Beaujolais Nouveau .....................................................................................................................................................................................................

The story behind the 2008 harvest in Beaujolais "A low-yielding, old-fashioned vintage" CHRIS PIPER'S ANNUAL BEAUJOLAIS REPORT The poor summer that plagued most of northern Europe was also experienced in the Beaujolais and, like 2007, any expectations for a fine vintage in the vein of 2005 were soon forgotten about. However, the weather started to change for the better during the last two weeks of August and the ripening process was quickly re-kindled, only to be damped down by a disappointingly dull and wet opening to September. The 'Ban des Vendanges' (the official harvest start date) was set for 15th September but at Château du Pavé, where our "HQ" for our three properties¹ is based and where our picking team operates from, the difficult decision was taken to delay the arrival of the harvesters until the 23rd. Luckily, this proved to be the right course of action, as the sun started to shine on the 16th September and continued to do so right until the end of the month! Château du Pavé, always a more precocious vineyard, was picked first and this was followed by our 30-odd harvesters descending on Château de Grandmont at Blacé, where estate manager, Claude Perrin, had also brought in a mini-machine harvester to pick the vineyard plots destined for the rosé. This allowed us to finish the Beaujolais-Villages picking rather more quickly than usual and finish our "circuit" at Guy Brac de la Perrière's Château des Péthières situated just below the village of St. Etienne-des-Oullières. The extra week's hang time that we achieved by waiting, ensured that the Gamay grapes achieved a natural potential alcohol level of just below 11°. Luckily, the sun shone on each of the eight days that we picked which helped motivate our 30-strong team of harvesters. Because of a lack of uniform ripeness, there was an extremely high level of triage² required, starting in the harvesters' buckets, then in the reception bins on the tractors and, finally, in the winery, using a table de trie³. The end result was that only healthy and ripe grapes were loaded in to the vats but we had to discard approximately 30% of the grapes on the vines to achieve this. The end cost of this operation is obvious but what has not been mentioned is the fact that the original crop on the vines was already very small, due to the poor and protracted flowering in the early summer. The final yields for the 2008 harvest were: CHATEAU DU PAVÉ 32hl./ha - CHATEAU DE GRANDMONT 28hl./ha. - CHATEAU DES PETHIERES - 34hl/ha. When you consider that the legal yield for all Beaujolais and Cru appellations for 2008 was fixed at 52hl./ha., you can quickly work out why this vintage will be so costly for many growers in the Beaujolais region! ¹= the three properties are Château du Pavé (Brouilly),Château de Grandmont (Beaujolais-Villages) & Château des Péthières (Beaujolais) ²= the process of sorting the grapes, leaving only perfect berries or bunches to go into the vat. ³= a sorting table positioned just before the conveyor belt that loads the grapes in to the vats. °= 1 hectolitre is 100 litres & 1 hectare is 2.47 acres Wine making and the style of the 2008 vintage I must say I thoroughly enjoyed vinifying the 2008 wines because it was somewhat of a challenge to achieve the depth and richness that I am always looking for in my Beaujolais. The market likes wines with a decent depth of colour but to achieve this is not always that easy as it is vital not to over-extract, as this generally leaves the wine astringent and unbalanced. My aim this year was to ferment at high temperatures, for not too long, concentrating on accentuating the wines' fruit and floral characteristics but also looking for a soft, mouth-coating succulence, balanced by the Gamay's intrinsic freshness. Because properly sorted grapes ensure that the wine maker only ends up with top-quality fruit, our jobs are also made a little bit easier than they were ten or fifteen years' ago, when triage was the reserve of the top Bordelais châteaux. In 2008, for the northern European zone, producers were allowed to increase their alcohol degree by a maximum of 2°, achievable by the addition of sugar during the fermentation. At our three vineyards, we achieved higher initial levels of potential alcohol than we anticipated and, therefore, only needed to moderately chaptalise¹, especially as I felt that the essential balance and freshness of this year's Beaujolais would be compromised by too high an alcohol level. At a time when the market is asking for slightly lower alcohol wines, I am looking to achieve about 12°.2 for my Beaujolais Nouveau and 12°.5 for the Beaujolais-Villages and Brouilly. Beaujolais Nouveau 2008 - Château des Péthières Guy Brac de la Perrière's four and a half hectare estate is planted with thirty year-old vines, situated on well draining hillsides on the southern side of the village of St. Etienne-des-Oullières. This year saw the wines being vinified, for the first time, at our main winery (cuvage) at Château du Pavé, in the village of St. Lager. Fermentation for the Beaujolais Nouveau lasted six days and, as usual, was carried out using the old-fashioned methods that I have been practising since the 2001 vintage. This involves pigeage (the treading down, using feet, of the grapes in to the fermenting juice below), regular pumping-over and a single pressing of the grapes at the end of the process, ensuring that only the best quality juice is used. The wine will be only lightly filtered, to ensure maximum flavour and colour.

Tasting Note The 2008 Beaujolais Nouveau is succulent, extremely fruity and very ripe with a very good balancing acidity. It is a classic Beaujolais Nouveau. The 2008 Beaujolais Nouveau is released TODAY, Thursday 20th November and, we will be despatching the wine to our customers over the next few days. Orders Please ensure that all orders are placed with us as soon as possible. We only have a limited amount of this special cuvée which is offered on a first-come-first-served basis. You may place your orders by 'phone, e-mail, fax or letter. Price: £6.82 per bottle inc.VAT No further discounts apply to this wine. .................................................................................................................................