FRANCE: Beaujolais
2016 Gold: 3 Silver: 2 Bronze: 4 Commended: 5
2015 Gold: 0 Silver: 1 Bronze: 3 Commended: 6
Our tasters like Beaujolais – no question about it. When the appellation gets it right, it offers something genuinely unique – that mid-weight, juicy, fresh, easy-drinking style that can fly off a list and keep people coming back for more. It’s great for spring and autumn, tastes pretty good chilled down in the summer, and with red Burgundy prices verging on the eye-watering, it can make a good AC Bourgogne substitute.
So what’s not to like?
Well, the key five words in that first paragraph would be ‘when it gets it right’. After a stellar 2009 and 2010, Beaujolais has suffered a miserable run of vintages that have seen its medal count tumble in this competition – no Golds at all last year, which was mostly 2013 wines.
This year, driven largely by 2014s, things were more positive. It wasn’t an amazing year, but it was a decent one, and there were some really good wines here as a result. The cru wines were the most popular – generally reckoned to have more concentration and character – and the pricing of our medal winners, from £7 to sub-£14, was pretty keen.
The Signé Vignerons Chiroubles was a worthy Food Match Award winner. Our tasters put it with pizza, but nicely weighted, juicy and sappy, frankly it would work with a huge variety of dishes.
FROM THE TASTING TEAMS
‘When I pick one for the menu I want versatility. It has to drink on its own and also with food. It’s still a popular By The Glass wine. People definitely ask for it.’ Alex Cooper, Haymarket Hotel
‘I have a lot of love for Beaujolais cru. It can offer really delightful wines at a good price and some of them here really did that. In the £9-£11 area they were strong and would show well on a list at £40-£45.’ Laura Rhys, team leader
‘It’s not necessarily hard to sell Beaujolais, but people tend to want fresh and fruity wine under £50 on a list. Above that it’s hard. The wines with more intensity and weight are good wines in themselves, but they’re not necessarily what people expect.’ Gabriele Galuppo, Theo Randall at the InterContinental
‘The Beaujolais AC wines were lacking in complexity and richness. There was no concentration or silkiness. A big disappointment.’ Erik Simonics, The Savoy