Beaujolais has experienced exceptionally warm and dry years before, like 1947, 1959 and 1976, but there was always a string of cooler years between these exceptional vintages. Then, along came climate change and Boom!
With 2018, 2019 and 2020, the region had an unprecedented trio of very warm vintages and together they redefined the taste profile of these reds from the gamay grape that were long regarded as quintessentially bright and animating cool climate wines. Why does this suddenly stand out so clearly to us?
This year our Beaujolais tastings were dominated by the recently bottled wines of the 2020 vintage, plus nearly all late releases were from 2019 and 2018. That meant that our tastings were almost exclusively from this exceptional trio of vintages. What does this sea change mean for the quality and style of Beaujolais? Read some of the more than 400 notes below and you will see that the results were anything but homogenous.
Yes, there were some untypically rich and alcoholic wines in 2020, with 14 percent plus on the label surprisingly common. At the other extreme, some producers managed to retain the crisp acidity and red berry aromas of the gamay grape to make wines that tasted surprisingly traditional given the extreme drought conditions in 2020. So, if that’s what you want from Beaujolais, you can still find it. However, none of the 2020s belonging to those two groups rated 95 points or higher.
It was striking for us how the best 2020 wines all lay between those stylistic extremes. They came from producers who eagerly grasped the opportunity to make concentrated and beautifully balanced reds. These innovations successfully redefine what Beaujolais can be, and for us this is the taste of the future.
The 2020 wines from Anita Kuhnel’s Domaine Anita are excellent examples of this, most important the stunningly succulent and vibrant Domaine Anita Moulin-à-Vent La Rochelle 2020.
“The harvest date was critical,” Kuhnel explained, “We started early, on Aug. 26. Certain parcels went through rather high drought stress [but] thankfully some rain in August unblocked the maturation of the grapes, then things moved fast.”
Drought can be a serious problem in Beaujolais because most of the soils are either granite (sandy) or volcanic (stony) and so are very well drained, which means they retain very little water. However, getting the harvest date right was not the only secret to success in Beaujolais in 2020.
“I am glad that I left a lot of canopy on the vines after noticing high afternoon temperatures in July,” Kuhnel said. “Only cutting the tip of the canopy helped preserve the vines from further stress in August.” This also meant more shade on the grapes, which is like pulling down the blinds on a hot day.
2020 was also a challenge in the cellar, she told us. “The grape skins were particularly thick and careful extraction during fermentation was necessary to get wines with a lot of complexity while conserving freshness,” she said.
Even a quick glance at the highest-scoring wines makes clear how some of the most exciting Beaujolais we tasted were late-release 2019s and 2018s.
Once again, Chateau Thivin and Yohan Lard's top bottlings wowed us with their depth and complexity. (Photos by Stuart Pigott)
It wasn’t a surprise that the 2019s from Chateau des Bachelards shone so brightly after this producer’s stunning 2018s. Owner-winemaker Alexandra de Vazeilles’ Chateau des Bachelards – Comtesse de Vazeilles Fleurie Le Clos des Bachelards 2019, a youthful masterpiece with enormous depth and complexity, is one of the highest-rated wines in this report.
However, the 2019 wines from Domaine de Lathevalle and the 2018 wines this producer sells under the Les Heritiers Saint-Genys label were a great revelation. Regardless of the region, for a producer we had not encountered before, the Les Héritiers Saint-Genys Morgon Aux Charmes 2018 had mind-blowing concentration and length.
How can you explain this extraordinary quality coming from nowhere? “Being multicultural allows us to do things differently than they are usually done in the region,” winery director Patrice du Jeu told us.
The winery’s team is a mix of Burgundian and Beaujolais natives, but consultant winemaker Stephane Derenoncourt and his assistant, Simon Blanchard, are both from Bordeaux. “We spend a lot of time tasting, exchanging ideas and arguing to make sure we come to the best result with our wines,” du Jeu said.
The wines from J.B. Bachevillier’s Domaine de Mont Joly were also a wonderful surprise. They are lowly Beaujolais-Villages, but all of them taste like excellent wines from one of the region’s 10 Crus.
The discovery of exciting but forgotten vineyard locations in the region is an important new trend. Climate change has really upgraded a lot of high-altitude locations from on the edge to exciting. Young winemakers and those from outside the region are grasping these opportunities.
The one question mark we see over the future of the wines from the beautiful hill country of Beaujolais is the wine prices. We love the bargains too, but are they economically sustainable in the long term?
Alexandra de Vazeilles is an outspoken champion for price realism. “Given the slopes on which the vineyards are planted, every bottle from the Beaujolais Cru should be sold for a minimum of 20 euros,” she told us. “Only that will allow the vignerons to do a proper job. If not, then they have to work with high yields, which leads to a misrepresentation of their terroirs.” She means tart and mean wines.
A final note on vintages. In Beaujolais, like many other regions of France, our first impression of 2021 is that it is a throwback to the pre-climate change period. The wines are much sleeker and tarter than 2020, 2019 and 2018. So far we have mostly tasted wines from the regional appellations of Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Village, and they have been a mixed bag.
We’ll get a better picture of 2021 at the end of this year when a more representative selection of wines from this vintage starts making it into our tasting rooms scattered around Planet Wine.
Yields were low in 2020, so we recommend that you don’t wait if you want some of the top wines of the vintage. If you’re trying high-end Beaujolais for the first time, we would be surprised if you didn’t enjoy the taste of this region’s future!
– Stuart Pigott, Senior Editor
