The Story
The Raisins Gaulois Beaujolais 2018 is a Gamay wine from Marcel Lapierre sourced from vineyards in the Morgon area of Beaujolais in France. The name “Raisins Gaulois” simply translates to French Grapes and from there we will begin our story. Marcel Lapierre is one of the icons of Beaujolais, pioneered a return to the old ways of producing wine, organic farming in the vineyards, native, natural yeasts for fermentation, no added sulfur dioxide, and not filtering the wine at bottling. Marcel has passed on and his son Mathieu is continuing his father’s legacy (they are adding biodynamic farming techniques). If you notice the label, and the label is something that does get your attention, the wine is designated as Vin de France or Table Wine, which is the lowest French wine classification. It is Table Wine, not because of quality issues, but this is a Beaujolais that does not conform to Cru or AOC rules and regulations.
The Gamay grapes are sourced from organic Cru vineyards near the town of Morgon, along with a small number of grapes from AOC vineyards. The vines average about 15 years old, which is young for Marcel Lapierre, their top Beaujolais wines feature vines 60 years old and up. The Raisins Gaulois is a young, affordable wine, but has impeccable sourcing of grapes. The front label features a cartoon of a man squeezing a bunch of red grapes and wine pours from the grapes to his open mouth. The winemaking is not quite that simple, but the winemaking process is intended not to get in the way of the quality grapes. This is a wine that is not exactly Beaujolais Nouveau and isn’t AOC Beaujolais either, hence the Vin De France designation. It was aged for 4 months and is intended to be as drinkable as Nouveau, but with the quality of grapes of Cru Beaujolais. The alcohol content is 12.5%.
The Tasting Notes
The color is a see-thru black cherry red. The nose is subtle, a little cherry, herbs, some minerality, soft spice, a hint of jammy strawberry, and black pepper. This is a Gamay with an engaging mouth-feel, solid balanced acidity, and rich fruit flavors. It tastes of blackberry with a herbal edge, spice, black cherry, pepper. The mid-palate offers a salty sensation, minerality, a hint of tart cranberry, and a late blast of sweet raspberry. This is a very French wine, every component is of equal value and importance. The finish is soft and very long.
The Summary
- The Raisins Gaulois is a wine made with the old techniques, but with modern equipment and ideas.
- A very tasty and affordable wine featuring some of the best quality grapes Beaujolais has to offer.
- This is a wine that grows on you, at first sip you are thinking, “I don’t know about this”. By The 3rd sip, you can’t get enough.
