When you hear the word Beaujolais, this may conjure memories of cheap, candy flavoured red wine called Beaujolais Nouveau that a 1990’s marketing machine has been pumping out on the third Thursday of November.
And yes, it’s still going on today.
Like most Nouveau wines, it’s made with Gamay grapes that were harvested this year, fermented using a process called carbonic maceration rather than the traditional yeast-based alcoholic fermentation which most wines are made with (more on this later). This process is what produces the banana / strawberry candy aromas that are characteristic of Beaujolais Nouveau.
Fleurie is a also type of Beaujolais wine made with Gamay, but it’s made using semi-carbonic maceration and while it is very approachable, it elevates this humble grape into something really special that incorporates the good bits of Beaujolais Nouveau but skips all the awful parts.
Gamay
Gamay, or as the French normalization agency calls it, Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc (“black-skinned grape which makes white juice”) is a really old variety that is quite productive, and makes wines that are fairly light in body and really low in tannins. And this is very important because tannins, which give a grippy sensation in your mouth (think sandpaper on your tongue), are the primary reason why some people dislike red wines.
If you know someone who only drinks white wines or doesn’t like most red wines, it’s very likely that they are sensitive to tannins. And the one red variety they should try is Gamay.
Gamay is native from Burgundy and was cultivated there for a long time before Philippe le Hardi (Philippe the Bold), Duke of Burgundy, outlawed it in 1395 in favour of Pinot Noir. This pushed the cultivation of Gamay further south, starting around the town of Beaujeu, which gives its name to the region of Beaujolais.
It turned out to be a good thing because Gamay grapes, when planted in the volcanic soil of the northern Beaujolais region, gives wine a much more interesting flavour profile than when it’s planted in the yellow limestone of southern Beaujolais (or Burgundy for that matter). This was recognized very early when France established wine appellations (designation of origin), as 8 of the now 10 designated areas in the northern area were elevated as Crus du Beaujolais (meaning higher quality appellations), whereas the southern area is relegated to the generic Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages appellations.
This brings us to Fleurie.
Fleurie
Fleurie received its AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) status in 1936, the first year the INAO (Institut National des Appellations d’Origine) granted AOC status to several wine growing areas in France. It’s widely considered to be the ideal middle ground between all the Beaujolais crus.
Like the others, its acidity is fairly high, which makes it very food friendly, however it doesn’t feel acidic thanks to the pronounced red fruit characteristics that the semi-carbonic fermentation gives it. But its most important feature is the low tannins which make Fleurie eminently drinkable.
While some Beaujolais crus are meant to be drunk young (Régnié, Chiroubles, Brouilly) and others are meant to be aged (Morgon, Moulin-à-Vents, Chénas), Fleurie has a good balance of age worthiness and refreshing youth.
What’s interesting is that despite the Duke of Burgundy’s reluctance, Gamay gets similar characteristics to Pinot Noir as it ages. Locals say that age-worthy Moulin-à-Vent ‘pinote’ (yes, they made a verb out of it) and Morgon ‘morgonne’ (somehow it means the same) to describe this process. This is especially true for producers who use oak barrels to bring a bit more wood tannins to the party.
Fleurie has a relatively large area under vine, and two distinct soil types: the higher altitude vineyards are planted on thin soils over pink granite, which produces elegant and more aromatic reds; at the bottom of the slopes, the soils are deeper and feature more clay, which produces wines that are fuller bodied and better for cellaring.
Let’s party !
All of this makes Fleurie one of my favourite wines to bring to a party (remember those?). Fleurie wines are pretty widely distributed so they shouldn’t be hard to find; they also tend to be fairly affordable: we’re not talking about two-buck chuck here, but this is not Bourgogne Premier Cru or Grand Cru territory either. It makes for a pretty good gift if you don’t know what the person likes but you know they like wine.
Can’t find a Fleurie ? You can try Saint-Amour, the northernmost Beaujolais cru, as it shares some of its balanced nature. For something more robust, go for a Morgon, and for something lighter, a Brouilly will fit the bill.
Bonus for the nerds: semi-carbonic maceration
If you want to understand why Fleurie tastes like it does, you need to understand how it’s made. In Beaujolais crus including Fleurie, hand harvesting is mandatory because the grapes are picked in whole clusters (machines only get the berries, not the stems)
The clusters are placed, stems, berries and all into sealed stainless steel tanks. The grapes at the bottom of the vat get crushed from their own weight, releasing juice that starts fermenting thanks to the wild yeasts that live on the skin of the berries.
This alcoholic fermentation consumes the oxygen in the tank and produces carbon dioxide (and alcohol) which stays trapped, so after a while the fermentation stops when there is no more oxygen. The accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) and the absence of oxygen triggers an enzyme inside the grapes at the top of the vat which converts an acid (called malic acid) into alcohol.
This carbonic maceration is what gives candy aromas (banana, pear, raspberry) to Beaujolais Nouveau (in this case, it’s done by pumping CO2 in the vat rather than waiting for the alcoholic fermentation to generate enough CO2).
Once the semi-carbonic maceration has finished, the fermented free-run juice is extracted, the rest of the grapes is pressed, and both musts are blended together. The colour has been extracted at this point, so the traditional alcoholic fermentation is performed (since the must is still full of sugars) without skin contact.
Like many grape varieties, the juice of Gamay is white, and the colour is given only through contact between juice and skin. This makes Beaujolais crus relatively light in colour (although deeper than regular Beaujolais), and very fruit forward. But the other characteristic feature is that the contact with stems and skin (both major contributors of tannins into the finished wine) is in the end fairly limited as most of the alcoholic fermentation happens without them. And this is what makes Fleurie and other Beaujolais crus so very drinkable.
So do yourself a favour, on this Beaujolais Nouveau day, pick up a Fleurie instead !
Happy drinking !