According to Rudy Chelminski  there is a feeling around the world that Georges Duboeuf invented Beaujolais Nouveau but he didn’t-it had been around for centuries. When Duboeuf got into the wine business it was already being bottled and sold in stores but he recognized it as a phenomenon and asked his vignerons to vinify some of their wine as Beaujolais Nouveau.

According to Rudy Chelminski  there is a feeling around the world that Georges Duboeuf invented Beaujolais Nouveau but he didn’t-it had been around for centuries. When Duboeuf got into the wine business it was already being bottled and sold in stores but he recognized it as a phenomenon and asked his vignerons to vinify some of their wine as Beaujolais Nouveau. You vinify by macerating for four or five days instead of eight or nine. It’s a simpler wine, a pleasant little wine, the perfect Thanksgiving wine but it has given the superb Beaujolais wines a bad name.

Beaujolais is made from the gamay grape that Philippe the Bold outlawed in Burgundy. Fortunately, the granite soils of Beaujolais were ideal for producing the 13 appellations:  Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages, Beaujolais Nouveau,  saint-amour,  juliénas, chénas,  moulin-à-vent, fleurie, chiroubles,  morgon, régnié, brouilly and côte-de-brouilly.

Also known as the 3rd river of Lyons, after the Rhone and the Saone, Beaujolais is the perfect accompaniment to traditional Lyonnaise cuisine: a cutting edge of acidity and light in alcohol. Or as Kermit Lynch in his indispensable ADVENTURES ON THE WINE ROUTE explains: “When those who remember real Beaujolais describe it, they make my mouth water: a light grapy, fizzy, tart, quaffable red wine. Bring on the gras-double (tripe with onions and parsley), boudin aux pommes, or cervelas aux pistaches et truffes (sausage stuffed with pistachios and truffles.)  With real Beaujolais we can handle it.”

So step up to the comptoir at your neighborhood wine bar or plop down in your local bouchon (Lyonnaise bistro) and order a fruity Morgon or Brouilly to wash down wafer thin, sliced sausages.