Last Updated on January 14, 2026
Back to the Future with Beaujolais
It’s not often you get to celebrate your 100-year anniversary. So when the lovely people at Château des Jacques decided to throw a lunch party at Michelin starred Pied à Terre in Fitzrovia’s Charlotte St, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. We were invited for a tasting of Château des Jacques wines, since1996 part of the Louis Jadot family, and to learn more about the lesser-known finer end of the Beaujolais wine market as opposed to the Beaujolais Nouveau wines that are so familiar in the U.K.
Since the 1950s the global wine market has celebrated the annual release of Beaujolais Nouveau on the third Thursday in November. But the success of these hedonistic fruit-driven wines has meant that the rest of the region’s production has had less of the spotlight. We were to taste some of the newer wines in a comparison with some of the older vintages from the archives, hosted by Château des Jacques’ new winemaker, the charming and informative Julie Pitoiset.
The Beaujolais vineyards are less than a 30-minute drive from Lyon and are part of the wider Burgundy region. They cover 18,000 hectares spread out over a 55-kilometre north-south zone with the soil sitting on beds of pink granite. The grape variety that creates all the Beaujolais reds is Gamay Noir, a hybridisation of the Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc grape varietals. The region’s poor soil helps the Gamay grapes achieve vigorous growth with irrigation not being allowed.
The history of Château des Jacques began in the 18th century when a lieu-dit (“named vineyard”) called “Les Jacques” was established in Romanèche-Thorins, with only 2 hectares of land being cultivated. The small estate was purchased in 1924 by Amédée Rousseau who then bought up the surrounding land in what had now become the “Moulin-à-Vent” appellation, with the ambition of making top-notch Burgundy under the name Château des Jacques. Succeeding owners avoided the short-term advantages of carbonic maceration which is used to make Beaujolais Nouveau using the traditional techniques of the region such as ‘destemming, parcel vinification, long macerations, ageing in barrels and bottling at the property’. In 1996 the Château’s vineyards were partially replanted and organic techniques were introduced. In 2001 Maison Louis Jadot expanded the estate’s range with the purchase of 27 hectares of vines in Morgon (Côte du Py, Corcelette, Bellevue), the largest and one of the most prestigious of the Beaujolais Crus.
Ciáran Bagchus, the head sommelier at Pied à Terre, explained to us how Beaujolais Crus have recently returned to the wine lists of London fine-dining restaurants, with customers enjoying these high-quality reasonably priced bottles (compared with other wines from the more manicured side of Burgundy) made with old-fashioned techniques. The plan was to sample a mix of newer and older wines matched with a menu put together by Pied à Terre’s new chef Phil Kearsey whose impressive CV includes The Waterside Inn, The French Laundry, and Corrigan’s Mayfair.
Before we started on the red wines we tried two Beaujolais whites. Only 1% (10 hectares) of production in the region is devoted to white grapes (Chardonnay). The 2023 Beaujolais Blanc comes from a single vineyard plot, grown on a mix of granite and limestone and combines elderflower notes with a distinctive elegance, freshness and plenty of body. It was the perfect aperitif and a lovely complement to our slices of sourdough with a savoury marmite butter and canapés of crisp deep-fried courgette flower stuffed with broad beans, a lime-infused sliver of high-quality citrus cured salmon, and Eggs Kayianna – a light scrambled egg and feta mousse flavoured with tomato and oregano.
Our starter was a chargrilled Dutch white asparagus bavarois with pickled green strawberries and Piedmont hazelnut. The wine match was the Beaujolais Blanc Clos de Loyse 2023 grown on the same plot as the Beaujolais Blanc but with some subtle oaking in young barrels. This was a fabulous wine with an apple blossom nose and notes of Honeydew melon, but also plenty of acidity, giving it a great balance.
There is a long-term drive towards the best of the Beaujolais reds to be given Premier Cru status so it was a wonderful opportunity to taste some of these high-quality wines. The Morgon Côte du Py 2021 comes from a single volcanic bluestone vineyard. The velvet red wine from a much warmer summer had a luscious cherry ripeness whilst retaining freshness. My main course was a rich earthy umami-laden plate featuring Textures of Lion’s Mane mushroom with a barley porridge with the crunch of toasted pine nuts and a mushroom and Madeira cream.
We were tasting three Moulin-à-Vent Clos du Grand Carquelin crus – the closest Beaujolais has to the classic red Burgundy style and full of red fruit notes -, from 2021, 2019 and 2009 grown just under the windmill of the estate’s name on a 1.75 hectare plot with 50-year-old vines. The latest release is the 2021 which has a pleasing smokiness, with the 2019 having a more defined tannic structure and the fabulous 2009 having the benefit of ageing.
With our cheese course of Tomme aux 7 Fleurs with black truffle, a celeriac mousse and Muscat grapes we tasted three more of these great Moulin-à-Vent wines but this time from the Clos des Rochegrès plot. The freshness of the 2021 made it a wonderful match with our cheese, the 2014 was again more structured and complex with the 1999 taken from archive stock being vibrant and full of blackberry flavours.
Dessert featured a Red Honduras cocoa chocolate mousse with Fraises des Bois with a fennel “meringue” and a basil and strawberry sorbet. To go with the slightly vegetal flavours we tried the Syrah Les Jacques 2021, an experimental growth of the Syrah grape as a response to changing weather patterns.
This herbal tannic wine with chocolate raspberry flavours was particularly good with the astringency of sea buckthorn pâte de fruits petit fours – we also had a pert little madeleine and the welcome sweetness of a hazelnut praline and tangerine cup.
With a great lunch, this was a wonderfully convivial and informative tasting session. If you haven’t tried the higher-end Beaujolais Crus I think you will be surprised by the quality and price point so they are well worth searching out.
Pied à Terre – 34 Charlotte St, Fitzrovia, London W1T 2NH
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