I recently finished my last bottle of last November's Georges Duboeuf
Beaujolais Nouveau. This was the first season that I bought this light
red French wine, and although I know the wine snobs will be horrified,
I found I truly enjoyed it. Very light - goes down almost like a white
- and very reasonably priced.

Thinking it would be nice to have a steady supply of a Beaujolais-like
wine around the house, I started looking through WinExpert's catalog
for something similar, but could not find anything that fit the bill.
The closest match seems to be their "Domaine Des Brumes" kit - which
claims to have "the unique distinction of allowing for early
consumption in the 'nouveau style'."

I've got one of these kits on order with my friendly neightborhood
homebrew supply store. Has anybody tried one? Is there a reasonably
priced kit wine that's based on Beaujolais? Ideally, it would be built
from the same Gamay grapes as the "real" Beaujolais - but, hey, I'm
willing to experiment with something else.

geo wrote:

> I recently finished my last bottle of last November's Georges Duboeuf
> Beaujolais Nouveau. This was the first season that I bought this light
> red French wine, and although I know the wine snobs will be horrified,
> I found I truly enjoyed it. Very light - goes down almost like a white
> - and very reasonably priced.
>
> Thinking it would be nice to have a steady supply of a Beaujolais-like
> wine around the house, I started looking through WinExpert's catalog
> for something similar, but could not find anything that fit the bill.
> The closest match seems to be their "Domaine Des Brumes" kit - which
> claims to have "the unique distinction of allowing for early
> consumption in the 'nouveau style'."
>
> I've got one of these kits on order with my friendly neightborhood
> homebrew supply store. Has anybody tried one? Is there a reasonably
> priced kit wine that's based on Beaujolais? Ideally, it would be built
> from the same Gamay grapes as the "real" Beaujolais - but, hey, I'm
> willing to experiment with something else.

I live in Central Maryland. There is a vineyard in Southern Pennsylvania
that sells only to amateur wine makers and they grow Gamay grapes - among
many others. Gamay is an entirely different wine than the Cabernets and I
enjoy it a lot. The vineyard is: LaRue Vineyards at the address of 1026
LaRue Road, Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania 17360. I don't know of any other
vineyards in the area that grow Gamay - what a shame.

Yiu should also try Jadot's Beaujolis Villages; it's very inexpensive
and very good.

You can get 6 gallon pails of Gamay from the Central Valley of
California in September. All of the major suppliers pail it, Regina,
Home Wines, etc... Any pailed red can be made for early use, they are
light by nature.

Joe

Paul E. Lehmann wrote:
> geo wrote:
>
> > I recently finished my last bottle of last November's Georges Duboeuf
> > Beaujolais Nouveau. This was the first season that I bought this light
> > red French wine, and although I know the wine snobs will be horrified,
> > I found I truly enjoyed it. Very light - goes down almost like a white
> > - and very reasonably priced.
> >
> > Thinking it would be nice to have a steady supply of a Beaujolais-like
> > wine around the house, I started looking through WinExpert's catalog
> > for something similar, but could not find anything that fit the bill.
> > The closest match seems to be their "Domaine Des Brumes" kit - which
> > claims to have "the unique distinction of allowing for early
> > consumption in the 'nouveau style'."
> >
> > I've got one of these kits on order with my friendly neightborhood
> > homebrew supply store. Has anybody tried one? Is there a reasonably
> > priced kit wine that's based on Beaujolais? Ideally, it would be built
> > from the same Gamay grapes as the "real" Beaujolais - but, hey, I'm
> > willing to experiment with something else.
>
> I live in Central Maryland. There is a vineyard in Southern Pennsylvania
> that sells only to amateur wine makers and they grow Gamay grapes - among
> many others. Gamay is an entirely different wine than the Cabernets and I
> enjoy it a lot. The vineyard is: LaRue Vineyards at the address of 1026
> LaRue Road, Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania 17360. I don't know of any other
> vineyards in the area that grow Gamay - what a shame.

Since the French trademarked (or whatever) the name Beaujolais (among
others), the kit companies cannot use it. They use the name
Bergamais.

Steve

I guess I should have mentioned the grape they make Beaujolais from is
Gamay...
Joe