Beaujolais, 2019. Domaine de Roche-Guillon

Our selection is run by Bruno and Valerie Coperet who are the 5th Generation of the Coperet Family to do so. The vines were planted by Bruno's grandfather Andre, nearly a half century ago. It is what accounts for the tremendous presence of their wines and is a testament to what Beaujolais is and what it represents.

Beaujolais is one of the most misunderstood wines in the world. It is too often considered light and airy and of little substance other than to quaff. That definition is very far from the truth, but was brought on by the introduction of Beaujolais Nouveau in 1951. It is the first wine of the vintage and is released on the Third Thursday of November. As a result, the rest of Beaujolais was unfairly thrown in with Nouveau as light and simple and is still misunderstood to this day.

The grape here is Gamay which covers 95% of the vineyards. It has a rather checkered history beginning in 1395 when the Duke of Burgundy issued an edict to eradicate all the Gamay vines from Burgundy because it was a "bad and disloyal variety." It wasn't the fault of Gamay. The problem is that many vineyardists in Burgundy thought the Gamay grape was Pinot Noir, which of course it was not. Gamay then settled in Beaujolais where it creates exciting and delicious wines like our Roche-Guillon. Here is a wine with bright strawberry and Bing cherry fruit centered likable acids to tackle all comers, from a grilled salmon with tomato concasse to a pork schnitzel with cabbage and onions.

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