Region: Beaujolais, France
Varietal: 100% Gamay
Tasting: A textbook blue stone Brouilly-style Beaujolais-Villages from one of the great women winemakers in France. Beautiful purity of Gamay Noir fruit – meets cement aging – showcasing the unique expression of Beaujolais that cannot be reproduced anywhere – but here! Elegant, soft, but still vibrant and juicy ripe red fruit dissolves across your cheeks. Pure and complex bouquet of sweet dark berries, cassis, a bit of smoked meats, and cranberry. Lovely base of granitic soil tones, cumin and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with a lovely core of black fruit, excellent soil signature and grip, a fair bit of ripe tannin and a long, structured and complex finish.
Pairing: Beaujolais' fruitiness matches well with sweet and savory flavours, but especially with white meats like chicken and turkey. Beaujolais Nouveau is also known as the perfect Thanksgiving wine. Not only because of the release date just a few days before the holidays, but also because of its delicate aromas of berries matches well with most things on the Thanksgiving table.
Roast chicken, chicken tagine with apricots and olives, pork sausages, duck with plum sauce, hangar steak, grilled steak, meat loaf, as well as fatty fish, like salmon and tuna, especially the Beaujolais Cru style. With its high acidity, this wine can also balance creamy pasta dishes and risottos with fish or shellfish. If choosing a cheese to enjoy with Beaujolais matches well with soft and semi-soft cheeses. Comté, Brie, Swiss Cheese, Camembert and Feta are some of the cheeses which go well with youthful, fruit-forward Beaujolais. Warm yourself with an early dinner on a chilly Sunday with a glass of Mary Taylor and the this Slow Cooker Chicken Tagine With Butternut Squash by Sarah Digregorio. Cheers!
About: Marine Descombe runs her family's winery and bottling business at Vins Descombe in Brouilly. Started in 1905 by her grandfather, Marine now heads up all aspects, still facing headwinds from the local patriarchy. Nothing stops her impressive work ethic and drive, however. She recently purchased the dilapidated 17th c. Chateau Pougelon in St. Etiennedes-Oullières, expanding her vineyards in Brouilly and has made remarkable progress with the domaine’s 30 hectares under vine with HVE sustainable farming. Her explanation of HVE has 4 tenets: Seldom or no use of phytosanitary treatments, preservation of biodiversity in the vineyards, limited use of fertilizer, and reduced use of water in the entire winemaking process.
Here is a temperate climate, though with strong variations due to the confluence of oceanic, continental, and Mediterranean influences. In 38 municipalities of the Rhône and Saône-et-Loire, and 3 geographical zones with marked specificities, Beaujolais-Villages is famed for its high-altitude hillside vineyards, fully planted atop the granite of the region (unlike the charming Beaujolais AOP which is planted in sandy soil). It was the first appellation in France to use the term “villages.” These delectable red wines mark a kind of transition between Beaujolais AOP in the south and the ten cru appellations further north. Cru Beaujolais is famous for its 10 types of unique granite and Marine likes to say, if you want to know the subsoil, just look at the color of the houses.
Harvest is done only by hand, and grapes are sorted and partially destemmed (40%). The vinification is in the Burgundy style, i.e. slow and soft grape pressing, and vatting for 10 days. Fermentation lasts one month and then the wine ages in large cement tanks. Marine makes Morgon, Julienas and Brouilly in addition to this glorious Beaujolais-Villages.