As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, the one wine that always seems to make its way to the dinner table is Beaujolais Nouveau. The grapy, fun, festive, first wine of the vintage. Of course this year it will be the 2010 vintage.

But there is much more to Beaujolais than just Nouveau. On our recent trip to France we had a visit at the Cave de Bully, the largest wine grower cooperative in the Beaujolais region. The term "cooperative" sometimes has a negative connotation associated with it; however, this group of 280 wine growers have been winning medals since its creation in1959. As we toured the facility it was not the 2010 Beaujolais Nouveau they were most excited about showing us but rather the recently bottled 2009 vintage. 2009 was an exceptional vintage throughout much of France and Beaujolais was no exception. The Wine Advocate describes the 2009 Beaujolais wines as " gloriously generous and genuinely complex, as fine as any wine from this region in recent memory."

One wine we were particularly fond of was the Jean St Honore Beaujolais Villages, a rich, lush example of just how good Beaujolais can be.

Other 2009 Beaujolais  offerings to look for come from one of the most reliable sources of great wine value, George Duboeuf. His Brouilly, Cote de Brouilly, Fleurie and Morgon are just arriving and are sure to sell out quickly. 

Paul Quaglini, Wine Supervisor, SE Florida