Natasha Hughes MW on the influential group of plucky Beaujolais vignerons who held out against industrialization and came to shape the style and winemaking philosophy of the region’s best modern wines.
Kids in France grow up reading about the adventures of Asterix the Gaul.
A series of comic books set in France during the Roman era, each witty, action-packed tale starts with the introduction “The year is 50BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely… One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders.”
When I think about Asterix and his fellow villagers prevailing against the might of the Roman empire, it brings to mind the real-life stories told about Beaujolais’s Gang of Four. It’s said that this resolute group of winemakers held out against the almost overwhelming tide of Beaujolais Nouveau that dominated production in the region from the 1970s through to the early 2000s, and, arguably, set an agenda for change that has now come to dominate the prevailing philosophy in the region.
At a time when most growers used lavish quantities of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides in their vineyards, the “Gang” believed that more environmentally sustainable practices were the way forward. They questioned the need for manipulative winemaking techniques that altered the intrinsic character of the finished wine, believing that good-quality grapes should be allowed to speak for themselves. And they fought hard against the idea that the Beaujolais should be made in high volumes, marketed as a commodity, and
This Article was originally published on World of Fine Wine
