Beaujolais Blanc
I mentioned Beaujolais Blanc in my last post. I've asked around a bit, and few people, even wine geeks, have heard of it, so I thought I'd research it a bit more.
When most Americans think of the wines from the Beaujolais region, just south of Burgundy, they think of Beaujolais Nouveau. Let's get through that one quickly. Beaujolais Nouveau is a wine meant to be drunk very young, and it celebrates the harvest. I'm not sure if it existed before Georges Duboeuf, but he definitely had the business savvy to turn the Nouveau release into a heavily marketed event. Come the third Thursday of November, when these wines are released, you'll see every food site around mention them. These articles are as ubiquitous as ones that extol the virtue of rosé wines near the beginning of summer or describe good kosher wines around Passover.
There are, however, Beaujolais crus (and Beaujolais-Villages), wines with character and complexity. Drinking a Moulin-à-Vent or a Fleurie or a Morgon is completely different than quaffing a Nouveau. But some things are immutable for red wines bearing the Beaujolais name—they are made with the gamay grape and fermentation happens inside the whole grapes via a process called carbonic maceration.
So, what is Beaujolais Blanc? Karen MacNeil's The Wine Bible gives it a couple of sentences. It accounts for about two percent of the region's wines, and is made with either chardonnay or aligoté grapes (both of which can be used in white Burgundy as well). I couldn't find anything in my books which mentioned whether or not carbonic maceration is done with these grapes. According to the notes that accompanied our bottle, growers in Beaujolais can only devote 10% of their vineyard to white varieties, which helps explain its rarity. Perhaps Clotilde or another French reader can tell me if they're well-known in France? Blancs from the Villages appellations are more common than just straight Beaujolais Blanc, according to New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia.
How does it taste? I have just the one sample, the 2003 Domaine de Lalande. My tasting notes mention aromas of citrus (esp. orange), minerals that mirror the limestone-rich soil, and a little bit of honey. On the palate, strong acidity frames citrus flavors, with a surprising pepper note on the finish. The wine seemed fuller than, say, a Chablis (which is also made with Chardonnay), perhaps a side effect of the warmer climate where these grapes grow. It would no doubt do well against shellfish, but its weight suggests that it could do well with heavier white fish, or perhaps chicken and pasta with a light cream sauce. Corn and crab are traditional pairings with chardonnay.
The 2004 Guide Hachette lists a few here and there, though none get more than a star—the Guide Hachette seems to work like the Michelin Guide in that inclusion is worth something on its own, but stars count extra.
Anyway, if you happen to catch a glimpse of one of these elusive wines, buy a bottle (ours was USD $11) and give it a shot. We bought four extra bottles to drink, though at least some of my motivation was the novelty of these wines. Still, it's an enjoyable wine, and we look forward to our next bottle.
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