Big changes in the French wine-growing areas Beaujolais and Burgundy

Although in the Beaujolais region it has been allowed to label each bottle produced with the denomination “Beaujolais” since 1937, this is over from the year 2011 on. Wine producers from Burgundy and wine producers from the bordering region of Beaujolais have been arguing for a long time, particularly because in Burgundy, they had imposed much stricter restrictions on themselves long ago, above all as to the production of white wines.

There are exactly 43 communities in the Beaujolais region that are no longer allowed to label their white wines with AOC Bourgogne Blanc - now they have to label them AOC Beaujolais Blanc instead. The denomination Bourgogne Aligote is further allowed, the denominations AOC Coteaux Bourguignon and AOC Bourgogne Gamay are new.

In its decision, the INAO took - amongst other things – into consideration the terroirs in the communities, and how long-lived the wines produced there are. Renowned wine-growing communities like Fleurie and Morgon are not affected by the changes. Moreover, 42 communities are further allowed to label their wines with AOC Bourgogne Blanc; in Burgundy, this is considered to be a partial victory.

Nine Beaujolais Crus are affected by further decisions, which are further allowed to label their wines with AOC Bourgogne with one restriction: when the wine contains more than 30 per cent of the Gamay type of grape, it has to be labelled AOC Bourgogne Gamay. During the next 5 years, the denomination AOC Coteaux Bourguignon will replace the actual denomination AOC Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire, which then will be allowed to be used by wine producers both from the Beaujolais region and from Burgundy.

One of the communities affected by those changes is as well Saint Lager, north of Lyon. There, about 250 hectares of chardonnay are being cultivated. The wines produced from that type of grape are now no longer allowed to be labelled AOC Bourgogne Blanc but have to be labelled AOC Beaujolais Blanc. It is just this decision that makes wine producers in Burgundy sigh with relief.

Jean Bougarde, director of the winegrowers’ association Inter-Beaujolais, comments this: “Our colleagues from Burgundy do not need to sorrow that we challenge their chardonnay. Nevertheless, wine producers in the Mâcon think that the chardonnay vineyards in the Beaujolais region are being expanded, but this is unjustified. In general, we are happy about the INAO decision, which made some things clear. And we are confident”, Bougarde continues, “that our customers will receive the introduction of the Coteaux Bourguignon very positively. Further more, our priority has been to produce the best Beaujolais wines, and they are fantastic.” (red.yoopress)