1999. I know, I know, but before all you knowledgeable wine lovers turn your noses up at a "mere" Beaujolais Villages and move on to reading about Michael Frank's latest set of sexy wheels, let me assure you that this is very far from your standard-issue Beaujolais. In fact, it's such an exciting and sexy wine that its importer describes it as "so much fun it should be illegal," and he's right. It actually has more in common with the Cristom Pinot than might at first meet the eye. Gamay, the grape of Beaujolais, is a close relation of pinot noir, and tradition has it that Gamay was developed from its more august cousin in order to yield light, early maturing wine. These days, though, what a few inventive Beaujolais vignerons (winegrowers) are discovering is that if you modify the traditional Beaujolais methods and treat Gamay like pinot noir, you wind up with a bigger, richer and all together more substantial wine that tastes, well, like a pinot noir. This is what the Bererd family of Perréon is doing, and very exciting it is too. They are lucky in that they own vineyards with some very old vines--up to 100 years old--that produce small quantities of highly concentrated grapes. Then, by rigorous work in the vineyard, de-stemming the grapes, employing longer fermentation and aging in oak barrels--all of which are a departure from the prevailing Beaujolais custom--they wind up with a Beaujolais of uncommon power and intensity. During a visit to the Bererds last summer, I sat around the huge oak table in the family dining room and tasted various vintages dating back to 1987. What amazed me was that it was possible to make a "simple" Beaujolais Villages that had this much depth of flavor, or that could last so long. In a blind tasting, I would peg them for Premier Cru Burgundies; that's how good they are. My favorite was the 1995, because it opened up more than the new vintages and all the elements of flavor were working together in harmony. Unfortunately, it is very hard to find in the U.S., but the later vintages, especially the 1998, make for super current summer drinking when lightly chilled and will age beautifully too. Bruno Bererd told me, "We prefer bigger wines than the traditional Beaujolais, and I want to prove to many people that we can make more concentrated wines than Beaujolais-Villages is known for." He, along with his father and his brothers, has certainly achieved that. The 55,000 acres of Beaujolais produce more than 15 million cases of wine every year, much of it, unfortunately, the rather light and unimpressive product that most wine drinkers think of when they hear the name "Beaujolais." Most Beaujolais is made by combining standard burgundy vinification methods with a process called macération carbonique, which lets fermentation take place within the grape. By reducing exposure to the skin, the wines are consistently low in tannin and preponderantly fruity, if not particularly remarkable. Better crus, such as Le Perreon, are made according to traditional methods, which can produce more interesting wines, although not necessarily as long-lived as wines from Burgundy or Bordeaux. (Source: Nick Passmore, Forbes Magazine, July 23, 2003).
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