new head winemaker Cyril Chirouze highlighted the need for producers in the region to promote the depth of wines on offer from Beaujolais, beyond Beaujolais Nouveau and easy-drinking Gamay.

He stressed that the region should not only be associated with easy-drinking styles of Gamay, but aged, complex Gamay wines, as well as white Beaujolais – similar in style to white Burgundy – which is often overlooked within the region.

In the 1970s and 1980s Beaujolais Nouveau – a wine harvested, vinified and shipped out the year of harvest on the same day in November each year – was extremely popular (and still is in Japan).

“For 60 years we have spoken to people about Beaujolais but probably only in one way, talking about that gentle fruity style of Gamay, which is why people associate Beaujolais with Beaujolais Nouveau”, he said. “The main thing for us now is to show people that we have a lot of complexity in the vineyards and in our winemaking, and that we have a lot different styles of Beaujolais. You can have pleasure with simple Gamay, but also you have Gamay that is complex and can age”.

Its ability to age is in part due to the grape’s Pinot Noir heritage – a characteristic often overlooked or unknown by consumers. Genetically, Gamay is a cross of Pinot Noir and the lesser-known white grape variety Gouais Blanc – which means it is capable of Pinot Noir-like characteristics.

“People think that Gamay is often light with high acid and not too many tannins but it’s just  that way that it has been vinified. 50% of Gamay DNA comes from Pinot Noir so we know that it can do the same things as Pinot Noir, if we drive it in the same way. At Chateau des Jacques we like to make different styles to remind people that Gamay is not only to be drunk young at one time of the year, if you give it a chance to be like Pinot Noir”.

The popularity of carbonic maceration within the region, typically used to reduce tannins in a wine, has undoubtedly contributed to the region’s reputation for soft and fruity Gamay.

Chateau de Jacques 1996 Moulin-à-Vent

“Carbonic maceration was invented in the 1930s for the Rhône Valley, not for Beaujolais. It was first used in Beaujolais in the 50s. Before that people in Beaujolais used winemaking techniques that were closer to those used in Burgundy.

“If you look at wine lists from the beginning of the 20th century, Beaujolais is the same price as other Burgundy and we have the same vintages. That helps us to see that winemaking was the same in Beaujolais as in Burgundy”.

To demonstrate the grape’s ability to age Chirouze presented a bottle of 1996 Moulin-à-Vent – the first vintage released after Louis Jadot bought the estate.

“It won’t age for another 20 years. We can imagine that we are probably at the summit of the hill”.

Chateau des Jacques also produces a white Beaujolais made from Chardonnay, a style that should benefit from its close association, geographically speaking, to white Burgundy. However its reputation as an alternative to white Burgundy is not fully cemented within the minds of consumers.

“White Beaujolais is something a bit different”, said Cyril. “We associate Beaujolais with Gamay, but Chardonnay can produce great things at a good price”.