Burgundy, Beaujolais, and Bordeaux!

This week, Kyle Boatright from distributor and importer Free Run Wine Merchants will be our guest pourer, pouring wines from three classic wine regions of France — Burgundy, Beaujolais, and Bordeaux.

Burgundy

The Burgundy wine region is one of France’s most famous. It sits in east-central France, creeping alongside the Saône River, where its limestone soil can add a zesty minerality to the wine. It has five sub-regions — Chablis, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Beaune, Côte Chalonnaise, and Mâconnais. There, you can find Aligoté, Pinot Gris, Gamay, and Sauvignon Blanc. However, by far, the dominant grapes of Burgundy are Pinot Noir for red and Chardonnay for white.

Beaujolais

Sitting directly beneath the rest of Burgundy, Beaujolais follows the Saône down to Lyons, south of which the Rhône Valley begins. To be exact, Beaujolais is the sixth Burgundy sub-region, but most people think about it as its own region. Although a half dozen grapes are allowed to appear in official appellation Beaujolais wines, the area overwhelmingly grows and is known for Gamay. Whether you’re talking about wines from Beaujolais in general or from the higher quality Beaujolais Village areas, you’re talking about Gamays.

Bordeaux

In Bordeaux, two rivers flow parallel from south to north. The eastern one is the Dordogne, and western is the Garonne. As they flow north, they join together into the Gironde Estuary, that empties out into the Atlantic Ocean. The whole riverine structure looks like a lambda or an upside down “y,” and based on this structure, people divide Bordeaux into three regions — Left Bank (the vineyards that lie below the Garonne), Right Bank (the vineyards that lie above the Dordogne), and Entre-Deux-Mers (the vineyards between the two rivers). Though Bordeaux Blancs can be lovely, the region is most known for its reds made (mostly) from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Please join Kyle this Friday for a stroll through “the Three B’s” of French wine. This is a free, walk-up tasting that we encourage you to visit anytime between 5:00 and 6:30 PM.