Sylvain Martel Bessay Julienas Beaujolais 2020

First, we fell in love with Anne Sophie Dubois when we discovered her classically made Gamay worth laying down in any cellar. We sung her praises for being a young, up-and-coming winemaker who, contrary to the trends of her generation, is not subscribing to the ‘Beaujolais Nouveau’ flurry that now gains world-wide attention. Today, we are smitten over the wines of her partner Sylvain Martel. Together, the duo is creating wines that could almost be categorized as a political stance against the Nouveau style. Beaujolais Nouveau is a celebration held in France every year. On the third Thursday of November during which barrels of wine, having barely finished fermentation, are rolled down the cobble-stone streets to local wine bars and consumed by the masses. It was a wine first designed to be enjoyed by vineyard workers to celebrate the end of harvest. Over time, these young wines started to make an appearance on the lists of local cafés and bistros in towns around the Beaujolais region. 

In the early 1960’s, some of the local vignerons saw potential in the easy-going beverage and decided to promote the wine with a contest to see who could get the first bottle to Paris. As anticipated, the attention of the Parisians helped turn wine to fad, and by the 1990s one third of Beaujolais’ production was dedicated to the Nouveau style with are over 35 million bottles produced and distributed to 110 countries! The style garners some controversial opinions, however. Critics say that it is nothing more than a marketing ploy, and that Gamay should be allowed the time in bottle it needs to truly express the purity of the varietal instead of being promoted to drink fresh at such a young age. And Sylvain and Anne Sophie are creating wines that are a great example to the contrary. In 2018, Sylvain purchased a 1.3-hectare parcel with 45-year-old vines in the lieu dit (literally means ‘said place’ in French and is used to highlight a specific part of a vineyard or region recognized for its own topographic or historical specificities) of Bessay. 

To make his 2020 Gamay, Sylvain chose to ferment 100% of the fruit in whole clusters, which means that the berries and stems are both included in the fermentation. Stems impart their own unique flavors, as well as more tannin to produce greater structure in the finished wine. The degree to which this works depends on how ripe the stems get. When grapes are picked early, the stems can still be green and rubbery, and those underripe stems bring more green, vegetal, and herbal notes to the wine. If the grapes are picked in a more mature state, the stems will be brown and woody and will lend flavors that are more earthy and spicy, like black tea and forest floor. For Sylvain’s 2020 Gamay, this winemaking decision transforms a grape that has high acidity and potential for bitterness into a wine that is robust and fruitful with grippy tannins and a rich bouquet of blackberry, rose petal, and pine. This wine is the perfect bottle to transition your dinner table from cooler weather to warmer months. Enjoy with a roasted chicken and rosemary potatoes.