How Beaujolais Nouveau is Made

The third Thursday of next November is the release date for Beaujolais Nouveau!
At Mavi, we carry organic Beaujolais Nouveau from Chevran and Rampon.

Today, we will introduce how Beaujolais Nouveau is made, along with the special production methods used by the producers.

Pied de Cube

Mavi's winemakers make their wine using natural yeast from their own grapes rather than commercial yeast.

Because natural yeast is difficult to handle and does not ferment stably, Chevron uses a method called " pied de cubes ."

For Pied de Cube, a small amount of grapes is fermented to increase the yeast before the full harvest begins.
By adding grapes with a high content of ideal yeast to the production tank, we can achieve more consistent brewing results.

harvest

All Beaujolais Nouveau grapes are hand-picked , so during the season a team stays overnight to help with the harvest.

Some members of the team have been attending for years, so the harvest is a harmonious affair .

At the celebration after the harvest, everyone has fun dancing and singing.

Semi-carbonic maceration

Once harvested, the grapes are placed in tanks for a process called maceration , which extracts the color from the skins.

A typical Beaujolais Nouveau wine is made using a process called carbonic maceration, in which carbon dioxide gas is injected into the tank to extract the color from the grape skins.

However, Mavi producers do not add carbon dioxide gas, but instead use a traditional method called semi-carbonic maceration, in which the wine is soaked in carbon dioxide that is naturally produced when the grapes ferment .

This takes longer than conventional methods because we have to wait for carbon dioxide to come out naturally, but it allows the grapes to ferment slowly.

Squeezing

After soaking and fermentation, the grapes are mechanically pressed to extract the liquid part of the wine.

The filter used in this case is very coarse.

For this reason , sediments (lees) of yeast, tartar, etc. are often found in the wines of Chevron and Rampon.

The taste is not very pleasant, so when drinking it is recommended to let the bottle stand and let the sediment collect at the bottom so that it does not enter the glass .

Once you've finished drinking, be sure to pour the last of the wine into a glass. You might even see sparkling crystals of tartar.

By the way, Mr. Lampon also uses an old-fashioned press to squeeze the grapes by hand .