Beaujolais and its Grands Vins: A vineyard full of exceptional wines

Beaujolais and its Grands Vins: A vineyard full of exceptional wines

The Beaujolais Vineyard

I was born in Beaujolais and when I was younger, I ‘went winemaking’ on several continents (California, South Africa, New Zealand) to enrich my experience, discover new horizons and ways of working with vines and wines. I discovered very beautiful vineyards yet I remain convinced of one thing … Beaujolais is one of the most beautiful and sensual vineyards in the world!

The Beaujolais vineyard is accessible to everyone, it offers sumptuous, rich and inspiring landscapes with hills, valleys, picturesque villages and numerous châteaux. Not forgetting, of course, the wonderful ‘Golden Stones’ district where Maison Coquard itself is located.

The Beaujolais Vineyard
The wines are unique because Beaujolais is without doubt the best place to give full expression to its emblematic grape variety; the black Gamay with white juice. In the diversity of Beaujolais terroirs, Gamay offers high-class red and rosé wines.

There is no other vineyard in the world that offers such beautiful aromatic expressions of the Gamay grape variety as Beaujolais! Depending on the terroirs, Gamay is capable of producing very elegant, youthful wines with subtle aromas of red and black fruits and even more serious, age-worthy wines from the 10 Crus villages – these are wines with complex and distinguished fruitiness, suitable for laying down.

For its white wines, Chardonnay thrives on the parts of the region with limestone and marly soils.

Beaujolais is easy to understand, there are 12 appellations like the 12 months of the year and among these 12 appellations, there are 10 crus, like the 10 fingers of the hand. The other two appellations are the Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages appellations which extend over larger areas.

The map of Beaujolais and Mâconnais wines

Surface area: 1 245 ha
Average production: 55 170 hl
Soil type: Pink granite and alluvial sands
Surface area: 225 ha
Average production: 8 000 hl
Soil type: granitic sand
Surface area: 310 ha
Average production: 15 100 hl
Soil type: Andesite granite (blue stone)
Surface area: 280 ha
Average production: 13 000 hl
Soil type: granite and porphyry
Surface area: 790 ha
Average production: 34 000 hl
Soil type: granitic arenite
Surface area: 565 ha
Average production: 25 400 hl
Soil type: schist and granite with seams of clay
Surface area: 1100 ha
Average production: 55 000 hl
Soil type: loose, crumbfing, granitic schist
Surface area: 630 ha
Average production: 22 700 hl
Soil type: manganese-rich granite
Surface area: 350 ha
Average production: 5 230 hl
Soil type: sandy granite
Surface area: 325 ha
Average production: 16 000 hl
Soil type: sificeous clay
Surface area: 4 650 ha
Average production: 138 100 hl
Soil type: chalk-clay and limestone and granitic and alluvial
Surface area: 3 680 ha
Average production: 131 500 hl
Soil type: crystalline
Surface area: 680 ha
Average production: 40 800 hl
Soil type: clay & fimestone
Surface area: 757 ha
Average production: 43 000 hl
Soil type: clay & fimestone
Surface area: 390 ha
Average production: 22 800 hl
Soil type: clay & limestone

Beaujolais wines

Beaujolais produces wines that are well suited to the modern era, and indeed to modern tastes and preferences.
  • Wines accessible to all because they are aromatic, fruity and supple,
  • Wines that do not require any ceremony (no need to decant, or bring to room temperature),
  • Wines that do not demand aging in the bottle and can therefore be enjoyed with confidence immediately after purchase,
  • Wines that are easy to understand (1 grape variety, 12 appellations),
    • Proudly different from most other French wines, which are often criticized for their “complexity”…,
    • Exciting wines for true amateurs and professionals alike, with a great diversity of styles expressed by nuances and finesse, with a beautiful minerality...,
  • Wines fully benefiting from the “French paradox” (beneficial effects on health) because 96% are red wines,

Wines that can be consumed on multiple occasions / situations,

  • Wines that go well with many cuisines, thanks to:
    • their fresh fruitiness (well suited, in particular, to Japanese cuisine, which is not so well suited to more "dominant" wine styles)
    • their very supple tannins (suitable, in particular, for spicy cuisines)
    • and their good acidity (suitable, in particular, for Chinese cuisine, because very different dishes are served at the same time):
  • Wines that accompany and enhance a meal but will never "crush" the food flavours,
  • Wines that can be served chilled (if desired),
  • Very digestible wines thanks to a refreshing acidity and a moderate alcohol content,
  • Wines that do not tire the palate because they are never too concentrated or tannic.