The Abarbanel Beaujolais Villages Chateau de la Salle Batch 90 2018

Beaujolais Villages, thanks to climate change is evolving from a very light quaffer into a more serious age-able wine. The temperatures in Burgundy’s Beaujolais Region have been much warmer for the past eight years or so which has materially changed the nature of the Gamay grape – recent vintages, including the 2018 are medium bodied with much more pronounced structure and higher alcohol levels.

Because irrigation of vines is prohibited in France the grapes are ripening earlier and deeper than had been the case traditionally but this makes the new generation of Beaujolais Villages taste more analogous to Grenache wines from the Rhône valley, more powerful wines with low acidity and a deep raspberry flavor. The 2018 vintage has sufficient tannins to enable it be aged for as much as eight to ten years and features a deep ruby hue.