Thursday the 20th of November 2025 will be Beaujolais Nouveau day - so how about a few stats to get us going? 15.5 million bottles of Nouveaux were produced in 2023 versus 16.5 million in 2022 - but in 2024, we saw another drop to 14.3 million. That said, 2024 was a much lower-volume harvest - and 2025 wasn't much higher. Unfortunately, for comparison's sake, the 2025 sales volume won't be known for quite some time... The main theme for the 2024 vintage were the losses due to mildew. There was a little of that in 2025 too - but in the end, it was the poor weather at flowering time that reduced volume expectations as it resulted in much coulure and millerandes. Volume expectations were further reduced by spells of hot (heatwave) weather, which shrunk the volume of juice in the berries. Like in the other regions of Burgundy, there was rain to contend with at harvest time, but as one grower explained to me, "Yes, but the rain was sufficiently late that the grapes didn't take up much of it - so it hardly budged the potential harvest volumes." Most of Nouveau comes from the southerly part of Beaujolais - in the Beaujolais and Beaujolais villages areas. More (Nouveau) wine is generally made here than in the crus - but volumes (and trying to compare them) are, of course, a moving target, varying from producer to producer. In 2024, France took 62% of the bottles, but the classic Nouveau markets of Japan, the US and the UK, together, still bought 3.2 million bottles (versus 4 million bottles in 2022) out of the total of 5.3 million that were exported. Oh, and 4% of that remains white or rosé today! And how is this Nouveau vintage? I'll make my comments on 2025 Nouveau, aided by some comparison to 2024: Historically - and I've been making this tasting since the 2017 vintage - I've seen much more consistent quality in smaller volume vintages than I have in 'normal' or 'generous' vintages. It seems that many domaines like to play with yield elasticity in the more generous vintages - when it's quite easy to find lighter, usually less interesting wines. The quality wasn't consistent in 2024, and was only rarely great. 2025 is another smaller-volume vintage, but this time the growers have delivered much better consistency - the best that I've seen since the 2022 vintage. The 2025 grapes had naturally higher ripeness than in 2024, enabled by earlier harvesting that allowed growers to delay harvesting, should they wish - many domaines recounting that they found it difficult to find the optimum harvest dates. This higher ripeness seems to have worked in our favour with more consistency, and it's clearly evident in even higher levels in this year's Beaujolais Villages. From the 116 wines from 2025 that I tasted, I found many more acceptably delicious, even excellent wines than was the case in 2024 - I even found some great ones! Very good to excellent wines mean that they are wines where I would be happy to drink at least a glass, or even multiple glasses. This year, it was obvious that there was more consistent quality to be found in the Beaujolais Villages than the Beaujolais, though, like every year, at the expense of drinkability. Let me explain: This year, Beaujolais Villages wines show more maturity and their finishing sweetness of fruit is next level - but also the level of tannin in many.... Most of them will start drinking well in the Springtime of 2026 - but on the 20th of November? Les Beaujolais Nouveaux day? - less so. Did I ever say that I struggle with the concept of Beaujolais Villages Nouveaux? At least in terms of drinking them on the third Thursday of November - of course I did :) Good hunting! All of the wines were tasted and selected blind. It was only after the tasting that I got a copy of the spreadsheet with the names to match to the numbered bottles: Great wines for their labels Antoine Viland Nouveau Julien Aucagne Villages Nouveau Jérôme Lacondemine, Cœur de Vigneron Villages Nouveau Excellent Wines - Beaujolais Nouveau Only one more excellent wine than in 2024 in this section - but fully 61% (36 of 59 samples) of the wines I rated as being of very acceptable quality - that's way higher than in 2024: Quentin et Gaëtan Morel, Boder’Wine Château de L’Eclair Louis Tête, Le Pot Les Vins J.M Aujoux, Le Bistrot d’Aujoux Les Vins J.M Aujoux, Le Cochon Chic P.Ferraud & Fils, Le Couple Georges Duboeuf Excellent Wines - Beaujolais Villages Nouveau Nineteen from 51 wines tasted in this section I thought excellent - 2 were great. That's in comparison to just 10 in 2024. Likewise, I classed a much higher percentage of 2025s as having very acceptable quality: 38 from 51 or 74% !! Famille Mélinon Domaine de Colette, Natur’elle Maison Piron Passot Rémy et Fils Maison Trénel Domaine de la Plaigne Domaine du Sallerin, En attendant le Printemps Aurélie Dunérin Domaine de Croifolie Cave du Château des Loges, Le Monde en Fête Richard Rottiers Château de Lavernette, Le Jeune Château de la Terrière Domaine de la Milleranche Château de Poncié Frédéric Perrier André Colonge & Fils, Gatsby Gamay The savoury/beer flavours and/or aromas – which I associate with lower sulfur wines that have been open a few hours – or wines in fridge that have been open more than 24 hours – were very common in the flavours of 2024s, but they are much rarer in 2025. I know that some people like beer. Click on 'Read More...' below to see the full notes for the 116 wines in the order that they were (blind) tasted on Wednesday 05th November 2025:   Read More

Thursday the 21st November 2024 will be Beaujolais Nouveaux day - so how about a few stats to get us going? The area under vine continues to decrease in Beaujolais - in 2023 it was just 12,067 hectares - compared to 13,500 hectares in 2022. 15.5 million bottles of Nouveaux were produced in 2023 versus 16.5 million in 2022 - but this year, the smaller area under vines is not the underlying theme. For 2024, the volume is considerably less and we can simply point to the weather. Like the rest of greater Burgundy in 2024, and France in general, there was frost in places, not the best flowering, and interminable rain - consequently the development of mildew. The crus of northern Beaujolais were largely spared the worst of the weather conditions - occasional hail excepted - but most of Nouveau comes from further south - in the Beaujolais and Beaujolais villages areas. It's a big area so some parts fared better than others but many producers made only a quarter of their normal yields - or even less. In 2023 France took two-thirds of the bottles but the classic markets of Japan, the US and the UK, together, still bought 3.9 million bottles (versus 4 million bottles in 2022) out of the total of 5.7 million that were exported. Oh, and 4% of that is white or rosé today! And how is this Nouveaux vintage? I'll keep my comments strictly on 2024 Nouveaux: Historically - and I've been making this tasting since the 2017 vintage - I've seen much more consistent quality in smaller volume vintages than I have in 'normal or generous' vintages. It seems that many domaines like to play with yield elasticity in more generous vintages - so it's quite easy to find lighter, less interesting wines. 2024 is certainly a smaller volume vintage, so that means the average is quite consistent then(?) Sadly no. From the 119 wines from 2024 that I tasted, I found great wines (for the label) to be very rare birds indeed, though wines that spanned the range of quality from very good to excellent, fortunately, cropped up from time to time - ie wines where I would be happy to drink at least a glass, or even multiple glasses. It was clear that there was more consistent quality to be found in the Beaujolais Villages than the Beaujolais. Beaujolais is the first step of quality, with Beaujolais Villages coming from 'more gifted' sites. This year, chance played a wicked game with me; the first wine I tasted was super (I wrote 'benchmark') but quite a few of those that followed were at a much lower quality level. Tasting life was 'easier' with the Beaujolais Villages in that the average quality was higher and also more consistent - but, unfortunately, at the expense of drinkablity. What do I mean by that? The Beaujolais Villages wines are more structural and tannic - they are more concentrated too. Most of them will start drinking well in the Springtime of 2025 - but on the 21st November? Beaujolais Nouveaux day? - not so much. Did I ever say that I struggle with the concept of Beaujolais Villages Nouveaux? At least in terms of drinking them on the third Thursday of November :) Good hunting! All of the wines were tasted and selected blind. It was only after the tasting that I got a copy of the spreadsheet with the names to match to the numbered bottles: Great wines for their labels Clearly fewer than last year: Mommessin Domaine des Marrans Famille Girin Domaine JP Rivière Excellent Wines - Beaujolais Nouveau P. Ferraud et Fils, Rosé Domaine des Ronze, Cuvée Vieilles Vignes Club des Sommeliers, GVS Antoine Viland Maison Loron, Les Repentis Vignerons des Pierres Dorées, La Rose Pourpre Château de l'Eclair Excellent Wines - Beaujolais Villages Nouveau Domaine Depardon, Cuvée Préstige Maison Thorin Julien Aucagne Jean-Marc Lafont Agamy, Cuvée Bernard Pivot Domaine Monts D'argent, Lantigné Domaine Joncy Richard Rottiers Jérôme Lacondemine, Cœur de Raisin Georges Duboeuf The savoury/beer flavours and/or aromas – which I associate with low slufur wines that have been open a few hours – or wines in fridge that have been open more than 24 hours – are very common in the flavours this year. I know that some people like beer – but it’s not my thing, plus I’ve never noted as much in previous tastings. Click on 'Read More...' below to see the full notes for the 119 wines in the order that they were (blind) tasted on Thursday 7th November 2024:   Read More

So - how important is Beaujolais Nouveau today? It may surprise you to learn that in 2022, nearly a quarter of all Beaujolais' 13,500 hectares of production, ended up in bottles that were labelled Nouveau. That was 16,500,000 bottles of Nouveau - and that's a lot - it's equivalent to 85% of all the production of the Burgundy region from Chablis to the 'border' with Beaujolais! France takes 60% of the bottles but the classic markets of Japan, the US and the UK, together, still bought more than 4 million bottles last year. That being the case, it's still worth trying to find some good ones! The 2023 vintage: The vine-growth in 2023 started in the 'new classic' style - ie quite early and in good conditions due to a mild start to the year. This year, there was hardly any worry about frost and there followed practically ideal conditions for flowering. This early debut of growth, followed by the summer heat, ensured that it was another earlier harvesting year - from about the 1st September - so, versus 2021, we certainly had the potential for nearly an extra month of elevage before any Nouveau bottling got underway - but how, exactly, did the post-flowering year go? In 2023, the Beaujolais vigneron(ne)s liked to talk about the weather; there's nothing unusual about 'farmers' talking about the weather, right? Of course not! But, as we approached the harvest, there was a clear focus to most of these conversations - and that focus was the rain - or rather the lack of rain. The crus in the north got a couple of decent rainfalls in July/August but to the south not - here it stayed dry from mid-June right up to the harvest - in fact the further south you went in Beaujolais, the drier it got, reducing the berry size and therefore the yields - unsurprisingly, it was the young vines that particularly suffered in these conditions. The producers point to the counter-balance of the daytime heat with cooler nights - 'so the wines have a nice aromatic balance - not too warm!' Proportionately, Beaujolais Nouveau is made in higher quantities from vines in the appellations of Beaujolais and Beaujolais Villages as these labels are a little less attractive to Beaujolais buyers than those wines labelled in the name of 'the crus' - such as Fleurie or Saint Amour. So it is the wines from the south, whose volumes were most severely limited by the summer drought, who provide the bulk of the juice for these Nouveaux - it was an important point for this tasting. The best wines... In the the heartland of Beaujolais Nouveau production - ie the south of Beaujolais - the, drought-related, brake on the potential harvest volume has clearly been of benefit for anyone with an interest in drinking this stuff. That's because any excess volume usually translates into significant quality variation between those who cropped at the maximum and those who were more modest. 2023's more modest harvest volumes have brought some consistency to the wines - a little like in 2022. The Beaujolais Nouveaux are less regular than the Beaujolais Villages Nouveaux but as in most years the latter category come with not just more depth of flavour - they come with more structure too - and in many cases I'd be looking to keep, and drink, the villages over a longer period than the campaign for Nouveau might suggest. I have noted a few more great wines (below) than in 2022 but overall, it's quite a similar number for 97 wines tasted this year. 97 wines tasted - is that a lot? There are probably more like 200-250 different bottlings and/or cuvée names in this category - and good luck to you if you can find some of them in your local markets. I really struggle in Switzerland - and the anonymous (single!) bottling of Switzerland's Coop supermarket is, historically, an awful one - but I'll try it again this year - hopefully without needing to pour (more than!) half of the bottle away! Good hunting! All the wines were tasted and selected blind. It was only after the tasting that I got a copy of the spreadsheet with the names to match to the numbered bottles: 5 Great wines for their labels One more than last year: Jean Loron, Beaujolais Nouveau Rosé Agamy, Domaine de Solémy Beaujolais Nouveau Manoir du Carra Famille Sambardier, Dame Nature Beaujolais Villages Famille Descombe, Granite Beaujolais Villages Richard Rottiers Beaujolais Villages 10 Excellent Wines - Beaujolais Nouveau Two less than in 2022: Jean Loron, Rift 69 Romy, Le Mouflet Georges Duboeuf Jean-Yves Sonnery Domaine de Baluce Domaine des Prévelières Domaine Pierre André Dumas Aurélie et Fabien Romany Domaine des Prévelières, Border'Wine Baptiste Aufranc Célia et David Large, Zombi 9 Excellent Wines - Beaujolais Villages Nouveau Just one more than in 2022: Domaine Gaget, Vinum Memoria Georges Duboeuf Domaine de la Madone Bérerd Père et Fils Nicolas Boudeau Domaine des Terres Vivantes, La Lutine Cave Vignerons de Bel Air, Natural Château de Corcelles Domaine Desprès Julien Aucagne Click on 'Read More...' below to see the full notes for the (almost) 100 wines in the order that they were (blind) tasted on Halloween 2023:   Read More

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

Or primeurs as the French, so often, refer to them. 162 wines, tasted blind in deepest Beaujolais, 04 November 2020: 2020 is the next in a series of warm vintages in the Beaujolais; it was frost-free in the Springtime and there was practically no hail in the Summer either. If there was to be one problem it was the dryness - some areas were described by locals as 'being on the limit.' Yet when it came to the harvest they had good, clean, grapes - even those with quite high degrees of potential alcohol. The final figures are not yet available for the yields in 2020 but the current expectation is for volumes that are below the average due to the aforementioned dryness. If that turns out to be the case, I won't be at all surprised. 2020 and the most recent vintages: I've done this tasting since the 2017 vintage, and whilst the recent quality from Grower Nouveau is on a much, higher level than I can ever recollect - and with much more consistency too - it seems to me that yields go a long way to defining what you will find in a bottle of Nouveau. I'm certain that it's not particularly from the perspective of absolute quality that yields show themselves but rather from the perspective of the consistency of the observed quality where they play their role. Some people will always go to the maximum allowed - 65 hl/ha - whilst others are quite happy with 45 - or less: Vintage 2017 - a warm, clean, early vintage – one hailstorm excepted – but low yielding. The best wines were excellent and the quality was consistent Vintage 2018 - a warm clean and again an early vintage but with many higher-yielding places where the producers allowed. I observed significant quality differences in the samples - I largely attributed this to big swings in yields. Vintage 2019 - another warm vintage with harvesting a little later but because of both frost and hail, yields were cut. The best wines were of high quality and the consistency was intermediate to 2017 and 2018. Vintage 2020 - a warm clean vintage with consistently below-average yields. The best wines, once again, show high quality and a consistency that's at least as good as seen in the 2017s. The wines are relatively powerful and well constructed, the 'villages' wines generally need a little patience but are consistently excellent! NB Given the early harvest in 2020, these wines have seen nearly an extra month of ageing - that's 33% more! - than would be the case for a, more traditional, late-September harvest. In 2020 you can almost blind-buy Beaujolais-Villages-Nouveau as they are overwhelmingly excellent, less-so Beaujolais Nouveau but still with some confidence. Of course, if you don't want to gamble, try the list further below. And the market? Of course, it’s a nightmare time to have an en-primeur campaign in 'mid-lockdown' but judging by the number of trucks on French roads, logistics still seem to be effective. It's (still) a very important slice of the region's sales for these primeurs - Japan representing the largest export market after the US, Canada, Switzerland and then the UK. About 46% of the production was exported from France in 2019, when Nouveau accounted for nearly 30% of all the sales from Beaujolais - about 21 million bottles - and that now includes 2 million bottles of rosé too! So how are the wines? One week before the big day, here is my list of 21 goto wines from 162 tasted 04 November 2020: 2020 Beaujolais Nouveau: 2020 Fellot Emmanuel, Vieilles-Vignes 2020 Château de L’Eclair 2020 Coquard Christophe 2020 Famille Chasselay, La Marduette 2020 Jean Loron, Tradition Vieilles Vignes 2020 Domaine Girin 2020 Trenel 2020 Chandesais, Petit Marcel 2020 Domaine Perroud Robert, Vieilles-Vignes 2020 Les Vins Aujoux 2020 Beaujolais Villages Nouveau: 2020 Domaine Nesme Mickael 2020 Famille Chevrier 2020 Colonge André et Fils, N°1 Gasby Gamay 2020 Fessy Henry, Tradition 2020 Domaine Lagneau 2020 Domaine des Fournelles - Dumontet Guillaume 2020 Lacondemine Jérôme, Coeur de Raisin 2020 Domaine Monternot Les Jumeaux 2020 Dubost Jean Paul, Beaujolais Lantignié 2020 Cave du Château des Loges, Les Trois Madones 2020 Boudeau Nicolas Click below to see the full notes for all 162 wines:   Read More