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Burgundy
At first blush, Burgundy might seem easy to understand. Unlike Bordeaux, where each chateau uses a different grape—such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc—to produce different wines, in Burgundy, the white wines are made from just one grape, Chardonnay, and the reds only from Pinot Noir and Gamay, the dominant red grape in Beaujolais. Yet this is not as simple as it sounds. You could spend a lifetime studying and tasting the wines of Burgundy and still come away needing more time to truly understand them. And therein lies both the dilemma and delight of this region. Burgundy, whose wines date back to the Roman Empire, is located in eastern France, southeast of Paris, and consists of five basic regions: Chablis, the Côte d’Or, the Côte Chalonnaise, the Macônnais, and Beaujolais. The grands crus in Côte d’Or are recognized for producing the region’s best red wines. Côte de Beaune grows the region’s finest Chardonnay. While Pinot Noir and Chardonnay get most of the attention, Beaujolais alone turns out more wines than all the rest of Burgundy combined.
BeaujolaisOne of the most popular and delightful red wines in the world comes from the southern-most part of Burgundy called Beaujolais. The wines are fresh, fruity, and, more often than not, uncomplicated. Whereas other red Burgundies are made from the Pinot Noir grape, Beaujolais winemakers exclusively use the Gamay, a grape best suited to the area’s granite-laden hills. Indeed, nearly all the wines from Beaujolais are red, with small amounts of rosé and white.People are most familiar with Beaujolais Nouveau (“new”), a very young, seven- to nine-week-old wine released with much fanfare each year on the third Thursday of November. However, the region’s real treasures are the Beaujolais crus. They come from a group of 10 villages in the northern end of the region, and each cru has a style all its own. While these wines are made in the same way as other Beaujolais—a unique process called macération carbonique, which produces light red wines with intense color, a fresh fruity flavor, and low tannins—the best crus will have more lusciousness, concentration, and fruit, as well as greater length on the palate.
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