This Monday, Bien Boire en Beaujolais made some good noise in the region, winemakers in shape and rain boots on our feet at Cercié & Saint Lager at the heart of Beaujolais-Villages. Even though the meteo wasn’t that shinny, happy wine tasters came to the rendez-vous : from Beaujolais and from all over France and Europe, Toulouse, Bruxelles, Paris, Lyon, Amsterdam and even some Beaujolais winelovers from Asia. We can be satisfied.

It is actually quite rare to see us all gathered, just once a year, for the second time this year. at Bien Boire en Beaujolais (Drink Well in Beaujolais) you sip Beaujoloise, Biojolaise & Beaujol’art, 3 atmosphere for 3 groups of friends from the most natural to the most traditional winemaking, all generations mixed in a colorful whole.

At the Beaujol’art, they had the stringed instruments out, we could sip and swing at the same time under the vaults. At the Beaujoloise, beer was poured outside and if you visited the biojolaise you were sure to be warm. Outside, tables under a porch for you to eat outside. Everyone it’s own style, atmosphere, a magical universe and not a second to give to boredom. 

Here and there you could here : so is it with or without indigenous yeast ? Do you plough ? Mh so you do semi-carbonic, I’ve heard the neighbor destalks. Waw you have some body there, it’s fleshy! Of course, friends drink friendly wines : light with a high potential of drinkability, but my friends can also make some wines with a serious body and tannins while staying delicate like gamay. This is mostly in the crus where some winemakers old there wines in casks and give a longer maceration to the grapes.

At “BBB”, you drink a lot of Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages, Morgon, Fleurie & Régnié. Some crus, cultural methods are under-represented compared to the reality of the vineyard : on the 70 organic winemakers of Beaujolais, you find more than half at the event that is a paradise for organic and natural wines. What is good is that you go over differences, you share and at the end you find good wines everywhere. There are young winemakers, the older ones… my ears are walking around, wonderstruck by so many stories.

At home at Château des Moriers, we missed it again, we were supposed to present our wines at the Beaujol’Art, but that’s okay, it gave me more time to see my cousins at Biojolaise and to go and taste the wines of new and old friends. 

Les belges Marc Vanhellemont et Hervé Lalau déguste enfin les vins de Vicky, santé et merci !

On my scratched tasting notebook, I can alreadt see some notes underlined between refinement, sympathy and sensuality… soon with more detailled in clean sentences. But for now : 

• Famille Harel, domaine de Buis-Rond, yes I really love the white Beaujolais from my cousins. 
• D. Roland Pignard is successful as much with his  Beaujolais-Villages than with his Morgon & Régné 
• D. du Crêt de Bine, delicious Beaujolais rosé 2012
• Domaine JG Chasselay, a shinning white and Fleurie
• PM Chermette, that’s the white I went for
• Bruno Debize, Les Cambertiers 2010 in Beaujolais et a Beaujolais Nouveau on the peach
• Georges Descombes, crush on the Fleurie 2010
• The 2012 promising of Julie Balagny in Fleurie 
• Sensual Chiroubles from Karim Vionnet
• Tasty grape, or Raisin Gaulois from Lapierre
• Morgon 2011 “La Voûte Saint Vincent”  & “Javernière” from Louis-Claude Desvignes, delicate and silky.
• Fleurie from Domaine des Marrans, I call 2011, deliciously classic. 
• A Fleurie again, the domaine de la Madone knocked me down with the finess of its spices – look for Grille Midi 2010
• Michel Tête, Julienas fruity and fresh in 2011 and 2012
• And the new domaine Hirsch, but some wines you can forget in your cellar, starting with the Chenas 2011. 

Of course, Eric et Michel Chignard, my neighbors in Moriers that have wines that have close tastes to ours, and wines from Richard Rottiers, that I forgot to spit and note. Thank you sir. See you next year!