Cruise du Beaujolais

Saturday 7 April 2007
Saturday was an early start to catch the bus to Lyon where we spent a good few hours shopping at the Part Dieu shopping centre. After some good bargains and a nice baguette/french patisseries lunch combo we met with Vero's brother, Philippe who was going to take us to his place in Villefranche sur Saône for the Easter weekend.

The journey was nice. We drove alongside the Saône river which with the sun was blazing down made us wish we were actually one the river. In Villefranche we had a quick tour of the town which is dotted with many historical sites in between the regular buildings (but no photos sorry).

That evening was spent at a restaurant called Le Juliénas (which is a cru du Beaujolais, a type of wine), where I had the most amazing meal ever. It was Sea Bass on a what could only be described as a bright green risotto with a wonderful sauce. I don't know why but every mouthful, whether it was the fish or the risotto was sublime and it will be remembered for very long time.

Sunday 8 April 2007 - Easter Sunday
Our Easter Sunday treat was a DIY tour of the Beaujolais wine region. The Beaujolais is a rolling hilly region, with some peaks over 800m. You will find the vineyards on the lower slopes however at this time of the year the vines resembled small stumps as they were still cut back from the previous harvest, waiting for the new season's growth. Saying that pretty much every piece of 'eligible' land for wine growing was used for wine growing!

The region is most famous for Beaujolais Nouveau, produced in the 3rd week of November, however it does have its own traditional wines, divided up further into a dozen or so 'Crus du Beaujolais' usually originating from certain villages within the region. Each one does have a very different taste (which varies further by vintage) and we set out to try just a few.

We started with a stop at a viewpoint before heading up Mont Brouilly. On the lower slopes of Mont Brouilly was an arts and food/drinks fair, where we tried the 'Brouilly' and the 'Cotes de Brouilly' varieties (for free).

We then moved on to Beaujeu, the 'capital' of the Beaujolais and where they have the official launch the Nouveau each November. It was very quiet and there was a wine cave open but we declined to sample this time. (It would have been the 'Beaujolais Villages' cru). Instead we climbed by car up over the Col de Fût d'Avenas and stopped at the nearby La Terrasse where we had a nice packed lunch and took a panoramic walk which had orientation tables for each 'cru' so you could see where they originated from.

We then descended via a very picturesque route through the Chiroubles 'cru' to the village of Juliénas (remembering the restaurant the previous night) and did sample a couple of glasses of the local 'Juliénas' cru in the 'Cellier de la Vieille Eglise'. This time we had to part with a Euro each time. Booooo.

Then we took a route through Chènas (another cru) stopping at the famous Moulin à Vent, which gave its name to yet another cru. The windmill was lacking something, we couldn't quite work out what. We declined to try the local wine instead moving onto the village of Fleurie, which again has its own cru. This proved to be a great decision as in the local wine co-operative they had yet another food and crafts fair and a 'Porte Ouverte' (translated as open door). This effectively meant it was free wine tasting however the co-op was very big and there was far too much on offer. We managed to drink about 5 (small) glasses in about 1/2 hour! Here we were able to try Fleurie and Moulin à Vent, as well as some vins mousseaux (fizzy wine) which were excellent. Philippe bought a few bottles too, plus some delightful cheese.

Despite being slightly light headed, we drove onwards to the Château de Corcelles, which although was closed was probably more impressive on the outside anyway. We also had a good view of the famous Chapelle de la Madone. Then it was back towards base via the Morgon cru vineyards and through a fantastically named village called St Lager, and onwards to Villefranche for an Easter Sunday supper of lamb! So they are not left out, the other crus we may or may not have passed through are Régnié and Saint Amour! I'm sure they are lovely too!