Why Beaujolais, you may ask....ah well, that is because this week is a very special week for the Beaujolais region!
But first, the announcements for this week:
📢📢 ANNOUNCEMENTS 📢📢
🍾 Beaujolais Night ONLINE 🍾
Join the CEO of Wickham Wines Dan Farrell-Wright and myself as we look at the different wines that you can find in Beaujolais, the amazing different styles and nuances of the place as well of course the Beaujolais Nouveau 2024!
🍾⚽ HALLAM Football Club - Wine and Cheese Evening 🍾⚽
Bringing football together with Wine and Cheese was a little plan of mine and we managed to get it done at the Second Oldest Football Ground in the World!
If you are in the vicinity, then get yourselves down to Hallam Football Club on Thursday 5th December at 6.30pm to enjoy wines and cheeses as we start to see in the festive period. Alongside also putting funds into the club!
🍴🍷PROJECT NORSE Collaboration🍴🍷
With a tasting menu like no other - we are teaming up with the clever chef's at Project Norse in Sheffield, to produce a 5 course tasting menu with 5 global wines that are there to push boundaries.
With wine from Africa, Eastern Europe and more - this is pushing concepts to another level.
📍Restaurant Norse, Steelyard, Sheffield
📅 Wednesday 5th December
MUST DOs:
Do Follow me on Instagram @thenorthernwineguy for additional wine recommendations, ideas and wines that I will look to have on my table across the festive period.
Do look up on Spotify, Amazon and Apple the TWO podcast shows that I run - 'The Northern Wine Guy Podcast Show' speaking to wine professionals AND 'The Andy and Olly Show' a fun podcast which acts as a learning curve for all interested in wine as we focus on winemakers around the globe.
Do Look Out for a 💥 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT 💥- that is due to come out in the next 2 weeks - and if you like Wine and Cheese, you will want to know what it is.....
Now, let's learn about Beaujolais..
Beaujolais resides at the bottom end of Burgundy essentially. Now a little confusing, but for example whilst Beaujolais is seen as a different wine region, it can still produce for example a sparkling such as Cremant de Bourgogne and not Cremant de Beaujolais...confusing right!
Anyways, we won't get too bogged down in that...Beaujolais wine region actually dates as far back as the 7th Century and the Benedictine Monks. And for those who were not aware, Beaujolais is famous for the GAMAY grape varietal. A rather ironic point being that after the Black Plague, most of Burgundy was replanted with Gamay and not Pinot Noir.
Why then is Burgundy not still full of Gamay? That would be because of the Duke of Burgundy who decided it was not a pleasant grape varietal and pushed it south.
Fast forward to the 1980s and it was George Duboef who made it into a worldwide sensation, which brings me back to why it is so interesting to be reminded by it this week - as it is the 3rd Thursday in November today. That is Beaujolais Nouveau Day!
What is Beaujolais Nouveau?
It is essentially the very first wine available from the 2024 harvest. Yes, as in this year, it was harvested less than 2 months ago! It is a light and fruity red wine which is made via the method of carbonic maceration. Essentially for those not sure, that is the process by which you place whole bunches of grapes into tanks filled with carbon dioxide. This creates a natural fermenting environment and ultimately the fermentation takes place and creates a light bodied red wine. (There is more to it and we could delve into semi-carbonic etc too but this is a short guide, not a long winded essay!).
It was made to celebrate the end of the harvest and whilst it started off as a 'breakfast wine' for those who welcomed the end of the season, quickly gained favour more globally.
However, it also as more wines became more readily available to the consumer, one which was deemed to be only one dimensional and a little bubblegummy, kirsch type flavour profiled. That may have been fair of some in the past BUT the good news is, that is not true of the diverse nature of those now.
Beaujolais Nouveau is now a globally recognised wine event, where the market rushes to get the first bottles out to the consumers and you will see a lot mentioned via PR channels and social media influences (dare I say, me too) over the next 48 hours. It has increased in demand and is especially well represented in Japan and the UK markets.
Is Gamay just Beaujolais Nouveau?
Ah now this is the correct question because Gamay is such a versatile grape varietal that there is incredible diversity of flavour, structure and wine profiles in Beaujolais. In fact, there is a HUGE amount of diversity in Beaujolais with 3 quality levels in the region.
They distinguish Beaujolais with:
AC Beaujolais : typically found on chalky limestone soils and producing very light red wines with high acidity.
AC Beaujolais-Villages: from the northern part of the region where soils produce richer, rounder wines.
The highest quality from the 10 Crus: named after the village and you can eye spy all 10 on the map above too.
Beaujolais as a region stretches 34 miles from granite based hills immediately south of Macon to the flatter lands that lie NW of Lyon. Beaujolais actually produces in total almost as much as the rest of Burgundy put together.
Most important Cru's to Remember:
St Amour - northern most Cru, is also the smallest, with it being limestone soils, they have a little more charm than structure.
Julienas - this is often referred to as the 'rustic' more full bodied Beaujolais, with special mention within the appellation for Les Mouilles and Les Capitans.
Moulin-A-Vent and Chenas - both need time to age, Moulin-A-Vent more famous of the two.
Fleurie - have actually a couple of styles based on their location, south facing being more full bodied, but sandy locations slightly lighter options.
Chiroubles - consists of very light sandy soils and is the highest cru, sunny locations bring with them a real fanciful version!
Morgon - the second largest cru and is associated with natural wine production. but I love a full bodied red from Morgon, especially from Cote du Py which have that element of spice to them too.
Brouilly - this is a big cru and those that are around the volcanic slopes of Mount Brouilly are worth ageing and can evolve and develop further.
Regnie - west of Morgon is like a Brouilly.
Beaujolais has actually come on so well that it appeared THREE times in the highest ranked category of the Decanter Wines of the World Awards for 2024!
So, what are the major pluses of Beaujolais?
Well here are some top tips from TNWG on Beaujolais:
If you are looking for light or full bodied red wines - Beaujolais ticks the box.
If you are looking at one of the best ways to experience the versatility of a grape varietal, then the home of Gamay is the place to do it.
If you are looking for value for money, then Beaujolais, whilst gaining in value because of demand and because Burgundian vineyard owners are buying up land, is still a great buy.
If you want to drink now or you want wines that age, Beaujolais can perform on both timelines.
If you are looking for white wines too, don't forget that the active grape varietal, much like Burgundy, is Chardonnay, and you can have some outstanding examples in Beaujolais Blanc's without the price tag to follow too.
🗞️ LATEST DRINKS INDUSTRY ARTICLES 🗞️
TOP ARTICLE OF THE WEEK:
It's an article I posted earlier this week, but it is fascinating to see the optionality for the consumer and how the non-alcoholic scene is really taking the global market by force. This is yet another example with the growing presence of sparkling tea!
OTHER ARTICLES THAT CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK:
📈 MARKETS IN BRIEF 📉
On the week (as at 21st November 08:25 LDN) changes:
EQUITIES: ⬆️ FTSE 100 up 1.03%; ⬇️ DAX down 0.04%; ⬇️ S&P 500 down 0.1%; ⬇️ Nikkei 225 down 1.9%; ⬇️ Dow Jones down 1.25%;
COMMODITIES: ⬆️ Brent Oil up 1.69% ; ⬆️ Crude Oil up 1.65% ; ⬆️ Gold up 4.7%; ⬆️ Silver up 4.8%; ⬆️ Copper up 3.2%
BONDS (in yield terms): ⬇️ UK 2yrs lower 0.1265%; ⬇️ UK 10yrs lower 0.019%; ⬇️ German 10yrs lower 0.0065%, ⬆️ US 2yrs higher 0.014%; ⬇️ US 10yrs lower 0.051%;
There has been a lot going on in the markets of late (too much to mention for this newsletter weekly, so feel free to message me privately for a larger breakdown). However, since we last wrote a 'Markets in Brief', we have seen Trump get re-elected, the Bank of England and the FED cut interest rates and most notably probably for most, seen the immediate emails or notifications from our banks to tell us that they have passed on that kind cut to our savings!
🥲🥲
Markets are in 'risk-on' move driven by the Trump 2.0 effect. That means equities are striding for higher highs overall - albeit on the week the stats aren't as great and Bitcoin has gone into the stratosphere (worse luck - I didn't add exposure, although that would be against my views on 'the coin').
Where else do I see value?
Good question here. I think the US economy isn't going to go into recession anytime soon. They will most likely get higher inflation that is tough to control (again the Trump effect and the natural reaction from tariff imposing) but I wouldn't exit US exposure. So very happy to be long US equities, especially tech and blue chip. If you are in crypto then I am sure you are more than happy to hold, but not entry levels here if you missed it.
Savings accounts and ISAs are becoming to drop and getting anything from 4.75% and upwards is tough ask for most now. I don't see this changing and so I wouldn't hold out hope for big earnings from savers and safety first. Instead, my choices would be hold short end UK government bonds (gilts) ideally locking them away until they mature, especially those with low coupons and I would look at alternatives as part of a diversified portfolio. So remain in your ETF funds and spread those across the developed markets but with an overweight position in the US.
I like being long metals especially Gold for now, the bid tone is back (as a reflection of flight to safety with geopolitical concerns heightened) and happy to continue to have that in my portfolio on equity adjustments like this week, which is broadly my view but medium term a strike for higher highs in equities allows commodities to be a nice hedge for down weeks.
Alternative assets, well you guessed it. It is time to look back at FINE WINE folks! Selling my own book here, I know, BUT with interest rates falling, you need to look at assets that have gains - such as fine wine, which is Capital Gains Tax exempt. Coupled with the fact that not surprisingly, alternative assets are becoming more sought after once more now rates are falling in developed markets - cue the Liv-Ex 1000 index to begin to rise. This is not though for the short term, quick win, this is a medium to long term locked away investment in bond.
If you want to know more about fine wine investing I can provide full information on request.
With property and with the UK budget coming in with additional stamp duty implications for further purchases (second homes etc) then I would be keen to wait for interest rates to fall further to offset those extra charges. I am expecting the housing sector to get a boost though if we continue to see interest rates fall, so if you are a seller, hold for now but with better times to come in 2025!
For further details, give me a shout and as ever, these thoughts are my own only and therefore if you are unsure, seek financial advisor advice.
Wishing you a very happy Beaujolais Nouveau Day and rest of the week!
Best Regards,
Andrew a.k.a. The Northern Wine Guy 🍷
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