Death of a major figure in Beaujolais: Georges DuBoeuf

A sad day. Georges DeBoeuf had a huge impact on his wine region. Beaujolais Nouveau celebrations (the first of the year's wine releases) have spread worldwide due to his efforts to drive both wine quality and wine marketing. We visited his winery/museum/wine town, and were very impressed. Tasting there, we found many high-quality wines that never make it to the US, all made from the overlooked Gamay grape.

Even in the Willamette Valley, growers tend to plant Syrah, not Gamay, as the climate warms, whereas the natural order (with increasing climate warmth, as you head south in France) is Pinot Noir, then Gamay, then Syrah.  This is unfortunate.

Coincidentally, as he was dying, we were hosting a Beaujolais Nouveau dinner party (with a great duck ragout dish), and that wine was widely perceived, around the table, as a great wine. So fascinating, that a wine could be so good after just a months after harvest.

Here is a nice short article mentioning DuBoeuf's contributions.

What does the recent cold in the Midwest mean for grapes?

It means if they are Vitis vinifera, they are probably all dead now. The classic European winegrapes have little resistance to extreme cold (or to various fungal diseases). But their sturdier American and Asian grape-friends have excellent cold resistance--often down to -40F!, whereas vinifera will die off at about 0 degrees F (and the Amer and Asian grapes have excellent disease ressistance, too). This is why I'm supporting grapes that are crosses between the classic winegrapes (vinifera) and the American and Asian grapes. These modern grapes also ripen earlier. The modern grapes are a win-win-win in every sense.

If you want to talk about foolishness, real foolishness is the expensive and time-consuming planting of Vitis vinifera in the Midwest, when those grapes just cannot live there. Those growers should be planting modern grapes instead. Modern grapes make great wine. When will they learn? It's a little hard to feel too sorry for them.


photo credit: alamy