If you are watching HBO's latest zombie apocalypse hit show, The Last of Us, you probably saw some pretty obvious product placement in Episode 3, "Long, Long Time.” During the episode, doomsday prepper, Bill, finds himself the last person standing in his town of Lincoln, MA. So, he goes around town collecting the essentials, building supplies, gasoline, and of course, wine. I'm not sure about you, but going to the wine store would one of my top apocalypse errands as well.

As we can see from the product placement, Bill has quite the taste in wine because he grabs a case of the famous Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Caymus. At ~$80 a bottle, I will review this wine the next time I crack one open for a special occasion! Later in the episode, we find out that Bill has also taken a bottle of Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages, as he pairs it with a rabbit dinner for his partner, Frank. Beaujolais Villages is an affordable, everyday wine that pairs well with a variety of foods. It is often said that Beaujolais is the only red wine that drinks like a white wine (hello gateway wine!). The fermentation method, carbonic maceration, also gives it a unique aroma and flavor profile!

Okay - onto the review!

Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages

On the nose, there were strong notes of red raspberry, cherry and blackberry wrapped in subtle notes of spring violet. However, not much carried through to the palate. There were some pronounced red fruit flavors, but it was hard to distinguish one from another. The medium (-) tannin was well balanced with the medium acidity and medium (-) body. Overall, this was a simple wine at an affordable price point for the consistency and quality.
Louis Jadot is relatively accessible in most wine stores across the USA and is a great, easy, crowd pleasing option. It pairs well with a variety of foods, from Bill's apocalypse rabbit dinner to pizza from your local store.

A side note - I would not age this wine for 20 years like Bill and Frank did! But I guess in an apocalypse, you have to work with the French wine that you have. These wines are intended to be consumed within 2-3 years of vintage because of the low amounts of tannin and acid in the wine. Tannin and acid help to provide structure and balance to the wine over time. This is the reason why Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons age so well! If I had to pick a wine to taste 20 years into the apocalypse, it would probably be a right-bank Bordeaux or a Côte-Rôtie from Bourgogne.

My Rating 3 / 5 - for what it is, this wine is good. If the notes on the nose carried through to the palate, it would have been rated as a “very good” wine!

The Details
Sweetness: Dry
Vintage: 2021
Alcohol: 12.5%
Label: Beaujolais Villages
Producer: Louis Jadot
Region: Beaujolais, France
Varietals: 100% Gamay
Price: $12

Decoding the Label

Okay... so the wine was labelled "Beaujolais Villages"... what does that mean? Beaujolais is a wine region to the south of Burgundy, France that almost exclusively produces single varietal wines made from the Gamay grape. Gamay is a thin skinned, red grape that has key notes of black cherry, raspberry, peaches, violet and sometimes a bit of spice toward the end. The lack of tannin in the grape makes the intense fruit flavors even more pronounced.

In France and other old world wine countries, such as Italy, the wines are labeled by region and quality rather than producer (ie, Beaujolais Villages vs. Caymus). In Beaujolais, there are three categories of wine labels:

• Beaujolais
  • These wines are made from areas within Beaujolais that have less desirable growing conditions. The lands are flat and the soil is less fertile, which hinder the grapes from reaching their full potential.
• Beaujolais-Villages
  • Hey, that's what Bill has! Wines with this label come from vineyards with more desirable growing conditions, such as some incline/hills, and therefore are higher in quality than regular old Beaujolais.
• Beaujolais Cru
  • These wines come from the vineyard of 12 specific appellations in Beaujolais. These are the very best vineyards in the region and are located on the hillsides that give the grapes the chance to develop complex flavors from the extended amount of sunlight.

You may also see wines labelled Beaujolais Nouveau. This label does not refer to the region where the grapes are grown, but rather the fermentation length. This wine is the first wine of the harvest and is only 7-9 weeks old when distributed. Because the wine is so young, it is light and easy to drink with high acid and low tannin. For me, the key indicator of Nouveau is the pronounced note of strawberry-banana yogurt. It often hits US shelves on the third Thursday in November and is the perfect crowd pleaser for Thanksgiving.

The Fermentation Style

The producers in Beaujolais use carbonic maceration to ferment the grapes. In traditional fermentation, the grapes are crushed using machines, pressed and fermented (white) or fermented and pressed (red). Carbonic maceration is very unique because the grapes are not crushed with machines, but rather by each other. Entire grape clusters are put into the fermentation tanks. The grapes at the bottom are crushed by the weight of the grapes on top and begin fermenting at the bottom of the tank. The CO2 from the fermentation at the bottom increases the total pressure in the tank so much that the grapes at the top begin to explode. This method works particularly well with super fruity grape varieties, such as Gamay. The fresh, ripe, fruity flavors are preserved in the top grapes during the beginning fermentation process. After the carbonic maceration fermentation, the wine ages for a few months in stainless steel tanks or in oak (less common).

Last summer, Kyle and I drove through this region during our road trip from Lyon to Paris. Unfortunately, we did not have time to stop for a tasting in Beaujolais. But, I made sure we stopped for a picture in front of the famous, 300 year old, windmill that has become a symbol of the Beaujolais region. Moulin-à-Vent is 1 of the 12 "cru" appellations in Beaujolais. It was absolutely gorgeous and we would love to spend some time here one day.

Have you ever had a Beaujolais before? It is one of my favorites during Thanksgiving!