Beaujolais, But Not As You Know It

I picked this bottle up without expecting too much, if I’m honest. Beaujolais still carries that reputation in the back of your mind, a bit light, a bit simple, something you don’t really sit and think about too much. But this felt like the right time to actually give it a proper go and see what it’s about beyond the stereotypes.

What I ended up with was a Beaujolais Villages from Moillard, and straight away it showed me that there’s a bit more going on here than people give it credit for.

First Impressions in the Glass

This is where it started to get interesting for me. The wine is light, no doubt about that, but it’s not weak. There’s a difference, and this sits firmly on the right side of it.

On the nose and palate you’re getting plenty of red fruit. Think cherry and raspberry, clean and quite vibrant. What stood out though was the texture. It had that soft, almost silky feel that immediately made me think of Pinot Noir. Not in a direct comparison sense, but more in the way it moves across your palate.

It’s one of those wines where you take a sip and think, this is easy, but actually there’s a bit of structure underneath keeping everything together.

Light But With a Bit of Backbone

This is probably the best way to describe it. It drinks lightly, it’s fresh, it’s approachable, but it’s not just floating about doing nothing.

There’s enough fruit concentration there to give it a bit of presence, and enough structure to stop it feeling thin. That’s what surprised me most. I went in expecting something quite simple and what I got was something that had a bit more intent behind it.

It doesn’t try to be anything it’s not, and I actually respect that. It knows exactly where it sits.

Why It Didn’t Quite Hit the Next Level

Now this is where it gets interesting from a scoring point of view.

I enjoyed it, I really did. It’s the kind of bottle you’d happily open midweek, something you could even slightly chill and just enjoy without overthinking it. But it didn’t quite give me that moment where you stop and go, right, this is serious.

The finish was decent but not memorable, and whilst the fruit was clean and enjoyable, it didn’t really evolve into anything more complex. It stayed in its lane the whole way through.

There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but it’s probably the difference between a good wine and one you keep thinking about the next day.

A Proper Entry Into Beaujolais

What this has done for me more than anything is open the door to the region.

If this is the standard at Beaujolais Villages level, then it makes you wonder what happens when you step things up slightly into the Crus. That’s where I think the real excitement could be.

This feels like the starting point. The foundation. The wine that shows you what Gamay is about before you go deeper.

Final Thoughts

This didn’t blow me away, but it wasn’t meant to. It did exactly what it should do and probably a bit more than I expected.

It’s light but not weak, fruity but not one dimensional, and carries just enough structure to keep you interested. More than anything, it’s made me curious, and that’s always a good sign.

If you’re like me and you’ve not really explored Beaujolais properly, this is a very solid place to start.

And I’ve got a feeling the next bottle from this region might be where things get really interesting.