“Wine cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires the young, makes weariness forget his toil.” – Lord Byron

Last week we looked at wines for summer, featuring Sangria and a few selections of white wines and, as a result of questions from readers, today we suggest a few red wines. On Sunday, July 14, France celebrated its national day, and I hit the road in search of a few French red or rosé wines that would be appropriate for summer sipping.

Beaujolais

Rosé pops to mind the instant most people think about summer wines from France. The other choice, especially if you prefer red wines, will be the wines from one of the most famous wine-producing regions of France – Burgundy. Out of the five sub-major regions – Chablis, Côte d’Or, Côte Chalonnaise, Mâconnais and Beaujolais, Beaujolais might be the name most recognisable by most Jamaicans. I was actually very surprised to learn how much Beaujolais is consumed. Beaujolais is the largest, most successful and lucrative wine region in the Burgundy area. It consists of three appellations (wine-producing areas) Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Village and Cru Beaujolais. Wines from all these regions can be found on our supermarket shelves.

The wines from Beaujolais are made with a grape varietal called Gamey, which is handpicked and then made into wine with a very special wine-making technique called carbonic maceration. In essence, part of the process sees the grape juice converted to wine while it is still in the grape.

How Beaujolais tastes

The majority of the Burgundy wines that make it to Jamaica are usually the lighter-bodied wines with subtle elegant fruit. Beaujolais also can produce a wide range of light to medium styles of wine which are exceptionally fruity and are low in tannins. Some of the wines from the Cru Beaujolais area like Moulin-a-Vent and Morgon can be rich, structured and age-worthy.

What’s on our shelves?

On a recent technology jaunt, I snapped a few photos of bottles Burgundy, Beaujolais and other summer sips that I could find. The brands I saw included Georges Duboeuf, Mommessin and Louis Jadot. Other summer sips from France included Le Rosé de Mouton Cadet, Fat bastard Rosé and Hob Nob Pinot Noir.

French Ambassador to Jamaica, Ginette de Martha and Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister AJ Nicholson, raise their glasses in a toast to France at the Bastille Day celebrations which took place Sunday last, at the Ambassador’s Golden Triangle residence.

Christopher Reckord – Businessman, Entrepreneur & Wine Enthusiast. Send your questions and comments to creckord@gmail.com. Follow us on twitter: @Reckord