Chattanooga Pulse

With the holidays upon us, Riley’s Wine and Spirits on Hixson Pike in Hixson has the perfect “Great Buy” in a holiday-style wine.  Great Buys is where Riley’s Wine and Spirits on Hixson Pike in Hixson picks something special from our large selection of wine and spirits from around the world and shared it with readers of The Pulse.  With November coming to an end, wine lovers know what the third Thursday of November means —Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived!

George Duboeuf has worked in the French winemaking industry since the age of six, when he started in the family-owned vineyard crushing grapes with a crank-operated crusher.  At the age of 18, he delivered family wines to restaurants on his bicycle.  Soon after, he began to bottle beaujolais on his own, forming a syndicate of 45 local growers, The Ecrin Maconnais Beaujolais.

This organization fell apart because of internal differences, and in 1964 he formed Georges Duboeuf Wines.  Duboeuf produces 25 million cases of wine a year and is solely responsible for the booming popularity in beaujolais wines, giving Georges Duboeuf the nickname Mr. Beaujolais.

Beaujolais Nouveau wine is made from the gamay grape, which is grown in the region known as Beaujolais, located in Southern France’s Burgundy.  Beaujolais starts north of Lyons and runs for about 35 miles north to the city of Macon.  Beaujolais differs from other winemaking areas in Burgundy in that Beaujolais focuses solely on the growth of the gamay grape, whereas other areas focus mainly on Pinot Noir.

Vintners of Beaujolais employ a different red winemaking process called carbonic maceration (also known as whole berry fermentation).  This process gives beaujolais wine its lighter style, low tannin level, deeper color and flavors of fresh fruit.

The first step in the process is to dump hand picked, uncrushed branches of grapes into vats filled with carbon dioxide and wine yeast.  The key to this early step is that the bunches of grapes on the bottom are crushed by the weight of the grape bunches on top, producing large amounts of juice and carbon dioxide on the bottom, signaling the early process of fermentation.

Soon, carbon dioxide envelopes the upper bunches and seals off the vat from any unwanted air exposure, and the upper bunches begin producing juice.  Once completed, the contents of the vat are pressed and fermentation is completed in the standard way.

This year’s Beaujolais Nouveau by Georges Duboeuf is being hyped as the best vintage in 50 years.  Perfect weather over the last year has helped to produce a gamay grape lush in color and flavor, always a sign of good health in grapes.

Beaujolais Nouveau cannot be aged (in a cellar or otherwise). It must be consumed by May of the following year.  Serve it chilled, around 55°F and enjoy its fruit forward, soft and smooth flavors.  Beaujolais Nouveau pairs with any number of foods, from fine French cuisine, to pizza or hamburgers.