A Jug Of Wine From Beaujolais

The simple things in life are always underrated. No matter how often people talk about “the simple things” or “the simple life” it always ends costing more and delivering less. At least, that’s how it seems to me.

Beaujolais is one of those things that seems to go under-appreciated. The simple wine, the easy-going wine. It’s not flashy or fancy - but it is worthy of poetry.

At a friend’s impromptu early Thanksgiving party we cracked open a Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages 2013 that pleased without overwhelming. It paired beautifully with the Trivial Pursuit game - 1981 edition, much to the detriment of the younger folks who were born in 1985. I took the advantage and ran with it. The only question we were left scratching our heads about was, “Who just up and decides to cook a turkey four days before Thanksgiving?”

The granitic soil of the southern part of Beaujolais has a lot of manganese in it, said to be responsible for the great minerality. This wine is a blend of Beaujolais-Villages and wine from some of the other crus. Alcohol in this wine is a typically reasonable 12.5% abv and it sells for about $12 - also a reasonable number.

The nose is big and juicy, with red fruit and minerals. There is a pretty good level of acidity, and the Gamay palate hits nicely, with that light, grapey sensation that make the wine so great with a holiday turkey. It also does very well as the jug of wine to go with “a loaf of bread” and “thou.”

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