160 wines blind-tasted in Beaujolais, 05 November 2019.
Of course, 2019 was another in the series, the trilogy, of warm years – but one with instances of frost. More drastic than the frost was a late-arriving hailstorm that on the 20th of August swept through the south of Beaujolais, cutting yields – in some cases drastically. The average losses were minus 30% – but it was Beaujolais-Villages where the most was lost, hence, the volume of ‘Nouveau de Garde’ has been significantly reduced this year.
I’ve previously laughed out load about the concept of Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau – Nouveau that you can cellar – so I will not bore you about that, not this time!
This year I embarked on a 160 wine gamayathon; I was certainly tired at the end, fortunately not emotional though! This year we even had 8 Nouveau of a different colour – rosé… That’s up from the 3 from last year that I didn’t taste(!) At this rate of growth we will have 20 in 2020!
What to expect and what’s really worth buying
So three quite hot years, generally that’s beneficial to the quality, but with three different results:
2017 – low yielding and probably because of that a really high quality in both the Nouveau and the Villages Nouveau
2018 – less low yielding, and that was the crux. Basic Nouveau was much more variable but the Villages Nouveau was more consistent
2019 – because of frost and hail, yields were cut, and for the consumer that has once more brought consistency and quality to the basic Nouveau category due to lower yields. I think only twice did I instantly say ‘No!’ and run from a particular wine. As for the Villages Nouveau – here was overwhelmingly more concentration and particularly intensity – the intensity of acidity – probably okay if you wish to cellar your Nouveau for 6-12 months, but I was looking for the balance for drinking now, and from this tasting that was relatively rare. As for the rosé wines – super, all of them – really a great source of easy, delicious drinking for the next weeks – or even longer – why not? Read more..
I finally got to see the result of this years competition – decided at the end of last week. 
The big tasting was this week, and here for your interest is the list of nominees for the trophy in each category.
