The harvest took place in good conditions. With such a late picking time, it is the experience of our winemakers that allow them to make excellent “cuvees” of Beaujolais
Nouveau in such a short time. In fact, from the moment when the grapes are cut until the consumer release date (the famous 3rd Thursday of November), there are hardly two months to vinify the wine. Fortunately the healthy quality of the harvest ( absence of rot, ideal ripening,…) greatly helped our efforts.
Vinification is an Art. By definition, it is simply the transformation of grapes into wine. But in reality, to succeed, there is a succession of stages to follow, which you could categorise as 4 essential procedures.
1/ The maceration stage, during which the grapes are in tanks or cuves. Here, the complete berries (skin, pulp, pips and stalk) are in contact with the juice. This procedure is for extracting colour, structure and aromas.
2/ The alcoholic fermentation – the transformation of grape sugar into alcohol.
3/ The pressing which consists of extracting the juice – here we now call it “must” (grape juice undergoing fermentation) Once the fermentation is complete, we can then call it wine
4/ The final indispensable stage of a good vinification is the malo-lactic fermentation. This consists of transforming a high acidity into a soft acidity to bring a round suppleness to the wine. During the vinification work, our team of oenologists taste the different “cuvees” of wine every day in order to decide what procedures are necessary according to the evolution of the wine. The different “terroirs”, the varying length of maceration time, the use of different vinification techniques allow them to appreciate the different styles of wine between each “cuvee” or blend.
In general terms, we notice this year a rapid colouring of the juice. Furthermore, the aromas are subtle and pleasing. Aromas bring to mind strawberries, raspberries and cherries. To summarise, the hard work of our technical team plus the quality of the grapes are sufficient to weigh in our favour ; we will have our Beaujolais Nouveau ready and on time with what appears an excellent vintage.
