The Golden Towns of Beaujolais

Heading north out of Lyon, you pass through a long tunnel and exit into a lush green countryside leaving the city far behind. You then turn and head up the hill onto winding roads between a patchwork of vineyards. Many of the vines are really old with short, thick, twisted trunks and a thin stem of green leaves and buds. These are the Gamay vines of Beaujolais, interspersed with a few fields of greener, leafier Chardonnay vines.

South Beaujolais, just 45 minutes northwest of Lyon, encompasses 25 medieval villages of orangey-gold stone (limestone and iron) that is surprisingly vibrant (I had been expecting something lighter, similar to the Cotswolds in England). Some of the villages still have the remains of 14th century castles.

Oingt is classed as one of the most beautiful villages of France and it really is lovely. You can take a walk around the town on the former ramparts and the church is austere and beautiful. I was on a half-day tour, which combined stopping to admire the golden villages with wine tastings.

I’ve always enjoyed Beaujolais wine, which seems to me to be typically French – light, fruity, and very good with food. But I developed a greater appreciation for the variety of Beaujolais wines on the tour. (The tour was restricted to Beaujolais south; we didn’t explore the Beaujolais Village wines further north.)

Our first stop was a tasting room in Oingt where we tried 3 different sparkling wines. I was surprised by the variety – from a rich, complex crémant made with Gamay and Pinot Noir to a sweet sparkling dessert wine (think North American Zinfandel).

We had a longer stop at Domaine de Fond-Vieille, a family vineyard since 1758, with vines ranging in age from 10 to 100 years. Standing in the vineyard, surrounded by small blue and yellow flowers, you look up the hill, over the neat rows of vines, to Oingt. It had been drizzling earlier in the day, and the air was so sweet and fresh.

We sampled a white Beaujolais, a rosé (too sweet for me), and 3 reds, which produced three surprises. First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever had a white Beaujolais before and it was very nice. Secondly, the reds showed much more complexity than I expected. The first was a traditional Beaujolais – easy drinking, light, fruity. The second was made from grapes from the old vines and showed more depth and complexity. But my favorite was Cuvée Alexandre (named after one of the family’s founders with his mustachioed photograph on the bottle), which is only made in very good years from the oldest vines. And 2015 was a very good year. (The crushed grapes, seeds, and stems for Cuvée Alexandre were macerated for 12 days; the first wine for only 6 days.) The third surprise was finding out how well the local wine went with the local cheese.

If you are ever in Lyon, I highly recommend taking a tour with Oliver Delalande of Kanpai Tours. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and he put together an interesting tour with a combination of architecture, scenery, history, and wine. We stopped at various points to admire the view and had a half-hour wander round Oingt before the two sets of wine tastings. I never felt rushed. I appreciated visiting a small family winery where we could actually talk with the winemaker, and the servings of wine were very generous. The local cheese and crackers were a welcome accompaniment to the second tasting.