Beaujolais and the Duboeufs. Gamay, granite and a grandfather's legacy.

The sunny side of Burgundy

Beaujolais runs from just south of Mâcon to just north of Lyon, between Burgundy and the Rhône. It is often counted as part of Burgundy, and locals call it the sunny Burgundy. Some of its names may go back to the Romans: Juliénas is said to recall Julius Caesar, and Brouilly a Roman called Brulius.

About 98% of the vineyard is Gamay, with a little Chardonnay. Gamay is thin-skinned and gives light, fragrant reds full of cherry, raspberry and strawberry, often with a peppery edge. It came from Burgundy, but in 1395 Philip the Bold banned the "disloyal" Gamay in favor of Pinot Noir. The grape moved south and found its true home on Beaujolais granite.

Granite soils and the ten crus

Beaujolais has three levels. Most of the volume is plain Beaujolais AOC in the south. Above it is Beaujolais-Villages, from around a hundred hillside villages with better exposure and drainage. At the top, in the north, are the ten crus, including Brouilly, Juliénas, Morgon, Fleurie, Saint-Amour, Moulin-à-Vent and Chiroubles.

In the episode, Fleurie is called the lady of Beaujolais, delicate and floral. Moulin-à-Vent is the king, the most serious and age-worthy. Morgon combines the fruit of Beaujolais with the charm of Burgundy and can age for decades. Much of the north sits on pink granite that crumbles into sand, holds little water and pushes the roots deep, giving concentrated grapes and a mineral, perfumed style.

How Beaujolais Nouveau is made

Beaujolais Nouveau is a primeur wine, released on the third Thursday of November, just weeks after harvest. It relies on the local semi-carbonic method: whole bunches go into a closed vat, the fermenting juice at the bottom fills the tank with CO2, and the intact grapes above start to ferment from the inside. The result is purple, soft, low in tannin and full of banana and pear-drop aromas, best served cool and drunk young.

Georges Duboeuf turned the release into a worldwide party, especially in Japan. It put the region on the map, but it also gave Beaujolais a cheap and simple image that the crus are only now shaking off.

Georges Duboeuf, négociant and showman

Georges came from a family of growers in the Mâconnais. In the late 1950s he left for Beaujolais and worked as a mobile bottler, tasting wine in cellar after cellar. In 1964 he founded his own négociant house in Romanèche-Thorins, buying wine and grapes from growers on handshake agreements, paying a little more for the best and handling bottling, marketing and sales himself. He cycled to top chefs such as Paul Bocuse with bottles in his bag, and the famous flower label was born in a London hotel room. Today the house works with around 400 growers and makes about 30 million bottles a year.

In 1993 he turned an old train station into Le Hameau Duboeuf, part museum, part tasting room, and one of the first real wine tourism centers in France.

Adrien Duboeuf-Lacombe takes the reins

Adrien bought his first bottle at 11, spent weekends driving to growers with his grandfather and sat in on blending sessions long before he was of age. Find out how he learned to "open the drawers" of aromas when tasting, what his grandfather told him when he kept asking for advice, and why he feels responsible for the many families who depend on the company. The film also asks where Beaujolais goes next, with old Gamay vines, affordable land and a changing climate.

Go furtherWant to taste along? Find Georges Duboeuf’s wines and where to buy them near you on Wine-Searcher.